AN ACT to allow flexibility in the event of noncompliance with a JMAC agreement and to amend the ABC laws to expand use of alternating proprietorships.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 143B‑437.012 reads as rewritten:

§ 143B‑437.012.  Job Maintenance and Capital Development Fund.

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(d)       Eligibility. – A business is eligible for consideration for a grant under this section if it satisfies the conditions of subdivision (1), (1a), (2), (2a), or (2b) of this subsection and satisfies subdivision (4) of this subsection:

(1)        The business is a major employer. A business is a major employer if the business meets the following requirements:

a.         The Department certifies that the business has invested or intends to invest at least two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) of private funds in improvements to real property and additions to tangible personal property in the project within a six‑year period beginning with the time the investment commences.

b.         The business employs at least 2,000 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees at the project that is the subject of the grant at the time the application is made, and the business agrees to maintain at least 2,000 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees at the project for the full term of the grant agreement.

c.         The project is located in a development tier one area at the time the business applies for a grant.

(1a)      The business previously received a grant as a major employer under this section and meets the following requirements:

a.         The Department certifies that the business has invested or intends to invest at least one hundred fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) of private funds in improvements to real property and additions to tangible personal property in the project within a six‑year period beginning with the time the investment commences. Amounts certified as invested under sub‑subdivision a. of subdivision (1) of this subsection shall not be included in the amount required by this sub‑subdivision.

b.         The business employs at least 2,000 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees at the project that is the subject of the grant at the time the application is made and the business agrees to maintain at least 2,000 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees at the project for the full term of the grant agreement.

c.         The project is at the same location as that for which a grant was previously awarded under subdivision (1) of this subsection.

(2)        The business is a large manufacturing employer. A business is a large manufacturing employer if the business meets the following requirements:

a.         The business is in manufacturing, as defined in G.S. 105‑129.81, and is converting its manufacturing process to change the product it manufactures or is investing in its manufacturing process by enhancing pollution controls or transitioning the manufacturing process from using coal to using natural gas for the purpose of becoming more energy efficient or reducing emissions.

b.         The Department certifies that the business has invested or intends to invest at least fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) of private funds in improvements to real property and additions to tangible personal property in the project within a five‑year period beginning with the time the investment commences.

c.         The business meets one of the following employment requirements:

1.         If in a development tier one area, the business employs at least 320 full‑time employees at the project that is the subject of the grant at the time the application is made, and the business agrees to maintain at least 320 full‑time employees at the project for the full term of the grant.

2.         If in a development tier two area with a population of less than 60,000 as of July 1, 2013, the business employs at least 800 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees at the project that is the subject of the grant at the time the application is made, and the business agrees to maintain at least 800 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees at the project for the full term of the grant.

(2a)      The business is a heritage manufacturing employer. A business is a heritage manufacturing employer if the business meets the following requirements:

a.         The business is in manufacturing, as defined in G.S. 143B‑437.01, and has been operating in this State for over 100 years.

b.         The Department certifies that the business has invested or intends to invest at least three hundred twenty‑five million dollars ($325,000,000) of private funds in improvements to real property and additions to tangible personal property in the project within a four‑year period beginning with the time the investment commences.

c.         The business employs at least 1,050 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees in the State at the time the application is made and the business agrees to (i) maintain at least 1,050 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees in the State for the full term of the grant and (ii) retrain and relocate to a development tier two area at least 400 of those full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees upon the commencement of commercial production at its tier two area facility.

d.         The business is operating in a development tier three area at the time the business applies for a grant and the business is relocating to a development tier two area with an estimated population of less than 63,000, according to the 2017 Certified County Population Estimates published by the State Demographer's Office.

e.         An agreement with a business under this subdivision may provide that the grant paid out over the term of the agreement be in unequal annual payments and in amounts deviating from the factors listed in subsection (l) of this section for any individual annual payment, provided the factors are considered in the aggregate award to be paid to the business over the entire term of the agreement.

(2b)      The business is a supply‑chain‑impact manufacturing employer. A business is a supply‑chain‑impact manufacturing employer if the business meets the following requirements:

a.         The business is in manufacturing, as defined in G.S. 105‑129.81, manufactures a product used primarily and significantly in the construction of residential and commercial buildings, and is investing in its manufacturing process to transition away from utilizing coal‑based energy byproducts to other alternatives.

b.         The Department certifies that the business has invested or intends to invest at least one hundred ten million dollars ($110,000,000) of private funds in improvements to real property and additions to tangible personal property in the project within a five‑year period beginning with the time the investment commences.

c.         The business and its affiliated companies (i) employ at least 420 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees in the State at the time the application is made and (ii) agree to maintain at least 420 full‑time employees or equivalent full‑time contract employees in the State for the full term of the grant.

d.         The business has operations in a development tier two area at the time the business applies for a grant, and the business agrees to maintain or increase the development tier two area operations for the term of the agreement.

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(j)         Agreement. – Unless the Secretary of Commerce determines that the project is no longer eligible or appropriate for a grant under this section, the Department shall enter into an agreement to provide a grant or grants for a project recommended by the Committee. Each grant agreement (i) is binding and constitutes a continuing contractual obligation of the State and the business. The grant agreement business, (ii) shall include the performance criteria, remedies, and other safeguards recommended by the Committee or required by the Department.Department, and (iii) shall contain the following provisions:

Each grant agreement shall contain a

(1)        A provision prohibiting a business from receiving a payment or other benefit under the agreement at any time when the business has received a notice of an overdue tax debt and the overdue tax debt has not been satisfied or otherwise resolved.

(2)        A provision requiring the business to maintain an employment level. For the purposes of this subsection, the employment level includes full‑time employees and equivalent full‑time contract employees. The applicable employment level is as follows:

a.         Each grant If the grant agreement is for a business that is has qualified as a major employer under subdivision (1) of subsection (d) of this section shall contain section, a provision requiring the business to maintain the employment level at the project that is the subject of the agreement that is the lesser of the level it had at the time it applied for a grant under this section or that it had at the time that the investment required under subsection (d) of this section began. For the purposes of this subsection, the employment level includes full‑time employees and equivalent full‑time contract employees. The agreement shall further specify that the amount of a grant shall be reduced in proportion to the extent the business fails to maintain employment at this level and that the business shall not be eligible for a grant in any year in which its employment level is less than eighty percent (80%) of that required.at the level required in subdivision (d)(1) of this section. The provision shall further require, in the event the business fails to maintain the required level of employment by more than 100 employees, a one percent (1%) reduction of the grant for every one employee below that threshold.

b.         Each If the grant agreement is for a business that is has not qualified as a major employer under subdivision (1) of subsection (d) of this section shall contain section, a provision requiring the business to maintain the employment level required under that subdivision at the project that is the subject of the grant. The agreement provision shall further specify that the business is not eligible for a grant in any year in which the business fails to maintain the employment level.

A grant agreement may obligate the State to make a series of grant payments over a period of up to 10 years. Nothing in this section constitutes or authorizes a guarantee or assumption by the State of any debt of any business or authorizes the taxing power or the full faith and credit of the State to be pledged.

The Department shall cooperate with the Attorney General's office in preparing the documentation for the grant agreement. The Attorney General shall review the terms of all proposed agreements to be entered into under this section. To be effective against the State, an agreement entered into under this section shall be signed personally by the Attorney General.

(k)        Safeguards. – To ensure that public funds are used only to carry out the public purposes provided in this section, the Department shall require that each business that receives a grant under this section shall agree to meet performance criteria to protect the State's investment and ensure that the projected benefits of the project are secured. The performance criteria to be required shall include maintenance of an appropriate level of employment at specified levels of compensation, compensation for required levels of employment, maintenance of health insurance for all full‑time employees, investment of a specified amount over the term of the agreement, and any other criteria the Department considers appropriate. The agreement shall require the business to repay or reimburse an appropriate portion of the grant based on the extent of any failure by the business to meet the performance criteria. The agreement shall require the business to repay all amounts received under the agreement and to forfeit any future grant payments if the business fails to satisfy the investment eligibility requirement of this section. The use of contract employees shall not be used to reduce compensation at the project that is the subject of the agreement.

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SECTION 2.  G.S. 18B‑903 reads as rewritten:

§ 18B‑903.  Duration of permit; renewal and transfer.

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(c1)      Construction of Change in Ownership. – Nothing in subsection (c) of this section shall be construed to limit alternating brewery proprietorships in which the holder of a brewery permit under G.S. 18B‑1101, 18B‑1102, 18B‑1104, or 18B‑1105 leases or otherwise makes available its facility to another holder of a brewery permit. permit under G.S. 18B‑1101, 18B‑1102, 18B‑1104, or 18B‑1105. For purposes of this section, if authorized by federal law, the host brewery facility may also hold, at the same facility, brewery, unfortified winery, fortified winery, and distillery permits pursuant to G.S. 18B‑1101, 18B‑1102, 18B‑1104, and 18B‑1105. In this arrangement, the tenant brewery producer shall maintain title to the malt beverages at all states of the brewing process and shall be responsible for all aspects associated with manufacturing the product, including maintaining appropriate records, obtaining label approval in its own name, and remitting the appropriate taxes. Alternating brewery proprietorships are authorized between affiliated breweries, but shall not be used as a means to allocate production quantities between affiliated breweries to obtain a malt beverage wholesaler permit pursuant to G.S. 18B‑1104(a)(8) where either brewery would not otherwise qualify for a permit, and the Commission shall have no authority to grant an exemption to this requirement pursuant to G.S. 18B‑1116(b).

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SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law, and Section 1 of this act applies to awards in effect on or after that date.