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154.23.015 Certification of qualified zones -- Use of census tracts -- Decertification of census tracts -- Replacement of decertified noncontiguous tract with other qualifying census tract.

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Page 1 of 2 154.23-015 Certification of qualified zones -- Use of census tracts -- Decertification of census tracts -- Replacement of decertified noncontiguous tract with other <br>qualifying census tract. (1) Upon written application by a county, urban-county government, or city of the first class, the authority shall certify one (1) to five (5) contiguous census tracts or a <br>county certified by the authority in accordance with KRS 154.22-040 as a qualified <br>zone. In the case of certification based on one (1) to five (5) contiguous census <br>tracts, each census tract shall independently meet each of the following criteria, as <br>verified by the Office of Employment and Training within the Department of <br>Workforce Investment in the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet: <br>(a) A minimum total poverty rate of one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the United States poverty rate as determined by the most recent decennial census; (b) An unemployment rate that exceeds the statewide unemployment rate as determined on the basis of the most recent decennial census; and (c) A minimum population density of two hundred percent (200%) of the average Kentucky census tract population density as determined by the most recent <br>decennial census. (2) Census tract information shall be based upon United States census data as set forth in the most recent edition of Census of Population and Housing: Population and <br>Housing Characteristics for Census Tracts and Block Numbering Areas published <br>by the United States Bureau of the Census. (3) The authority shall certify no more than one (1) qualified zone within each county of the Commonwealth, except in the case of a county certified under KRS 154.22-<br>040, the entire county shall constitute the qualified zone. (4) A qualified zone shall commence on the date of certification by the authority and continue thereafter, except that at the time new decennial census data becomes <br>available, the authority shall decertify any census tract that no longer meets the <br>criteria of subsection (1) of this section for qualified zone status. The authority shall <br>not give preliminary approval to any project in a decertified census tract. An <br>approved company whose project is located in a decertified census tract shall not be <br>eligible for the inducements offered by KRS 154.23-005 to 154.23-079, unless the <br>tax incentive agreement or service and technology agreement is entered into by all <br>parties prior to July 1 of the year following the calendar year in which the authority <br>decertified that tract. (5) If decertification causes a formerly certified contiguous census tract to become noncontiguous, the applicant shall have the discretion to eliminate or maintain the <br>noncontiguous tract. If the applicant eliminates the noncontiguous tract, it may <br>replace the noncontiguous tract with another qualifying census tract, subject to <br>approval of the authority. (6) A county, urban-county government, or city of the first class shall have no authority to request decertification of a census tract, and any addition of a census tract <br>requested by a county, urban-county government, or city of the first class under Page 2 of 2 KRS 154.23-020 shall be contiguous to a census tract that continues to meet the <br>criteria under this section. (7) The authority shall pay its costs of counsel relating to zone certification. Effective: June 25, 2009 <br>History: Amended 2009 Ky. Acts ch. 11, sec. 40, effective June 25, 2009. -- Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 211, sec. 72, effective July 12, 2006. -- Amended 2004 Ky. Acts <br>ch. 105, sec. 5, effective July 13, 2004. -- Amended 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 338, sec. 26, <br>effective July 15, 2002. -- Created 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 528, sec. 3, effective July 14, <br>2000.