24 CFR 570.210 – Prohibition on use of assistance for employment relocation activities
(a) Prohibition. CDBG funds may not be used to directly assist a business, including a business expansion, in the relocation of a plant, facility, or operation from one LMA to another LMA if the relocation is likely to result in a significant loss of jobs in the LMA from which the relocation occurs.
(b) Definitions. The following definitions apply to this section:
(1) Directly assist. Directly assist means the provision of CDBG funds for activities pursuant to:
(i) § 570.203(b); or
(ii) §§ 570.201(a)-(d), 570.201(l), 570.203(a), or § 570.204 when the grantee, subrecipient, or, in the case of an activity carried out pursuant to § 570.204, a Community Based Development Organization (CDBO) enters into an agreement with a business to undertake one or more of these activities as a condition of the business relocating a facility, plant, or operation to the grantee’s LMA. Provision of public facilities and indirect assistance that will provide benefit to multiple businesses does not fall under the definition of “directly assist,” unless it includes the provision of infrastructure to aid a specific business that is the subject of an agreement with the specific assisted business.
(2) Labor market area (LMA). For metropolitan areas, an LMA is an area defined as such by the BLS. An LMA is an economically integrated geographic area within which individuals can live and find employment within a reasonable distance or can readily change employment without changing their place of residence. In addition, LMAs are nonoverlapping and geographically exhaustive. For metropolitan areas, grantees must use employment data, as defined by the BLS, for the LMA in which the affected business is currently located and from which current jobs may be lost. For non-metropolitan areas, an LMA is either an area defined by the BLS as an LMA, or a state may choose to combine non-metropolitan LMAs. States are required to define or reaffirm prior definitions of their LMAs on an annual basis and retain records to substantiate such areas prior to any business relocation that would be impacted by this rule. Metropolitan LMAs cannot be combined, nor can a non-metropolitan LMA be combined with a metropolitan LMA. For the HUD-administered Small Cities Program, each of the three participating counties in Hawaii will be considered to be its own LMA. Recipients of Fiscal Year 1999 Small Cities Program funding in New York will follow the requirements for State CDBG recipients.
(3) Operation. A business operation includes, but is not limited to, any equipment, employment opportunity, production capacity or product line of the business.
(4) Significant loss of jobs. (i) A loss of jobs is significant if: The number of jobs to be lost in the LMA in which the affected business is currently located is equal to or greater than one-tenth of one percent of the total number of persons in the labor force of that LMA; or in all cases, a loss of 500 or more jobs. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, a loss of 25 jobs or fewer does not constitute a significant loss of jobs.
(ii) A job is considered to be lost due to the provision of CDBG assistance if the job is relocated within three years of the provision of assistance to the business; or the time period within which jobs are to be created as specified by the agreement between the business and the recipient if it is longer than three years.
(c) Written agreement. Before directly assisting a business with CDBG funds, the recipient, subrecipient, or a CDBO (in the case of an activity carried out pursuant to § 570.204) shall sign a written agreement with the assisted business. The written agreement shall include:
(1) Statement. A statement from the assisted business as to whether the assisted activity will result in the relocation of any industrial or commercial plant, facility, or operation from one LMA to another, and, if so, the number of jobs that will be relocated from each LMA;
(2) Required information. If the assistance will not result in a relocation covered by this section, a certification from the assisted business that neither it, nor any of its subsidiaries, has plans to relocate jobs at the time the agreement is signed that would result in a significant job loss as defined in this rule; and
(3) Reimbursement of assistance. The agreement shall provide for reimbursement of any assistance provided to, or expended on behalf of, the business in the event that assistance results in a relocation prohibited under this section.
(d) Assistance not covered by this section. This section does not apply to:
(1) Relocation assistance. Relocation assistance required by the Uniform Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, (URA) (42 U.S.C. §§ 4601–4655);
(2) Microenterprises. Assistance to microenterprises as defined by Section 102(a)(22) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974; and
(3) Arms-length transactions. Assistance to a business that purchases business equipment, inventory, or other physical assets in an arms-length transaction, including the assets of an existing business, provided that the purchase does not result in the relocation of the sellers’ business operation (including customer base or list, goodwill, product lines, or trade names) from one LMA to another LMA and does not produce a significant loss of jobs in the LMA from which the relocation occurs.