Sec. 32-5a. Conditions re relocation of certain businesses which received state financial assistance.

      Sec. 32-5a. Conditions re relocation of certain businesses which received state financial assistance. The Commissioner of Economic and Community Development and the board of directors of the Connecticut Development Authority shall require, as a condition of any financial assistance provided on and after June 23, 1993, under any program administered by the Department of Economic and Community Development or such authority to any business organization, that such business organization: (1) Shall not relocate outside of the state for ten years after receiving such assistance or during the term of a loan or loan guarantee, whichever is longer, unless the full amount of the assistance is repaid to the state and a penalty equal to five per cent of the total assistance received is paid to the state and (2) shall, if the business organization relocates within the state during such period, offer employment at the new location to its employees from the original location if such employment is available. For the purposes of subdivision (1) of this section, the value of a guarantee shall be equal to the amount of the state's liability under the guarantee. As used in this section, "relocate" means the physical transfer of the operations of a business in its entirety or of any division of a business which independently receives any financial assistance from the state from the location such business or division occupied at the time it accepted the financial assistance to another location. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 to establish the terms and conditions of repayment, including specifying the conditions under which repayment may be deferred, following a determination by the commissioner of a legitimate hardship.

      (P.A. 88-146; P.A. 93-218, S. 1, 4; 93-360, S. 14, 19; P.A. 95-250, S. 1; P.A. 96-211, S. 1, 5, 6.)

      History: P.A. 93-218 applied requirements of the section to any financial assistance, instead of loans and grants only, provided by Connecticut development authority and Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated, as well as commissioner of economic development, to any business organization instead of only those with twenty-five or more employees, extended period of time for condition on not relocating out of state from 3 to 10 years, imposed penalty on relocating during such period and added provision specifying value of a guarantee for purposes of Subdiv. (1), effective June 23, 1993; P.A. 93-360 exempted financial assistance provided by Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated from requirements of the section, effective June 14, 1993; P.A. 95-250 and P.A. 96-211 replaced Commissioner and Department of Economic Development with Commissioner and Department of Economic and Community Development.