Amends TCA Section 6-58-114.

Present law requires counties to establish joint economic and community development boards, by interlocal agreement, to foster communication relative to economic and community development between and among governmental entities, industry, and private citizens. This bill adds provisions in regard to joint economic and community development boards, as follows:<br /> <br /> (1) Specifies that growth plans should include ways to address issues impacting communities that hinder growth;<br /> <br /> (2) Specifies that community development may include initiatives to address issues impacting communities that are not directly related to economic growth but hinder development such as drug abuse and crime;<br /> <br /> (3) Encourages joint economic and community development boards to include representation from school systems located within the county;<br /> <br /> (4) Authorizes participating governments to enter into agreements with nongovernment members of the board to contribute to the funding of the activities of the board. Funding calculations established under present law will apply unless there are such agreements to the contrary. Under present law, the formula for determining the amount of funds due from each participating government is determined by adding the population of the entire county as established by the last federal decennial census to the populations of each city as determined by the last federal decennial census, or special census and then determining the percentage that the population of each governmental entity bears to the total amount;<br /> <br /> (5) Specifies that each participating government retains full authority to approve or disapprove contributions to the board's budget. Under present law, an annual budget to fund the activities of the board is recommended by the executive committee to the board. The funding formula is applied to the total amount budgeted by the board as the participating governments' contributions for the ensuing fiscal year. The budget and a statement of the amount due from each participating government is filed with the appropriate officer of each participating government;<br /> <br /> (6) Provides that a board may exercise on behalf of its constituent members any authority contained in the interlocal agreement that may be exercised separately by the constituent member. This bill specifies that the board's authority must include, but not be limited to, contracting with an industrial development corporation, development district, human resources agency, nonprofit corporation, or private business to deliver services that further economic growth in the community; and<br /> <br /> (7) Requires a board to annually submit a report to the department of economic and community development. The report must describe all activities and expenditures of the board. The report must be made available on the department's website.<br /> <br /> ON APRIL 7, 2021, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 224, AS AMENDED.<br /> <br /> AMENDMENT #1 deletes the provisions of this bill that are described in (4) and (7) of the Bill Summary and authorizes, instead of requires, a board's powers to include the contracting authority described in (6) of the Bill Summary.<br />