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| To create a pilot program in the Development Services | 1 |
| Agency to provide technical assistance to eligible | 2 |
| businesses and to make an appropriation. | 3 |
| Section 1. (A) As used in this section: | 4 |
| (1) "Eligible business" means a for-profit business | 5 |
| association that has at least six employees but not more than | 6 |
| ninety-nine employees and that has maintained its principal place | 7 |
| of business in the state for at least a two-year period ending on | 8 |
| the date the business applies for assistance under this section. | 9 |
| The business must generate at least seven hundred fifty thousand | 10 |
| dollars but not more than twenty-five million dollars in annual | 11 |
| revenue and must have increased both its number of full-time | 12 |
| equivalent employees in this state and its gross revenue during at | 13 |
| least three of the five years preceding the date of application. | 14 |
| (2) "Full-time equivalent employee" means the quotient | 15 |
| obtained by dividing the total number of hours for which an | 16 |
| eligible business employs employees during a year by two thousand | 17 |
| eighty. | 18 |
| (B) There is hereby created in the development services | 19 |
| agency the economic gardening technical assistance pilot program. | 20 |
| The director of development services may contract with or | 21 |
| coordinate one or more persons to aid in the administration and | 22 |
| operation of the program. | 23 |
| The director shall provide technical assistance to eligible | 24 |
| businesses, including, but not limited to, access to information | 25 |
| and market intelligence services, including information on | 26 |
| markets, customers, and competitors, such as business databases, | 27 |
| geographic information systems, search engine marketing, and | 28 |
| business connection development encouraging interaction and | 29 |
| exchange among business owners and resource providers such as | 30 |
| trade associations, academic institutions, business advocacy | 31 |
| organizations, peer-based learning sessions, and mentoring | 32 |
| programs. The director, through the program, is authorized to | 33 |
| promote the general business and industrial interests of the | 34 |
| state. | 35 |
| (C)(1) The director, in selecting eligible businesses to | 36 |
| assist, shall select businesses in more than one industry | 37 |
| classification and, to the extent practicable, shall choose | 38 |
| businesses that are geographically distributed throughout the | 39 |
| state. | 40 |
| (2) A business receiving assistance under the program must | 41 |
| enter into an agreement with the director to establish the | 42 |
| business's commitment to participate in the program. The agreement | 43 |
| must require, at a minimum, that the business do all of the | 44 |
| following: | 45 |
| (a) Attend the number of meetings between the business and | 46 |
| the director or another person designated by the director as | 47 |
| prescribed in the agreement; | 48 |
| (b) Report job creation data in the manner prescribed by the | 49 |
| director; | 50 |
| (c) Provide financial data in the manner prescribed by the | 51 |
| director. | 52 |
| The director may prescribe in the agreement additional | 53 |
| reporting requirements as are necessary to document the progress | 54 |
| of the business and monitor the business's implementation of the | 55 |
| assistance. | 56 |
| (D) On or before one year after the effective date of ....B. | 57 |
| .... of the 130th General Assembly, the director of development | 58 |
| services shall make available on the development services agency's | 59 |
| web site a report that includes, at a minimum, the number of | 60 |
| businesses receiving assistance under this section, the number of | 61 |
| full-time equivalent employees created as a result of the | 62 |
| assistance, the total amount of compensation paid for such | 63 |
| employees, and the locations and types of business conducted by | 64 |
| the businesses. The report shall also evaluate the effectiveness | 65 |
| of the economic gardening technical assistance pilot program and | 66 |
| recommend any changes to be made to the program. The report shall | 67 |
| be submitted to the governor, the speaker and minority leader of | 68 |
| the house of representatives, and the majority leader and minority | 69 |
| leader of the senate. | 70 |
| (E) The director of development services shall adopt rules in | 71 |
| accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that are | 72 |
| necessary for the administration of the economic gardening | 73 |
| technical assistance pilot program. | 74 |
| Section 2. Section 1 of ....B. .... of the 130th General | 75 |
| Assembly is hereby repealed, effective two years after the | 76 |
| effective date of ....B. .... of the 130th General Assembly. | 77 |
| Section 3. All items in this section are hereby appropriated | 78 |
| as designated out of any moneys in the state treasury to the | 79 |
| credit of the General Revenue Fund. For all appropriations made in | 80 |
| this act, those in the first column are for fiscal year 2014 and | 81 |
| those in the second column are for fiscal year 2015. The | 82 |
| appropriations made in this act are in addition to any other | 83 |
| appropriations made for the FY 2014-FY 2015 biennium. | 84 |
| Appropriations |
| 85 | |
| General Revenue Fund | 86 |
| GRF | 195530 | Economic Gardening Pilot Program | $ | 250,000 | $ | 250,000 | 87 | ||||
| TOTAL | GRF | General Revenue Fund | $ | 250,000 | $ | 250,000 | 88 | ||||
| TOTAL ALL BUDGET FUND GROUPS | $ | 250,000 | $ | 250,000 | 89 | ||||||
| ECONOMIC GARDENING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PILOT PROGRAM | 90 |
| The foregoing appropriation item 195530, Economic Gardening | 91 |
| Pilot Program, shall be used for the Economic Gardening Technical | 92 |
| Assistance Pilot Program established in Section 1 of this act. | 93 |
| Within the limits set forth in this act, the Director of | 94 |
| Budget and Management shall establish accounts indicating the | 95 |
| source and amount of funds for each appropriation made in this | 96 |
| act, and shall determine the form and manner in which | 97 |
| appropriation accounts shall be maintained. Expenditures from | 98 |
| appropriations contained in this act shall be accounted for as | 99 |
| though made in H.B. 59 of the 130th General Assembly. | 100 |
| The appropriations made in this act are subject to all | 101 |
| provisions of H.B. 59 of the 130th General Assembly that are | 102 |
| generally applicable to such appropriations. | 103 |
| Section 4. Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this act are not | 104 |
| subject to the referendum under Ohio Constitution, Article II, | 105 |
| Section 1d, and section 1.471 of the Revised Code, and therefore | 106 |
| those sections take effect immediately when this act becomes law. | 107 |