PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 2007 PRINTER'S NO. 2170
No. 1468 Session of 1986
INTRODUCED BY SHAFFER, SINGEL, SALVATORE, JUBELIRER, FISHER,
PETERSON, REIBMAN, PECORA, STOUT, HELFRICK, MOORE, CORMAN,
KRATZER, LEMMOND, WILT, RHOADES, O'PAKE, STAUFFER, ROSS,
SHUMAKER, MADIGAN, LOEPER, ZEMPRELLI, SCANLON, ROMANELLI,
LINCOLN, BRIGHTBILL, HANKINS, BODACK, MUSTO AND ANDREZESKI,
APRIL 10, 1986
SENATOR TILGHMAN, APPROPRIATIONS, RE-REPORTED AS AMENDED,
JUNE 2, 1986
AN ACT
1 Establishing a program within the Department of Commerce to
2 provide assistance to communities experiencing economic
3 distress by providing grants for the development of long-term
4 economic recovery strategies.
5 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6 hereby enacts as follows:
7 Section 1. Short title.
8 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Community
9 Economic Recovery Program Act.
10 Section 2. Legislative findings and declarations.
11 (a) Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares that:
12 (1) There exist within this Commonwealth certain areas
13 where there is persistent unemployment and underemployment.
14 (2) Insufficient private investment in these areas
15 causes social and economic problems for the citizens of these
16 areas, including increased reliance on public assistance, and
1 a declining local tax base.
2 (3) In order to promote private investment in these
3 areas, local economic recovery strategies must be designed in
4 recognition of the many unique assets and resources available
5 in these communities.
6 (4) IN ORDER TO BEST DEVELOP MEANINGFUL ECONOMIC <--
7 STRATEGIES, A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT STAFF MUST BE
8 AVAILABLE TO THESE COMMUNITIES.
9 (b) Intent.--It is the intent of the General Assembly to
10 assist economically disadvantaged communities to develop local
11 economic recovery strategies.
12 Section 3. Definitions.
13 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
14 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
15 context clearly indicates otherwise:
16 "Community." A municipality, including counties, cities,
17 boroughs, incorporated towns, townships, home rule
18 municipalities and councils of local government.
19 "CONSORTIUM." THE GROUPING OF TWO OR MORE COMMUNITIES TO <--
20 BETTER PROVIDE FOR GRANT UTILIZATION.
21 "Department." The Department of Commerce of the
22 Commonwealth.
23 "Distressed communities." Communities which are designated
24 as distressed by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban
25 Development under the Housing and Community Development Act of
26 1974 (Public Law 93-383, 42 U.S.C. § 5301 et seq.) or which meet
27 criteria promulgated by the department.
28 "Local development district." A multicounty regional agency <--
29 established by the Appalachian Regional Commission to undertake
30 economic and enterprise development activities.
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1 "LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY." ANY MUNICIPALITY OR ANY <--
2 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL AUTHORITY ORGANIZED PURSUANT TO OR
3 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY AS CERTIFIED BY THE DEPARTMENT
4 PURSUANT TO THE ACT OF AUGUST 23, 1967 (P.L.251, NO.102), KNOWN
5 AS THE INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY LAW; ANY
6 COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION OR ANY MULTIMUNICIPAL AGENCY
7 ORGANIZATION CREATED PURSUANT TO THE ACT OF JULY 12, 1972
8 (P.L.762, NO.180), REFERRED TO AS THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL
9 COOPERATION LAW; ANY MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY ORGANIZATION PURSUANT
10 TO THE ACT OF MAY 2, 1945 (P.L.382, NO.164), KNOWN AS THE
11 MUNICIPALITY AUTHORITIES ACT OF 1945; ANY REDEVELOPMENT
12 AUTHORITY ORGANIZED PURSUANT TO THE ACT OF MAY 24, 1945
13 (P.L.991, NO.385), KNOWN AS THE URBAN REDEVELOPMENT LAW; AND ANY
14 LOCAL DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT OF THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL
15 COMMISSION.
16 "Secretary." The Secretary of Commerce of the Commonwealth.
17 Section 4. Purpose.
18 It is the purpose of this act to provide financial assistance
19 to distressed communities in this Commonwealth to enable them to
20 develop local economic recovery strategies and area marketing
21 plans designed to retain existing jobs, to assist in business
22 expansions or startups and to attract new industry.
23 Section 5. Program establishment.
24 There is hereby established, under the direction of the
25 department, a program to be known as the Community Economic
26 Recovery Program.
27 Section 6. Eligibility.
28 (a) General rule.--Applicants eligible to receive grants are
29 municipalities and groups of municipalities LOCAL DEVELOPMENT <--
30 AGENCIES. Preference shall be given to areawide and regional
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1 consortium applications.
2 (b) Applications.--Applicants must submit an application, in
3 a form and manner prescribed by the secretary, demonstrating the <--
4 need for developing a local economic recovery strategy and
5 describing a plan for developing such a strategy. ADDRESSING THE <--
6 FOLLOWING:
7 (1) DEMONSTRATING THE NEED FOR DEVELOPING A LOCAL
8 ECONOMIC RECOVERY STRATEGY.
9 (2) DESCRIBING A PLAN FOR DEVELOPING THE STRATEGY.
10 (3) STAFFING NEEDS REQUIRED TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT THE
11 PLAN.
12 Section 7. Use of funds.
13 (a) General rule.--Grant funds shall be used to help develop
14 the local capacity to plan and to implement an economic recovery
15 strategy. Funding may be used for activities including, but not
16 limited to, the following:
17 (1) Identifying existing industries within the community
18 which may be in danger of leaving the area, and encouraging
19 the retention of these industries.
20 (2) Identifying growth industries, and developing plans
21 for encouraging the expansion of such industries within the
22 community.
23 (3) Analyzing the job skills of the unemployed labor
24 force and reviewing existing job training programs in order
25 to make recommendations on the upgrading of the skills of the
26 unemployed labor force.
27 (4) Itemizing infrastructure improvements necessary for
28 job creation.
29 (5) Cataloging the services of local economic
30 development agencies. and ensuring that these agencies have <--
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1 qualified personnel with knowledge of State and local
2 programs.
3 (6) ENSURING THAT THESE AGENCIES HAVE QUALIFIED <--
4 PERSONNEL WITH KNOWLEDGE OF FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL
5 PROGRAMS.
6 (6) (7) Listing those areas in which the community has a <--
7 particular advantage over other locations, both inside and
8 outside this Commonwealth.
9 (7) (8) Listing those areas in which the community is at <--
10 a disadvantage when attracting private capital, along with
11 making recommendations for alleviating these problems.
12 (8) (9) Working with businesses and other organizations <--
13 to encourage the retention of existing jobs, the expansion of
14 existing firms and the attraction of new businesses, with
15 emphasis on projects that will help diversify the community's
16 economic base.
17 (b) Report.--A final report shall be submitted to the
18 department within one year of the award of funds and shall
19 include, as a minimum, a summary of the analyses performed and
20 the businesses assisted and a detailed list of locally supported
21 programs or projects planned, designed or implemented as part of
22 the local economic recovery strategy.
23 Section 8. Grant conditions AND PROCEDURES. <--
24 Grants shall meet the following conditions:
25 (1) Individual grants shall not exceed $50,000.
26 (2) No more than one grant per municipality shall be
27 awarded in any one State fiscal year.
28 (3) GRANTS FOR A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT STAFF MAY BE <--
29 AWARDED ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS, IN ADDITION TO
30 PARAGRAPHS (1) AND (2) AS FOLLOWS:
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1 (I) EVIDENCE THAT THERE WILL BE A LOCAL FUNDING
2 MATCH OF AT LEAST $1 FOR EVERY $1 OF STATE GRANT.
3 (II) IDENTIFICATION OF THE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
4 AGENCIES TO BE THE GRANT RECIPIENT.
5 (III) MAXIMUM GRANTS SHALL BE PERMITTED ACCORDING TO
6 THE FOLLOWING:
7 (A) FIRST CLASS COUNTIES $150,000
8 (B) SECOND CLASS COUNTIES 100,000
9 (C) SECOND CLASS A COUNTIES 50,000
10 (D) THIRD CLASS THROUGH EIGHTH CLASS
11 COUNTIES 25,000
12 Section 9. Application procedures.
13 (a) Form.--Applications for the Community Economic Recovery
14 Program funds shall be made to the department, in a form and
15 manner prescribed by the secretary.
16 (b) Coordination.--The department may require that local
17 development districts or counties coordinate the efforts of the
18 various municipalities within their region to insure that
19 communities are not duplicating grant proposals, including
20 encouraging adjacent jurisdictions that are individually
21 applying for a grant to pool resources and submit a joint
22 proposal, and encouraging those eligible jurisdictions not
23 applying for a grant to cooperate with adjacent jurisdictions
24 and apply for funding, if applicable.
25 (c) Contents of application.--The application shall contain
26 the following:
27 (1) Documentation that the community or communities meet
28 the eligibility criteria specified in this act.
29 (2) Justification of the need for State assistance in
30 developing a local community economic recovery strategy.
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1 (3) A description of the organization that will
2 administer the funds and the reason why it can represent the
3 area in its revitalization effort, including statements from
4 other community groups in support of the application.
5 (4) A detailed description of the activities to be
6 carried out using the funds.
7 (5) A letter from the elected officials in each
8 municipality and county of the distressed area specifying
9 their support.
10 (6) Other information as specified by the department.
11 Section 10. Grant evaluation criteria.
12 (a) Analysis of application.--The department shall determine
13 from the application whether the community is eligible for
14 assistance and the proposed plan is likely to promote economic
15 growth. If the department determines that the applicant is not
16 qualified to develop a community economic recovery strategy, the
17 department may attempt to aid the applicant to establish a group
18 which is qualified, or to develop a revised plan which will best
19 carry out the purpose of revitalizing the particular community.
20 (b) Criteria.--In addition, in evaluating applications for
21 grants, the department shall consider the following specific
22 criteria:
23 (1) Community support and cooperation, including the
24 degree of public and private matching commitments.
25 (2) The degree of areawide or multicommunity
26 involvement, including the total population to be served by
27 the grant.
28 (3) Identification of critical economic needs or
29 opportunities.
30 (4) Consistency of the proposal with State economic
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1 development strategies, goals or objectives.
2 (5) Other criteria as established by the department as
3 necessary to achieve the purposes of this act.
4 Section 11. Additional powers and duties of department.
5 The department may prescribe such application forms,
6 promulgate and publish rules, regulations, procedures and
7 application manuals, and request such information as may be
8 necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.
9 Section 12. Effective date.
10 This act shall take effect immediately.
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