CODE OF VIRGINIA

GOVERNOR’S AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY INDUSTRIES DEVELOPMENT FUND
ESTABLISHED; PURPOSE; USE OF FUNDS (§ 3.2-304)

A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a nonreverting fund to be known
as the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund
(the Fund) to be used by the Governor to attract new and expanding agriculture
and forestry processing/value-added facilities using Virginia-grown products.
The Fund shall consist of any funds appropriated to it by the general
appropriation act and revenue from any other source, public or private. The Fund
shall be established on the books of the Comptroller, and any funds remaining in
the Fund at the end of a biennium shall not revert to the general fund but shall
remain in the Fund. Interest earned on the Fund shall be credited to the Fund.
Expenditures and disbursements from the Fund shall be made by the State
Treasurer on warrants issued by the Comptroller. The Governor shall report to
the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Finance and the
Senate Committee on Finance as funds are awarded in accordance with this
chapter.

B. Funds shall be awarded from the Fund by the Governor as grants or loans to
political subdivisions. The criteria for making such grants or loans shall
include (i) amount of jobs expected to be created, (ii) anticipated amount of
private capital investment, (iii) anticipated additional state tax revenue
expected to accrue to the state and affected localities as a result of the
capital investment and jobs created, (iv) anticipated amount of Virginia-grown
agricultural and forestal products used by the project, (v) projected impact on
agricultural and forestal producers, (vi) a return on investment analysis to
determine the appropriate size of any grant or loan, and (vii) an analysis of
the impact on competing businesses already located in the area.

C. Funds may be used for public and private utility extension or capacity
development on and off site; public and private installation, extension, or
capacity development of high-speed or broadband Internet access, whether on or
off site; road, rail, or other transportation access costs beyond the funding
capability of existing programs; site acquisition; grading, drainage, paving,
and any other activity required to prepare a site for construction; construction
or build-out of publicly or privately owned buildings; training; or grants or
loans to an industrial development authority, housing and redevelopment
authority, or other political subdivision for purposes directly relating to any
of the foregoing. However, in no case shall funds from the Fund be used,
directly or indirectly, to pay or guarantee the payment for any rental, lease,
license, or other contractual right to the use of any property.

D. Moneys in the Fund shall not be used for any economic development project in
which a business relocates or expands its operations in one or more Virginia
localities and simultaneously closes its operations or substantially reduces the
number of its employees in another Virginia locality. The Secretary of
Agriculture and Forestry shall enforce this policy and for any exception thereto
shall promptly provide written notice to the Chairmen of the Senate Finance and
House Appropriations Committees, which notice shall include a justification for
any exception to such policy.

E. The Governor shall provide grants and commitments from the Fund in an amount
not to exceed the dollar amount contained in the Fund. If the Governor commits
funds for years beyond the fiscal years covered under the existing appropriation
act, the State Treasurer shall set aside and reserve the funds the Governor has
committed, and the funds shall remain in the Fund for those future fiscal years.
No grant shall be payable in the years beyond the existing appropriation act
unless the funds are currently available in the Fund.

HISTORY: 2012, cc. 466, 622.