§ 236. Definitions. When used in this article, unless the context
clearly indicates otherwise, the following terms shall have the
following meanings:

1. "Corporation" means the New York state environmental facilities
corporation, as continued by section twelve hundred eighty-two of the
public authorities law.

2. "Eligible borrower" means any recipient, including any entity
receiving or eligible to receive an agricultural assessment pursuant to
article twenty-five-AA of the agriculture and markets law and any
individual or small business eligible to undertake an eligible project
related to residential and small business on-site wastewater treatment
systems.

3. "Eligible project" shall mean a project for the implementation of a
management program established under section 319 of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act related to agricultural operations, the upgrade or
replacement of residential and small business on-site wastewater
treatment systems with a system approved by the state or local
department of health, or the abandonment of residential and small
business on-site wastewater treatment systems and connection to a sewer,
when a sewer becomes available.

4. "Lender" means any state or federally-chartered savings bank,
savings and loan association, federal savings bank, federal savings and
loan association, farm credit system institution, or commercial bank or
trust company designated by the corporation to participate in the
program.

5. "Linked deposit" means financial assistance undertaken by the
corporation for the construction of an eligible project through a
deposit, or for a farm credit system institution an investment eligible
to be held by such institution, placed with a lender by the corporation
bearing interest at the linked deposit interest rate, provided the
lender has agreed to:

(a) lend the equivalent value of such deposit to an eligible borrower
at the linked loan interest rate; and

(b) permit the deposit to be comprised of a series of certificates of
deposit each bearing an interest rate equal to the linked deposit
interest rate fixed at the time the original linked deposit is placed.

Each linked deposit shall be continuously and fully secured by direct
obligations of the state or the United States of America or by
obligations the principal and interest on which are guaranteed by the
state or the United States of America.

This article and related statutes that refer to this article do not
grant savings banks, savings and loan associations, farm credit system
institutions, federal savings banks, or federal savings and loan
associations eligibility to accept public funds or public moneys from
public entities for investment purposes. A linked deposit is intended to
enable a lender to make a linked loan to an eligible borrower and such
deposit earns a yield lower than posted rates in order to accomplish the
goals of this article.

6. "Linked deposit interest rate" means a fixed rate of interest which
is below the market rate.

7. "Linked loan" means a loan for purposes of an eligible project, in
an amount equal to a linked deposit and bearing interest at the linked
loan interest rate.

8. "Linked loan interest rate" means a fixed rate below the fixed
interest rate the lender would have charged for the loan in the absence
of a linked deposit based on its usual credit considerations.

9. "Program" means the water pollution control linked deposit program.

10. "Recipient" means any person which is: (a) an individual or small
business which is eligible to undertake an eligible project related to
residential and small business on-site wastewater treatment systems; or
(b) an entity receiving or eligible to receive an agricultural
assessment pursuant to article twenty-five-AA of the agriculture and
markets law which is eligible to undertake an eligible project; or (c)
any two or more of the foregoing which are acting jointly in connection
with an eligible project.

11. "Residential and small business on-site wastewater treatment
system" means a system serving a residence or small business that
provides for the treatment and/or disposition of the combination of
human and sanitary waste with water not exceeding one thousand gallons
per day.

12. "Small business" means any business which is resident in this
state, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and
employing not more than one hundred individuals.