New economic development program approved
Senators passed a measure May 18 that eliminates three existing economic development programs and replaces them with the Business Innovation Act.
LB387, introduced by Kearney Sen. Galen Hadley at the request of the governor, requires the Department of Economic Development (DED) to establish five programs to provide financial assistance to:
- microenterprise entities;
- companies or individuals creating prototypes;
- programs to identify commercial products and processes;
- companies receiving federal Small Business Innovation Research grants; and
- companies using Nebraska public college and university researchers and facilities for applied research projects.
DED also is required to establish an innovation in value-added agriculture program to support small enterprise formation in Nebraska’s agricultural sector.
All programs created by the bill will be capped at between $1 million and $3 million per year. Forty percent of financial assistance funds are reserved for economically distressed areas of the state, defined as a municipality, a county with a population of fewer than 100,000 according to the most recent census, an unincorporated area within a county or a census tract that:
- has an unemployment rate that exceeds the statewide average;
- has a per capita income below the statewide average; or
- had a population decrease between the two most recent federal censuses.
The bill repeals the Agriculture and Value-Added Partnerships Act, the Microenterprise Development Act and the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act.
LB387 takes effect immediately and will discontinue in 2016.
The bill passed on a 49-0 vote.
