§ 40-18-379 — Joint Legislative Advisory Committee on Economic Incentives

(a) There is hereby created a permanent Joint Legislative Advisory Committee on Economic Incentives, hereinafter referred to as the committee.
(b) The committee shall be comprised of all of the following persons:
(1) The chairs of the House Ways and Means General Fund and Education Fund committees.
(2) The chairs of the Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund and Education Fund committees.
(3) The Speaker of the House, or his or her designee, and two members of the House of Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker of the House.
(4) The President Pro Tempore of the Senate, or his or her designee, and the chair of the Senate Committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development or its successor committee, if any.
(5) One member of the Senate to be appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(c)(1) The committee shall hold an organizational meeting by August 1, 2015, and shall therein elect a chair and vice chair from among its members. Thereafter, the committee shall meet at the call of the chair or any majority of members thereof; provided that the committee shall meet at least two times annually. Other than the organizational meeting, such meetings shall be held with the Secretary of Commerce in attendance, or his or her designee. The committee may meet, act, and conduct its business during the sessions of the Legislature or any recess thereof, and in the interim period between sessions.
(2) Beginning July 1, 2023, in the first year of each quadrennium, the committee shall elect from its membership a chair and vice-chair, which shall rotate between members from the House and Senate. The chair shall be elected from the House and the vice-chair from the Senate to serve the first two years of each quadrennium. Beginning with the third January 1 of the quadrennium and to serve for the remainder of the quadrennium, the vice-chair shall become the chair, and the chair shall become the vice-chair. If the chair becomes vacant, the vice-chair shall serve as chair until a replacement chair is elected. An election to fill a vacancy of the chair or vice-chair shall occur at the next meeting of the committee.
(d) The committee shall adopt its own rules of procedure for the transaction of committee business, and a majority of the members present shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of transacting or performing authorized duties.
(e) The committee shall monitor and evaluate the management process and standards used by the Department of Commerce in the development of project agreements and in the awarding of economic development incentives as authorized by the laws of this state. The committee may provide recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce regarding the same and shall act in an advisory role only. Such recommendations may include certain identified minimum standards to be set forth in project agreements and otherwise in the awarding of economic development incentives, as well as recommendations regarding the recruitment of certain industries to the various geographic regions of the state. The committee may also request from the Department of Commerce specific, non-confidential information on successfully negotiated and executed project agreements as well as non-confidential information on unsuccessful project agreement negotiations.
(f) The Department of Commerce shall provide to the committee, upon request, an aggregated list of the amounts and types of economic development incentives awarded, as well as an analysis of the cost and benefits of the incentives awarded. The Department of Revenue shall assist the Department of Commerce in the calculations required in this section.
(g) The Department of Commerce, the Department of Revenue, and the Department of Finance shall collectively report, no later than January 1 of each year, the aggregate amount of incentives committed by tax source on executed project agreements during the past fiscal year. Nothing in this subsection shall require or authorize the disclosure of any individual taxpayer or taxpayer identifying information.
(h)(1) The committee may request that a third-party evaluation be conducted assessing the impacts of state economic development incentives, in the form of an annual Executive Report. The committee shall designate the third party and shall determine the form and contents of the Executive Report, that may include historical economic incentives.
(2) The Department of Commerce, the Department of Revenue, and the Department of Labor shall cooperate with, and timely provide requested nonconfidential information to, the chosen third party conducting the evaluation.
(3) An Executive Report provided to the committee pursuant to this subsection shall not be considered a public record under Article 3 of Chapter 12 of Title 36.
(i) The committee shall make an annual report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature during each regular session, and in its discretion may submit additional reports from time to time, or at any time.
(j) In no event shall the Department of Commerce be required to disclose matters which would cause it to violate any nondisclosure agreement executed for a project. In no event shall the Department of Commerce be required to disclose matters which would cause the State of Alabama to be at a competitive disadvantage in ongoing or future project negotiations. The Department of Commerce shall not be required under this article to disclose confidential information to the committee that involves ongoing project negotiations.
(k) Meetings of the committee are exempt from Chapter 25A of Title 36, provided that the minutes of each meeting shall be made available for public inspection. In order to balance the privacy needs of economic development negotiations with openness to the public, the committee may use code names in its deliberations about various applicants and in the minutes of its proceedings.
(l) The membership of the committee shall be inclusive and shall reflect the racial, gender, geographic, urban/rural, and economic diversity of the state.
(m) Upon request of the chair, the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House shall provide clerical assistance as the committee requires.

Legislative History

(Act 2015-27, p. 103, §3; Act 2023-36, §1.)