SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 561
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR JOHNSON.
Pre-filed December 1, 1999, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
2536S.01I
AN ACT
To amend chapter 260, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to grants for tobacco-dependent communities, with an expiration date.
Section A. Chapter 620, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 620.1575, to read as follows:
620.1575. 1. As used in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following terms mean:
(1) "Fund", the tobacco-dependent communities revitalization fund;
(2) "Master settlement agreement", an agreement entered into on November 23, 1998, between the five largest tobacco manufacturers and forty-six states which settles all lawsuits filed by the states against the tobacco industry and provides money to states;
(3) "Sponsoring organization", any city government, county commission, or any industrial development corporation authorized pursuant to chapter 349, RSMo, or a community development corporation defined in section 135.400, RSMo;
(4) "Tobacco-dependent community", any city or county or combination of cities and counties suffering a negative economic impact due to a decline in tobacco quota production resulting from the master settlement agreement; and
(5) "Tobacco production quota", an established allotment of acreage dedicated to tobacco production pursuant to the 1938 Agricultural Adjustment Act.
2. There is hereby established within the state treasury, a "Tobacco-Dependent Communities Revitalization Fund" which shall consist of moneys which may be appropriated to it by the general assembly from general revenue and from the Missouri portion of the master settlement agreement, and may include any gifts, contributions, grants, or bequests received from federal, state, private or other sources.
3. The office of rural development, established in section 620.161, shall administer the program to provide grants to the sponsoring organizations of tobacco-dependent communities for economic revitalization and diversification.
4. The sponsoring organization shall apply to the office of rural development for the grant on behalf of the tobacco-dependent community. Applicants shall demonstrate that a significant portion of the area economy is dependent upon tobacco production. Such applicants shall also submit with their application a detailed plan to reverse the dependence on tobacco production and revitalize the area economy. Application forms shall be designed by the office of rural development and shall require information necessary to determine the intended uses for the grant funds, as well as other information deemed necessary for the administration of this grant.
5. The grants shall be awarded to not more than three sponsoring organizations of tobacco-dependent communities chosen from applications received prior to February twenty-eighth of each year. The grant shall be distributed on July first of each year to such sponsoring organizations of tobacco-dependent communities in an amount not less than three-hundred thousand dollars and not more than nine-hundred thousand dollars per tobacco-dependent community annually. No tobacco-dependent community may receive the funds from the sponsoring organization for more than five consecutive years.
6. The sponsoring organization of each tobacco-dependent community chosen to receive the grant may work with local tobacco producers, the Missouri department of agriculture, and the university extension service to encourage or facilitate alternative crop uses for agricultural land currently used for tobacco production.
7. Moneys in the fund shall be used solely for the purposes specified in this section. No grant shall be awarded after August 28, 2010. The fund shall be abolished as of August 28, 2016, and any moneys remaining in the fund shall revert to general revenue pursuant to section 33.080, RSMo.
8. This section shall expire on August 28, 2016.