Criteria for determination and selection of qualifying businesses and for approval of revitalization agreements; application fee schedule; annual publication of itemized revitalization agreement report

# (A)

The council may establish criteria for the determination and selection of qualifying businesses and the approval of revitalization agreements. These criteria may include and may give greatest weight to the creditworthiness of the business, the number, type, and quality of new jobs to be provided by the project to residents of this State, and the economic viability of the business. The council may include in its criteria requirements relating to the capital costs of, and projected employment to be produced by, projects eligible for benefits under this chapter and requirements relating to the employment of previously unemployed or underemployed persons.
With respect to each business and project, the council shall request the materials and make the inquiries necessary to determine whether the business and its proposed project satisfy the council's announced criteria and to conduct an adequate cost/benefit analysis with respect to the proposed project and the incentives proposed to be granted by the council with respect to the project. After a review of the relevant materials and completion of its inquires and analysis, the council may by resolution of its members designate an applicant business as a qualifying business and authorize the undertaking of its project according to the revitalization agreement. The decision to enter into a revitalization agreement with a qualifying business is solely within the discretion of the council and a qualifying business does not have a right of appeal from the council's decision.

# (B)

The council shall establish an application fee schedule, not to exceed four thousand dollars for each qualifying business, for undertaking the provisions of this chapter. Of that amount, five hundred dollars shall be shared with the department. The council shall also establish an annual renewal fee of five hundred dollars to be shared equally with the department. The State Treasurer shall establish an account for these fees which must be expended by the council only for meeting administrative, data collection, credit analysis, cost/benefits analysis, reporting, and any other obligations pursuant to this chapter. This account may retain funds for expenditure in the next fiscal year only for purposes enumerated in this section.

# (C)

By May fifteenth of each year, the council shall prepare a public document that itemizes each revitalization agreement concluded during the previous calendar year. The report must list each revitalization agreement, the results of each cost/benefits analysis, and receipts and expenditures of application fees. This document must be forwarded to the State Budget and Control Board, Senate Finance Committee, and House Ways and Means Committee. This document may not contain proprietary or confidential information that is otherwise exempt pursuant to Chapter 4 of Title 30, the Freedom of Information Act, and this section must not be construed to require the release of that exempt information.

Last amended: 1995 Act No. 25, SECTION 1; 1999 Act No. 114, SECTIONS 5C, 5D; 2000 Act No. 399, SECTION 3(B)(7), eff August 17, 2000; 2008 Act No. 353, SECTION 2, Pt 31A.2, eff July 1, 2008. Code Commissioner's Note At the direction of the Code Commissioner, reference in this section to the former Budget and Control Board has not been changed pursuant to the directive of the South Carolina Restructuring Act, 2014 Act No. 121, SECTION 5(D)(1), until further action by the General Assembly.

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