North Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session

North Carolina Senate Bill S589 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1		GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
2	2		SESSION 2025
3		-	S 1
4		-	SENATE BILL 589
	3	+	S D
	4	+	SENATE BILL DRS15243-NIa-77A
	5	+
5	6
6	7
7	8		Short Title: Tier One County Assistance. (Public)
8	9		Sponsors: Senator Smith (Primary Sponsor).
9		-	Referred to: ~~Rules and Operations of the Senate~~
10		-	~~March 26, 2025~~
11		-	~~S589 -v-1~~
	10	+	Referred to:
	11	+
	12	+	DRS15243 -NIa-77A
12	13		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
13	14		AN ACT TO PROVIDE ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE TO TIER ONE COUNTIES. 2
14	15		The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3
15	16		SECTION 1.(a) Short Title. – This act may be cited as the "Economic Empowerment 4
16	17		for Tier One Counties Act." 5
17	18		SECTION 1.(b) Findings and Purpose. – It is the intent of the General Assembly by 6
18	19		this act to do the following: 7
19	20		(1) Recognize the unique economic challenges faced by Tier One counties in 8
20	21		North Carolina. 9
21	22		(2) Acknowledge the importance of self-reliance and local empowerment in 10
22	23		fostering economic development. 11
23	24		(3) Empower Tier One counties by allocating funds to support locally driven 12
24	25		economies. 13
25	26		SECTION 1.(c) Funding. – There is appropriated from the General Fund to the 14
26	27		Department of Commerce (Department) the sum of four hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) 15
27	28		in nonrecurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to be used for purposes consistent with this 16
28	29		act. The funds appropriated pursuant to this act shall not revert at the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal 17
29	30		year but shall remain available for expenditure for purposes consistent with this act until all funds 18
30	31		have been expended. 19
31	32		SECTION 1.(d) Use of Funds. – Funds appropriated to the Department by this act 20
32	33		shall be used to provide grants to development tier one areas, as defined in G.S. 143B-437.08, 21
33	34		for projects and initiatives that promote (i) self-sufficiency, (ii) infrastructure improvement, (iii) 22
34	35		education, or (iv) workforce development. The Department may use up to one percent (1%) of 23
35	36		the funds appropriated in this act for administration of the program and shall establish guidelines 24
36	37		for providing for administration of the program. Those guidelines shall include, at a minimum, 25
37	38		the following provisions, which shall apply to each grant from the program: 26
38	39		(1) Only those counties that are designated as "development tier one areas" 27
39	40		pursuant to G.S. 143B-437.08 during the year in which funding is disbursed 28
40	41		are eligible to receive grant funding under this act. 29
41	42		(2) A county may receive up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in grant funding 30
42	43		under this act. 31
43	44		(3) A county seeking funding under this act shall submit a proposal to the 32
44	45		Department detailing the intended use of the funds they are requesting. The 33
45	46		proposal shall include, at a minimum, evidence that the funding will be used 34
46	47		for the promotion of (i) self-sufficiency, (ii) infrastructure improvement, (iii) 35
47		-	education, or (iv) workforce development. 36 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
48		-	Page 2 Senate Bill 589-First Edition
	48	+	education, or (iv) workforce development. 36
	49	+	FILED SENATE
	50	+	Mar 25, 2025
	51	+	S.B. 589
	52	+	PRINCIPAL CLERK General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
	53	+	Page 2 DRS15243-NIa-77A
49	54		(4) The proposal required pursuant to subdivision (3) of this subsection shall be 1
50	55		reviewed and approved by the Department before grant funding is disbursed. 2
51	56		The Department may issue grant funding under this act only to those 3
52	57		applicants that the Department believes have sufficiently demonstrated that 4
53	58		the indicated use of funds by the applicant county will achieve the purposes 5
54	59		for which this grant program was established. 6
55	60		SECTION 1.(e) Clawback. – If a county receives a grant under this act for which it 7
56	61		is ineligible, the county forfeits the grant awarded under this act and is liable for the amounts 8
57	62		received. 9
58	63		SECTION 1.(f) Reporting. – On or before December 1, 2025, and at least annually 10
59	64		thereafter until all grant funding appropriated and disbursed pursuant to this act has been 11
60	65		exhausted, the Department shall submit a report to the chairs of the Joint Legislative Economic 12
61	66		Development and Global Engagement Oversight Committee and the Fiscal Research Division 13
62	67		detailing, at a minimum, the following: 14
63	68		(1) The total amount of grant funding disbursed pursuant to this act. 15
64	69		(2) The total number of counties who applied for funding. 16
65	70		(3) The indicated uses for funding that counties included in the proposals required 17
66	71		pursuant to this act. 18
67	72		(4) The actual uses of the funding received by the counties under this act. 19
68	73		On or before October 1, 2025, and at least annually thereafter until all grant funding 20
69	74		received by the county has been exhausted and for which a report has been submitted, every 21
70	75		county receiving grant funding under this act shall submit a report to the Department detailing, 22
71	76		at a minimum, the following: (i) the uses to which the county put its grant funding, (ii) the total 23
72	77		balance of unspent grant funding remaining, and (iii) any other information that the Department 24
73	78		deems necessary to comply with its reporting obligation under this subsection. 25
74	79		SECTION 2. If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, the 26
75	80		invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this act that can be given effect 27
76	81		without the invalid provisions or application and, to this end, the provisions of this act are 28
77	82		severable. 29
78	83		SECTION 3. This act is effective when it becomes law. 30