15A.1 - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT -- PUBLIC PURPOSE -- ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND WASTE DISPOSAL REQUIREMENTS.
15A.1 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT -- PUBLIC PURPOSE --
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND WASTE DISPOSAL REQUIREMENTS.
1. a. Economic development is a public purpose for which the
state, a city, or a county may provide grants, loans, guarantees, tax
incentives, and other financial assistance to or for the benefit of
private persons.
b. For purposes of this chapter, "economic development"
means private or joint public and private investment involving the
creation of new jobs and income or the retention of existing jobs and
income that would otherwise be lost.
2. Before public funds are used for grants, loans, tax
incentives, or other financial assistance to private persons or on
behalf of private persons for economic development, the governing
body of the state, city, county, or other public body dispensing
those funds or the governing body's designee, shall determine that a
public purpose will reasonably be accomplished by the dispensing or
use of those funds. In determining whether the funds should be
dispensed, the governing body or designee of the governing body shall
consider any or all of the following factors:
a. Businesses that add diversity to or generate new
opportunities for the Iowa economy should be favored over those that
do not.
b. Development policies in the dispensing of the funds should
attract, retain, or expand businesses that produce exports or import
substitutes or which generate tourism-related activities.
c. Development policies in the dispensing or use of the funds
should be targeted toward businesses that generate public gains and
benefits, which gains and benefits are warranted in comparison to the
amount of the funds dispensed.
d. Development policies in dispensing the funds should not be
used to attract a business presently located within the state to
relocate to another portion of the state unless the business is
considering in good faith to relocate outside the state or unless the
relocation is related to an expansion which will generate significant
new job creation. Jobs created as a result of other jobs in similar
Iowa businesses being displaced shall not be considered direct jobs
for the purpose of dispensing funds.
3. In addition to the requirements of subsection 2, a state
agency shall not provide a grant, loan, or other financial assistance
to a private person or on behalf of a private person unless the
business for whose benefit the financial assistance is to be provided
meets, to the satisfaction of the state agency, all of the following:
a. The business makes a report detailing the circumstances of
its violations, if any, of a federal or state environmental
protection statute, regulation, or rule within the previous five
years. The state agency shall take into consideration before
allowing financial assistance this report of the business.
b. If the business generates solid or hazardous waste, that
the business conducts in-house audits and management plans to reduce
the amount of the waste and to safely dispose of the waste. For
purposes of this paragraph, a business may, in lieu of conducting
in-house audits, authorize the department of natural resources or the
Iowa waste reduction center established under section 268.4 to
provide the audits.
4. A state agency shall disburse public moneys used for grants,
loans, tax incentives, or other financial assistance for economic
development without discrimination or without the use of terms or
conditions which are more onerous than those regularly extended to
persons of similar economic backgrounds and based on an applicant's
age, color, creed, national origin, race, religion, marital status,
sex, physical disability, or familial status.
5. In addition to the other requirements of this section, a state
agency may give additional consideration or additional points in the
application of rating or evaluation criteria in providing a grant,
loan, or other financial assistance for economic development-related
purposes to a person or business for whose benefit the financial
assistance is to be provided if the person or business is located in
an area that meets one of the following criteria:
a. The area is a brownfield site as defined in section
15.291.
b. The area is a blighted area as defined in section 403.17.
c. The area is located in a city or county that meets the
distress criteria provided under the enterprise zone program in
section 15E.194, subsection 1 or 2. Section History: Recent Form
87 Acts, ch 183, § 2; 90 Acts, ch 1125, § 1; 92 Acts, ch 1239, §
21; 94 Acts, ch 1008, §14, 15; 99 Acts, ch 197, §22; 2001 Acts, ch 7,
§1; 2001 Acts, ch 156, §1; 2002 Acts, ch 1162, §27; 2008 Acts, ch
1032, §124