North Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session

North Carolina House Bill H723 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1		GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
2	2		SESSION 2025
3		-	H 1
4		-	HOUSE BILL 723
	3	+	H D
	4	+	HOUSE BILL DRH30210-MC-170
	5	+
5	6
6	7
7	8		Short Title: Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund. (Public)
8		-	Sponsors: Representatives Logan, Ross, Belk, and Reives (Primary Sponsors).
9		-	For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
10		-	Referred to: Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
11		-	April 3, 2025
12		-	H723 -v-1
	9	+	Sponsors: Representative Logan.
	10	+	Referred to:
	11	+
	12	+	DRH30210 -MC-170
13	13		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
14	14		AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE NORTH CAROLINA TECHNOLOGY COALITIONS 2
15	15		STRATEGIC SUPPORT FUND. 3
16	16		The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4
17	17		SECTION 1. Article 10 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes is amended by 5
18	18		adding a new section to read: 6
19	19		"§ 143B-437.84. The North Carolina Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund. 7
20	20		(a) Fund; Purposes. – The North Carolina Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund 8
21	21		is established as a special fund in the Department of Commerce. The Office of Science, 9
22	22		Technology, and Innovation shall be responsible for administering grants awarded by the 10
23	23		Department from the Fund with oversight from the Board of Science, Technology, and 11
24	24		Innovation. Grants shall be for the purpose of encouraging regional technology-based economic 12
25	25		growth by fostering collaboration throughout a technology coalition and aligning State resource 13
26	26		investment to scale critical and secure supply chains. 14
27	27		(b) Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this section: 15
28	28		(1) Cost match. – Financial or in-kind resources provided through the Fund to a 16
29	29		recipient, defined by a ratio of funding pursued or granted by non-State 17
30	30		sources to that provided by the Fund. 18
31	31		(2) Department. – The Department of Commerce. 19
32	32		(3) Fund. – The North Carolina Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund 20
33	33		established in this section. 21
34	34		(4) Office. – The Office of Science, Technology, and Innovation. 22
35	35		(5) Recipient. – An organization supported by the Fund that represents a 23
36	36		technology coalition. Recipients may be an industry alliance, nonprofit 24
37	37		organization, local government, academic institution, or State agency. 25
38	38		(6) Regional area. – Area of service by the technology coalition and the focus of 26
39	39		economic development metric analysis for a technology-based industry 27
40	40		sector. For purposes of the Fund, a regional area must be defined within the 28
41	41		boundaries of the State. 29
42	42		(7) Technology coalition. – A regional network of organizations, such as private 30
43	43		sector, academic, nonprofit, and government institutions, in a network of 31
44	44		formal and informal relationships that contribute to technological and 32
45	45		economic development in a technology-based industry sector, such as (i) 33
46	46		artificial intelligence, (ii) high-performance computing and semiconductors, 34
47		-	(iii) quantum science and technology, (iv) advanced manufacturing, (v) 35 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
48		-	Page 2 House Bill 723-First Edition
49		-	disaster prevention, (vi) advanced communications technology, (vii) 1
50		-	cybersecurity, (viii) biotechnology, (ix) advanced energy technology, and (x) 2
51		-	material science. 3
52		-	(c) Eligibility. – To be eligible for a grant from the Fund, all of the following conditions 4
53		-	must be met: 5
54		-	(1) The recipient must have its principal place of operation in the State. 6
55		-	(2) The recipient must certify that (i) the grant will be used for allowable purposes 7
56		-	solely within the State and (ii) it will retain its principal place of operation in 8
57		-	the State for as long as it receives grant money from the Fund or the term 9
58		-	required by the Office, whichever is longer. 10
59		-	(3) The recipient applies under oath, to, and on a form prescribed by the Office 11
60		-	that includes all of the following: 12
61		-	a. The name of the business, the form of organization under which it is 13
62		-	operated, and the names and addresses of the principals or 14
63		-	management of the business. 15
64		-	b. A description of how a grant from the Fund will aid the technology 16
65		-	coalition to advance its goals. 17
66		-	c. Justifications for the use of Fund resources for intended economic 18
67		-	impact to a regional area. 19
68		-	d. Any other information necessary for the Office to evaluate the 20
69		-	application. 21
70		-	(4) The recipient does not apply for or receive concurrent funding support from 22
71		-	other sources duplicating the purposes of the Fund. 23
72		-	(5) The recipient uses the grant from the Fund only for the activities listed in the 24
73		-	application and for which the grant was awarded. 25
74		-	(d) Use. – Other than administrative funds retained by the Department in an amount equal 26
75		-	to the greater of (i) one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) or (ii) two percent (2%) of the 27
76		-	appropriation to the Fund for the year, the Department shall award distributions from the Fund 28
77		-	based on strategic and tactical programmatic needs solely for the following: 29
78		-	(1) Coalition infrastructure support, including (i) funding recipients to provide 30
79		-	external support or funding to State agencies or divisions of State agencies to 31
80		-	conduct market and economic analyses; (ii) developing workforce training 32
81		-	programs; (iii) supporting private, foundational, and federal grant 33
82		-	identification and submission; and (iv) sponsoring of technology coalition 34
83		-	knowledge-sharing events. 35
84		-	(2) Coalition cost match allowances to provide financial or in-kind cost matching 36
85		-	to recipients in support of non-State funding, including private, foundational, 37
86		-	and federal funding that drives the economic growth and maturation of a 38
87		-	technology industry in a regional area. The Board of Science, Technology, 39
88		-	and Innovation may (i) set a cap on the cost match amount and the number of 40
89		-	awards per recipient, (ii) require applicants to provide matching funds or 41
90		-	in-kind support for a grant from the Fund, and (iii) provide prioritization in 42
91		-	how the Fund may be used by the recipient. 43
92		-	(e) Administration. – The Department shall develop guidelines related to the 44
93		-	administration of the Fund. At least 20 days before the effective date of any guidelines or 45
94		-	nontechnical amendments to guidelines, the Department must publish the proposed guidelines 46
95		-	on the Department's website and provide notice to persons who have requested notice of proposed 47
96		-	guidelines. In addition, the Department must accept oral and written comments on the proposed 48
97		-	guidelines during the 15 business days beginning on the first day that the Department has 49
98		-	completed these notifications. For purposes of this section, a technical amendment is (i) an 50
99		-	amendment that corrects a spelling or grammatical error or (ii) an amendment that makes a 51 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
100		-	House Bill 723-First Edition Page 3
	47	+	(iii) quantum science and technology, (iv) advanced manufacturing, (v) 35
	48	+	disaster prevention, (vi) advanced communications technology, (vii) 36
	49	+	H.B. 723
	50	+	Apr 2, 2025
	51	+	HOUSE PRINCIPAL CLERK General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
	52	+	Page 2 DRH30210-MC-170
	53	+	cybersecurity, (viii) biotechnology, (ix) advanced energy technology, and (x) 1
	54	+	material science. 2
	55	+	(c) Eligibility. – To be eligible for a grant from the Fund, all of the following conditions 3
	56	+	must be met: 4
	57	+	(1) The recipient must have its principal place of operation in the State. 5
	58	+	(2) The recipient must certify that (i) the grant will be used for allowable purposes 6
	59	+	solely within the State and (ii) it will retain its principal place of operation in 7
	60	+	the State for as long as it receives grant money from the Fund or the term 8
	61	+	required by the Office, whichever is longer. 9
	62	+	(3) The recipient applies under oath, to, and on a form prescribed by the Office 10
	63	+	that includes all of the following: 11
	64	+	a. The name of the business, the form of organization under which it is 12
	65	+	operated, and the names and addresses of the principals or 13
	66	+	management of the business. 14
	67	+	b. A description of how a grant from the Fund will aid the technology 15
	68	+	coalition to advance its goals. 16
	69	+	c. Justifications for the use of Fund resources for intended economic 17
	70	+	impact to a regional area. 18
	71	+	d. Any other information necessary for the Office to evaluate the 19
	72	+	application. 20
	73	+	(4) The recipient does not apply for or receive concurrent funding support from 21
	74	+	other sources duplicating the purposes of the Fund. 22
	75	+	(5) The recipient uses the grant from the Fund only for the activities listed in the 23
	76	+	application and for which the grant was awarded. 24
	77	+	(d) Use. – Other than administrative funds retained by the Department in an amount equal 25
	78	+	to the greater of (i) one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) or (ii) two percent (2%) of the 26
	79	+	appropriation to the Fund for the year, the Department shall award distributions from the Fund 27
	80	+	based on strategic and tactical programmatic needs solely for the following: 28
	81	+	(1) Coalition infrastructure support, including (i) funding recipients to provide 29
	82	+	external support or funding to State agencies or divisions of State agencies to 30
	83	+	conduct market and economic analyses; (ii) developing workforce training 31
	84	+	programs; (iii) supporting private, foundational, and federal grant 32
	85	+	identification and submission; and (iv) sponsoring of technology coalition 33
	86	+	knowledge-sharing events. 34
	87	+	(2) Coalition cost match allowances to provide financial or in-kind cost matching 35
	88	+	to recipients in support of non-State funding, including private, foundational, 36
	89	+	and federal funding that drives the economic growth and maturation of a 37
	90	+	technology industry in a regional area. The Board of Science, Technology, 38
	91	+	and Innovation may (i) set a cap on the cost match amount and the number of 39
	92	+	awards per recipient, (ii) require applicants to provide matching funds or 40
	93	+	in-kind support for a grant from the Fund, and (iii) provide prioritization in 41
	94	+	how the Fund may be used by the recipient. 42
	95	+	(e) Administration. – The Department shall develop guidelines related to the 43
	96	+	administration of the Fund. At least 20 days before the effective date of any guidelines or 44
	97	+	nontechnical amendments to guidelines, the Department must publish the proposed guidelines 45
	98	+	on the Department's website and provide notice to persons who have requested notice of proposed 46
	99	+	guidelines. In addition, the Department must accept oral and written comments on the proposed 47
	100	+	guidelines during the 15 business days beginning on the first day that the Department has 48
	101	+	completed these notifications. For purposes of this section, a technical amendment is (i) an 49
	102	+	amendment that corrects a spelling or grammatical error or (ii) an amendment that makes a 50 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
	103	+	DRH30210-MC-170 Page 3
101	104		clarification based on public comment and could have been anticipated by the public notice that 1
102	105		immediately preceded the public comment." 2
103	106		SECTION 2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of 3
104	107		Commerce the recurring sum of ten million five hundred thousand dollars ($10,500,000) in 4
105	108		nonrecurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to be allocated to the North Carolina 5
106	109		Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund for purposes consistent with that Fund. 6
107	110		SECTION 3. This act becomes effective July 1, 2025. 7