Sec. 2303.405. APPLICATION FOR ENTERPRISE PROJECT DESIGNATION

(a) If the governing body approves a request made under Section 2303.404, the governing body may apply to the bank for the designation of the project or activity of a qualified business as an enterprise project only after it submits to the bank the order or ordinance and other information that complies with the requirements of Sections 2303.4051 and 2303.4052.

(b) An application must contain an economic analysis of the plans of the qualified business for expansion, revitalization, or other activity with regard to the enterprise project, including:

(1) the number of employment positions in existence at the qualified business site on the 91st day before the application deadline;

(1-a) the number of new permanent jobs the enterprise project commits to create during the designation period presented in the form of a tabular listing of:

(A) the classification titles of those jobs; and

(B) the number of jobs and salary range for each classification title;

(2) the number of permanent jobs the enterprise project commits to retain during the designation period presented in the form of a tabular listing of:

(A) the classification titles of the retained jobs; and

(B) the number of retained jobs and salary range for each classification title;

(3) the amount of investment to be made by the enterprise project;

(4) a complete description of the projected schedule for completion of the specific activity described by Section 2303.404(b) to be undertaken by the enterprise project;

(5) other information the bank requires;

(6) a description of the local effort made by the nominating body, the qualified business, and other affected entities to develop and revitalize the jurisdiction of the governmental entity nominating the project or activity; and

(7) if the nominating body is applying for a double or triple jumbo enterprise project, as defined by Section 2303.407, an indication of which level of designation is being sought.

(c) For the purposes of this section, local effort to develop and revitalize a municipality or county is:

(1) the willingness of public entities in the municipality or county to provide services, incentives, and regulatory relief authorized by this chapter and to negotiate with the qualified business for which application is made and with other local groups or businesses to achieve the public purposes of this chapter; and

(2) the effort of the qualified business and other affected entities to cooperate in achieving those public purposes.

(d) Factors to be considered in evaluating the local effort of a public entity include:

(1) tax abatement, deferral, refunds, or other tax incentives;

(2) regulatory relief, including:

(A) zoning changes or variances;

(B) exemptions from unnecessary building code requirements, impact fees, or inspection fees; and

(C) streamlined permitting;

(3) enhanced municipal services, including:

(A) improved police and fire protection;

(B) institution of community crime prevention programs; and

(C) special public transportation routes or reduced fares;

(4) improvements in community facilities, including:

(A) capital improvements in water and sewer facilities;

(B) road repair; and

(C) creation or improvement of parks;

(5) improvements to housing, including:

(A) low-interest loans for housing rehabilitation, improvement, or new construction; and

(B) transfer of abandoned housing to individuals or community groups;

(6) business and industrial development services, including:

(A) low-interest loans for business;

(B) use of surplus school buildings or other underutilized publicly owned facilities as small business incubators;

(C) provision of publicly owned land for development purposes, including residential, commercial, or industrial development;

(D) creation of special one-stop permitting and problem resolution centers or ombudsmen; and

(E) promotion and marketing services; and

(7) job training and employment services, including:

(A) retraining programs;

(B) literacy and employment skills programs;

(C) vocational education; and

(D) customized job training.

(e) Factors to be considered in evaluating the local effort of a private entity include:

(1) the willingness to negotiate or cooperate in the achievement of the purposes of this chapter;

(2) commitments to hire underskilled, inexperienced, disadvantaged, or displaced workers who reside in the enterprise zone;

(3) commitments to hire minority workers and to contract with minority-owned businesses;

(4) provision of technical and vocational job training for enterprise zone residents or economically disadvantaged employees;

(5) provision of child care for employees;

(6) commitments to implement and contribute to a tutoring or mentoring program for area students;

(7) prevention or reduction of juvenile crime activity; and

(8) the willingness to make contributions to the well-being of the community, such as job training, or the donation of land for parks or other public purposes.

(f) A nominating body may submit an application for a project or activity that during the application process loses its eligibility for designation as an enterprise project solely because the project or activity is no longer located in an enterprise zone as described by Section 2303.101(1) if the bank receives the application not later than the 30th day after the date on which the bank makes the updated block group data used to make the eligibility determination available as required by Section 2303.051.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.52(a), eff. Sept. 1, 1995, and Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 985, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1995. Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 814, Sec. 3.12, eff. Sept. 1, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1243 , Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2005. Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1114 , Sec. 8, eff. June 15, 2007.