SB 724 - This act establishes the "Missouri Rural Workforce Development Act", which provides a tax credit for certain investments made in businesses located in rural areas in this state. This act allows investors to make capital investments in a rural fund, as defined in the act. Such investors shall be allowed a tax credit for a period of six years beginning with the year the investor made a capital investment. The tax credit shall be equal to a percentage of the capital investment. The percentage shall be zero for the first two years, and fifteen percent for the subsequent four years. Tax credits issued under the act shall not be refundable, but may be carried forward to any of the five subsequent tax years, as described in the act. No more than $25 million dollars in tax credits shall be authorized in a given calendar year.
A rural fund wishing to accept investments as capital investments shall apply to the Department of Economic Development. The application shall include the amount of capital investment requested, a copy of the applicant's license as a rural business or small business investment company, evidence that the applicant has made at least $100 million in investments in nonpublic companies located in counties throughout the United States with a population less than fifty thousand, and a business plan that includes a revenue impact statement projecting state and local tax revenue to be generated by the applicant's proposed qualified investments, as described in the act. The rural fund shall also submit a nonrefundable application fee of $5,000.
The Department shall grant or deny an application within thirty days of receipt. The Department shall deny an application if such application is incomplete or insufficient, if the revenue impact assessment does not demonstrate that the business plan will result in a positive economic impact on the state over a ten year period, or if the Department has already approved the maximum amount of capital investment authority.
Rural funds shall use capital investments made by investors to make qualified investments, as defined in the act, in eligible businesses. An eligible business is a business that, at the time of the qualified investment, has fewer than two hundred fifty employees and has its principal business operations in one or more rural areas in the state, defined as any county with a population of less than ninety thousand.
The Department may recapture tax credits if the rural fund does not invest sixty percent of its capital investment authority in qualified investments within two years of the date of the capital investment, and one hundred percent of its capital investment authority within three years, if the rural fund fails to maintain qualified investments equal to ninety percent of its capital investment authority in years three through six, as described in the act, if prior to exiting the program the rural fund makes a distribution or payment that results in the fund having less than ninety percent of its capital investment authority invested in qualified investments, or if the rural fund violates provisions of the act.
Rural funds shall submit annual reports to the Department, including the name and location of each eligible business receiving a qualified investment, the number of jobs created and jobs retained as a result of qualified investments, the average salary of such jobs, and any other information required by the Department, as described in the act.
At any time after the sixth anniversary of the capital investment, a rural fund may exit the program if the fund has satisfied the job creation and retention requirements. A rural fund not meeting such job creation and retention requirements may exit the program upon the payment of a penalty, which shall be calculated as described in the act.
This act shall sunset August 28, 2030, unless reauthorized by the General Assembly.
This act is identical to SCS/SB 477 (2019) and is substantially similar to HB 1230 (2019) and HB 1236 (2019).
JOSH NORBERG