Effective 28 Aug 2019

620.809. Community college funds created, use of moneys — forms — establishment of projects, procedure, requirements — funding options — issuance of certificates — sunset provision. — 1. There is hereby established in the state treasury a fund to be known as the "Missouri One Start Community College New Jobs Training Fund", that shall be administered by the department for the training program. The department of revenue shall credit to the fund, as received, all new jobs credits. For existing Missouri businesses creating new jobs, the training project may include retained jobs. The fund shall also consist of any gifts, contributions, grants, or bequests received from federal, private, or other sources. The general assembly, however, shall not provide for any transfer of general revenue funds into the fund. Moneys in the fund shall be disbursed to the department under regular appropriations by the general assembly. The department shall have the discretion to determine the appropriate amount of funds to allocate per training project. The department shall disburse such appropriated funds in a timely manner into the special funds established by community college districts for training projects, which funds shall be used to pay training project costs. Such disbursements shall be made to the special fund for each training project as provided under subsection 5 of this section. All moneys remaining in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall not lapse to the general revenue fund, as provided in section 33.080, but shall remain in the fund.

2. There is hereby created in the state treasury a fund to be known as the "Missouri One Start Community College Job Retention Training Fund", that shall be administered by the department for the Missouri one start program. The department of revenue shall credit to the fund, as received, all retained jobs credits. For existing Missouri businesses retaining jobs, the training project may include new jobs. The fund shall also consist of any gifts, contributions, grants, or bequests received from federal, private, or other sources. The general assembly, however, shall not provide for any transfer of general revenue funds into the fund. Moneys in the fund shall be disbursed to the department under regular appropriations by the general assembly. The department shall have the discretion to determine the appropriate amount of funds to allocate per training project. The department shall disburse such appropriated funds in a timely manner into the special funds established by community college districts for projects, which funds shall be used to pay training program costs, including the principal, premium, and interest on certificates issued by the district to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, a project. Such disbursements by the department shall be made to the special fund for each project as provided under subsection 5 of this section. All moneys remaining in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall not lapse to the general revenue fund, as provided in section 33.080, but shall remain in the fund.

3. The department of revenue shall develop such forms as are necessary to demonstrate accurately each qualified company's new jobs credit paid into the Missouri one start community college new jobs training fund or retained jobs credit paid into the Missouri one start community college job retention training fund. The new or retained jobs credits shall be accounted as separate from the normal withholding tax paid to the department of revenue by the qualified company. Reimbursements made by all qualified companies to the Missouri one start community college new jobs training fund and the Missouri one start community college job retention training fund shall be no less than all allocations made by the department to all community college districts for all projects. The qualified company shall remit the amount of the new or retained jobs credit, as applicable, to the department of revenue in the same manner as provided in sections 143.191 to 143.265.

4. A community college district, with the approval of the department in consultation with the office of administration, may enter into an agreement to establish a training project and provide training project services to a qualified company. As soon as possible after initial contact between a community college district and a potential qualified company regarding the possibility of entering into an agreement, the community college district shall inform the department of the potential training project. The department shall evaluate the proposed training project within the overall job training efforts of the state to ensure that the training project will not duplicate other job training programs. The department shall have fourteen days from receipt of a notice of intent to approve or disapprove a training project. If no response is received by the qualified company within fourteen days, the training project shall be deemed approved. Disapproval of any training project shall be made in writing and state the reasons for such disapproval. If an agreement is entered into, the district and the qualified company shall notify the department of revenue within fifteen calendar days. In addition to any provisions required under subsection 6 of this section for a qualified company applying to receive a new or retained job credit, an agreement may provide, but shall not be limited to:

(1) Payment of training project costs, which may be paid from one or a combination of the following sources:

(a) Funds appropriated by the general assembly to the Missouri one start community college new jobs training program fund or Missouri one start community college job retention training program fund, as applicable, and disbursed by the department for the purposes consistent with sections 620.800 to 620.809;

(b) Funds appropriated by the general assembly from the general revenue fund and disbursed by the department for the purposes consistent with sections 620.800 to 620.809;

(c) Tuition, student fees, or special charges fixed by the board of trustees to defray training project costs in whole or in part;

(2) Payment of training project costs which shall not be deferred for a period longer than eight years;

(3) Costs of on-the-job training for employees which shall include wages or salaries of participating employees. Payments for on-the-job training shall not exceed the average of fifty percent of the total wages paid by the qualified company to each participant during the period of training. Payment for on-the-job training may continue for up to six months from the date the training begins;

(4) A provision which fixes the minimum amount of new or retained jobs credits, general revenue fund appropriations, or tuition and fee payments which shall be paid for training project costs; and

(5) Any payment required to be made by a qualified company. This payment shall constitute a lien upon the qualified company's business property until paid, shall have equal priority with ordinary taxes and shall not be divested by a judicial sale. Property subject to such lien may be sold for sums due and delinquent at a tax sale, with the same forfeitures, penalties, and consequences as for the nonpayment of ordinary taxes. The purchasers at a tax sale shall obtain the property subject to the remaining payments.

5. (1) For projects that are funded exclusively under paragraph (a) of subdivision (1) of subsection 4 of this section, the department shall disburse such funds to the special fund for each training project in the same proportion as the new jobs or retained jobs credits remitted by the qualified company participating in such project bears to the total new jobs or retained jobs credits from withholding remitted by all qualified companies participating in projects during the period for which the disbursement is made.

(2) Subject to appropriation, for projects that are funded through a combination of funds under paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision (1) of subsection 4 of this section, the department shall disburse funds appropriated under paragraph (b) of subdivision (1) of subsection 4 of this section to the special fund for each training project upon commencement of the project. The department shall disburse funds appropriated under paragraph (a) of subdivision (1) of subsection 4 of this section to the special fund for each training project in the same proportion as the new jobs or retained jobs credits remitted by the qualified company participating in such project bears to the total new jobs or retained jobs credits from withholding remitted by all qualified companies participating in projects during the period for which the disbursement is made, reduced by the amount of funds appropriated under paragraph (b) of subdivision (1) of subsection 4 of this section.

6. Any qualified company that submits a notice of intent for retained job credits shall enter into an agreement, providing that the qualified company has:

(1) Maintained at least one hundred full-time employees per year at the project facility for the calendar year preceding the year in which the application is made; and

(2) Made or agrees to make a new capital investment of greater than five times the amount of any award under this training program at the project facility over a period of two consecutive years, as certified by the qualified company and:

(a) Has made substantial investment in new technology requiring the upgrading of employee skills; or

(b) Is located in a border county of the state and represents a potential risk of relocation from the state; or

(c) Has been determined to represent a substantial risk of relocation from the state by the director of the department of economic development.

7. If an agreement provides that all or part of the training program costs are to be met by receipt of new or retained jobs credit, such new or retained jobs credit from withholding shall be determined and paid as follows:

(1) New or retained jobs credit shall be based upon the wages paid to the employees in the new or retained jobs;

(2) A portion of the total payments made by the qualified companies under sections 143.191 to 143.265 shall be designated as the new or retained jobs credit from withholding. Such portion shall be an amount equal to two and one-half percent of the gross wages paid by the qualified company for each of the first one hundred jobs included in the project and one and one-half percent of the gross wages paid by the qualified company for each of the remaining jobs included in the project. If business or employment conditions cause the amount of the new or retained jobs credit from withholding to be less than the amount projected in the agreement for any time period, then other withholding tax paid by the qualified company under sections 143.191 to 143.265 shall be credited to the applicable fund by the amount of such difference. The qualified company shall remit the amount of the new or retained jobs credit to the department of revenue in the manner prescribed in sections 143.191 to 143.265. When all training program costs have been paid, the new or retained jobs credits shall cease;

(3) The community college district participating in a project shall establish a special fund for and in the name of the training project. All funds appropriated by the general assembly from the funds established under subsections 1 and 2 of this section and disbursed by the department for the training project and other amounts received by the district for training project costs as required by the agreement shall be deposited in the special fund. Amounts held in the special fund shall be used and disbursed by the district only to pay training project costs for such training project. The special fund may be divided into such accounts and subaccounts as shall be provided in the agreement, and amounts held therein may be invested in the same manner as the district's other funds;

(4) Any disbursement for training project costs received from the department under sections 620.800 to 620.809 and deposited into the training project's special fund may be irrevocably pledged by a community college district for the payment of the principal, premium, and interest on the certificate issued by a community college district to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, such training project;

(5) The qualified company shall certify to the department of revenue that the new or retained jobs credit is in accordance with an agreement and shall provide other information the department of revenue may require;

(6) An employee participating in a training project shall receive full credit under section 143.211 for the amount designated as a new or retained jobs credit;

(7) If an agreement provides that all or part of training program costs are to be met by receipt of new or retained jobs credit, the provisions of this subsection shall also apply to any successor to the original qualified company until the principal and interest on the certificates have been paid.

8. To provide funds for the present payment of the training project costs of new or retained jobs training project through the training program, a community college district may borrow money and issue and sell certificates payable from a sufficient portion of the future receipts of payments authorized by the agreement including disbursements from the Missouri one start community college new jobs training fund or the Missouri one start community college job retention training fund, to the special fund established by the community college district for each project. The total amount of outstanding certificates sold by all community college districts shall not exceed the total amount authorized under law as of January 1, 2013, unless an increased amount is authorized in writing by a majority of members of the committee. The certificates shall be marketed through financial institutions authorized to do business in Missouri. The receipts shall be pledged to the payment of principal of and interest on the certificates. Certificates may be sold at public sale or at private sale at par, premium, or discount of not less than ninety-five percent of the par value thereof, at the discretion of the board of trustees, and may bear interest at such rate or rates as the board of trustees shall determine, notwithstanding the provisions of section 108.170 to the contrary. However, the provisions of chapter 176 shall not apply to the issuance of such certificates. Certificates may be issued with respect to a single project or multiple projects and may contain terms or conditions as the board of trustees may provide by resolution authorizing the issuance of the certificates.

9. Certificates issued to refund other certificates may be sold at public sale or at private sale as provided in this section, with the proceeds from the sale to be used for the payment of the certificates being refunded. The refunding certificates may be exchanged in payment and discharge of the certificates being refunded, in installments at different times or an entire issue or series at one time. Refunding certificates may be sold or exchanged at any time on, before, or after the maturity of the outstanding certificates to be refunded. They may be issued for the purpose of refunding a like, greater, or lesser principal amount of certificates and may bear a rate of interest that is higher, lower, or equivalent to that of the certificates being renewed or refunded.

10. Before certificates are issued, the board of trustees shall publish once a notice of its intention to issue the certificates, stating the amount, the purpose, and the project or projects for which the certificates are to be issued. A person with standing may, within fifteen days after the publication of the notice, by action in the circuit court of a county in the district, appeal the decision of the board of trustees to issue the certificates. The action of the board of trustees in determining to issue the certificates shall be final and conclusive unless the circuit court finds that the board of trustees has exceeded its legal authority. An action shall not be brought which questions the legality of the certificates, the power of the board of trustees to issue the certificates, the effectiveness of any proceedings relating to the authorization of the project, or the authorization and issuance of the certificates from and after fifteen days from the publication of the notice of intention to issue.

11. The board of trustees shall make a finding based on information supplied by the qualified company that revenues provided in the agreement are sufficient to secure the faithful performance of obligations in the agreement.

12. Certificates issued under this section shall not be deemed to be an indebtedness of the state, the community college district, or any other political subdivision of the state, and the principal and interest on any certificates shall be payable only from the sources provided in subdivision (1) of subsection 4 of this section which are pledged in the agreement.

13. Pursuant to section 23.253 of the Missouri sunset act:

(1) The program authorized under sections 620.800 to 620.809 shall be reauthorized as of August 28, 2018, and shall expire on August 28, 2030; and

(2) If such program is reauthorized, the program authorized under sections 620.800 to 620.809 shall automatically sunset twelve years after the effective date of the reauthorization of sections 620.800 to 620.809; and

(3) Sections 620.800 to 620.809 shall terminate on September first of the calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which a program authorized under sections 620.800 to 620.809 is sunset.

14. Any agreement or obligation entered into by the department that was made under the provisions of sections 620.800 to 620.809 prior to August 28, 2019, shall remain in effect according to the provisions of such agreement or obligation.

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(L. 2013 H.B. 196, A.L. 2017 H.B. 93, A.L. 2018 H.B. 1415, A.L. 2019 S.B. 68)

Sunset date 8-28-30

Termination date 9-01-31