New Rural Economic Development Division and Other 2013 North Carolina Legislation

<p>The North Carolina General Assembly wrapped up the 2013 session after approving several pieces of legislation related to community economic development (CED). This post summarizes some of the major legislation of interest to CED professionals.</p> <p style="text-align: center">Public-Private Partnership for Economic Development</p> <p>In the Appropriations Act of 2013, as noted in a prior post, the Secretary of the Department of Commerce was granted flexibility to reorganize the department and to establish a public-private partnership, presumably with a new private nonprofit entity. No other details for the new nonprofit were included in the authorizing provision, as more specific requirements for the nonprofit were to be provided in a separate bill, SB 127, which was not taken up prior to adjournment. Although not enacted into law, SB 127 is worth a look because some variation of it will probably be taken up in the 2014 short session. The bill outlines the concept for the new nonprofit, which will perform a number of statewide economic development planning, marketing, and coordination functions. The bill also describes eight proposed “Collaboration for Prosperity Zones,” which are regional groupings of counties that are intended to supplant Commerce’s existing framework of seven economic development regions represented in the diagram at the top of this post.</p> <p style="text-align: center">Allocations of Community Development Block Grants</p> <p>Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) are awarded by formula to each state through a program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The funds are to be used for the benefit of low- and moderate-income persons, for eliminating blight, [...]</p>