§ 143B-437.53.  Eligible projects.

(a) Minimum Number of Eligible Positions. - A business may apply to the Committee for a grant for any project that creates the minimum number of eligible positions as follows:

Development Tier Area Number of Eligible Positions

Tier One 10

Tier Two 20

Tier Three 50

(b) Ineligible Businesses. - A project that consists solely of retail facilities is not eligible for a grant under this Part. If a project consists of both retail facilities and nonretail facilities, only the portion of the project consisting of nonretail facilities is eligible for a grant, and only the withholdings from employees in eligible positions that are employed exclusively in the portion of the project that represents nonretail facilities may be used to determine the amount of the grant. If a warehouse facility is part of a retail facility and supplies only that retail facility, the warehouse facility is not eligible for a grant. For the purposes of this Part, catalog distribution centers are not retail facilities.

A project that consists of a professional or semiprofessional sports team or club, other than a professional motorsports racing team, is not eligible for a grant under this Part.

(c) Health Insurance. - A business is eligible for a grant under this Part only if the business provides health insurance for all of the applicable full-time employees of the project with respect to which the grant is made. For the purposes of this subsection, an applicable full-time employee is one who earns from the business less than one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) in taxable compensation on an annualized basis or three and one-half times the annualized average State wage for all insured private employers in the State employing between 250 and 1,000 employees, whichever is greater. For the purposes of this subsection, a business provides health insurance if it pays at least fifty percent (50%) of the premiums for health care coverage that equals or exceeds the minimum requirements for small group health benefit plans under State or federal law.

Each year that a business receives a grant under this Part, the business must provide with the submission required under G.S. 143B-437.58 a certification that the business continues to provide health insurance, as required by this subsection, for all applicable full-time employees of the project with respect to which the grant is made. If the business ceases to provide the required health insurance, the Committee shall amend or terminate the agreement as provided in G.S. 143B-437.59.

(d) Repealed by Session Laws 2003-435, 2nd Ex. Sess., s. 2.3, effective December 16, 2003.

(e) Safety and Health Programs. - In order for a business to be eligible for a grant under this Part, the business must have no citations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act that have become a final order within the past three years for willful serious violations or for failing to abate serious violations with respect to the location for which the grant is made. For the purposes of this subsection, “serious violation” has the same meaning as in G.S. 95-127. (2002-172, s. 2.1(a); 2003-416, s. 2; 2003-435, Ex. Sess., s. 2.3; 2005-241, s. 5; 2006-168, s. 1.3; 2006-252, s. 2.7; 2015-259, s. 1(c); 2015-264, s. 91(a); 2016-94, s. 15.7(a); 2021-180, s. 11.19(e).)