Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. The third paragraph of subsection (a) of section 8 of chapter 23G of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- Notwithstanding any provision of this paragraph to the contrary, the agency may finance projects for institutions without meeting any of the requirements other than those contained in the first 2 sentences of this paragraph.

SECTION 2. Clause (l) of section 1 of chapter 40D of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the fourth sentence the following 2 sentences:- A project undertaken by a nonprofit corporation authorized by law to provide facilities for educational, cultural or social services, including provision of working capital, or a project undertaken by a governmental entity for governmental purposes shall be deemed to constitute an industrial enterprise but shall not be deemed to constitute a commercial enterprise. Projects located within the boundaries of an empowerment zone as it may have been established in a city or town, pursuant to regulations of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, 24 CFR subsections 597 and 598, shall be deemed to constitute an industrial enterprise but shall not be deemed to constitute a commercial enterprise.

SECTION 3. Said section 1 of said chapter 40D, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out, in lines 75 to 77, inclusive, the words "Facilities for the use of governmental and nonprofit entities shall be considered facilities to be used in a commercial enterprise, and bonds" and inserting in place thereof the following word:- Bonds.