Section 8824-G - Rural growth funds.(a)Application.--Beginning on the effective date of this section, an application to qualify as a rural growth fund must be submitted on a form and in a manner as required by the department.(b) Information.--An application to qualify as a rural growth fund shall include all of the following: (1) The total investment authority sought by the applicant under the business plan.(2) Documents and other evidence sufficient to prove, to the satisfaction of the department, that the applicant meets all of the following criteria:(i) The applicant or an affiliate of the applicant is licensed as a rural business investment company under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Public Law 87-128, 75 Stat. 307) or as a small business investment company under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (Public Law 85-699, 72 Stat. 689).(ii) Evidence that as of the date the application is submitted, the applicant or affiliates of the applicant have invested at least $100,000,000 in nonpublic companies located in rural areas of this Commonwealth or other states.(iii) At least one principal in a rural business investment company or a small business investment company has been an officer or employee of the applicant or of an affiliate of the applicant for at least four years prior to the date the application is submitted.(3) An estimate of the number of jobs created or retained in this Commonwealth that will result from the applicant's rural growth investments. (4) A business plan that includes a revenue impact assessment projecting State and local tax revenue to be generated by the applicant's proposed rural growth investments prepared by a nationally recognized third-party independent economic forecasting firm using a dynamic economic forecasting model that analyzes the applicant's business plan over the 10 years following the date the application is submitted to the department.(5) A signed affidavit from each investor stating the amount of credit-eligible capital contributions each business firm commits to make.(6) A nonrefundable application fee of $500. (c) Review of applications.--The department shall review applications received from rural growth funds under this section. Subject to the limitation in subsection (f), the department shall make allocations of investment authority for approved applications in the order in which the applications are received. Applications received on the same day shall be deemed to have been received simultaneously. If requests for investment authority on approved applications exceed the limitation in subsection (f), the department shall reduce the investment authority and the credit-eligible capital contributions proportionally based upon the amount of investment authority sought in the application for each approved application as necessary to not exceed the limitation in subsection (f).(d)Notice of approval or disapproval.-- (1) Within 60 days after receipt of an application, the department shall notify the applicant of its approval or disapproval as a rural growth fund under this part.(2) A notice of approval shall specify the amount of the applicant's investment authority as determined by the department after reviewing the information submitted in accordance with subsection (b) and the amount of credit-eligible contribution authority allocated to each business firm that submitted an affidavit in the application. at least 60% of a growth fund's investment authority shall be comprised of credit-eligible capital contributions. (3) If the application is disapproved, the notice of disapproval shall include the reasons for disapproval.(4) An applicant may resubmit the application within 30 days after receipt of a notice of disapproval and provide additional information to complete, clarify or cure defects identified in the application by the department. The department shall consider that application submitted before any pending applications submitted after the date the application was originally submitted.(e) Request for determination.--A rural growth fund, before making a rural growth investment, may request from the department a written opinion as to whether the business in which the rural growth fund proposes to invest is a rural business. The department shall notify the rural growth fund of the determination within 15 days after receipt of the request. If the department fails to notify a rural growth fund of the determination within 15 days, the business in which the rural growth fund proposes to invest shall be considered a rural business. (f) Limitation.--The department may not approve more than $50,000,000 in investment authority with respect to program one tax credit authority and $50,000,000 in investment authority with respect to program two tax credit authority under this part.Amended by P.L. (number not assigned at time of publication) 2024 No. 56,§ 20, eff. 7/11/2024.Amended by P.L. TBD 2020 No. 68, § 4, eff. 9/21/2020.Amended by P.L. TBD 2019 No. 13, § 19, eff. 7/1/2019.Added by P.L. TBD 2016 No. 84, § 38.1, eff. 7/13/2016.