§ 15-4-2704 — Tier system

(a) The Arkansas Economic Development Commission shall establish a tier system that shall rank all seventy-five (75) counties of this state into four (4) divisions on the basis of economic prosperity. (b) Tier 4 shall be the least prosperous division and tier 1 shall be the most prosperous division. (c) The assignment of a county to a tier shall be based on a ranking of: (1) Unemployment rate; (2) Poverty rate; (3) Per capita personal income; and (4) Population change. (d) The commission shall: (1) Update ranking statistics annually; and (2) Place counties into tiers based on the updated statistics. (e) (1) A county that has experienced a sudden and severe period of economic distress caused by a closure of one (1) or more businesses or a mass layoff at one (1) or more businesses, or both, as documented by notice provided under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq., as it existed on January 1, 2019, that results in the loss of a minimum of five percent (5%) of the county's employed labor force may be moved down one (1) tier upon written request by the county judge of the affected county and approval by the Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. (2) The five-percent threshold stated in subdivision (e)(1) of this section shall be evidenced by calculating the highest percentage difference in employment between the county's: (A) Current monthly, not seasonally, adjusted total employed labor force; and (B) Each of the following: (i) The previous monthly, not seasonally, adjusted total employed labor force; (ii) The most recent annually, not seasonally, adjusted total employed labor force; or (iii) The monthly, not seasonally, adjusted total employed labor force for the same month of the previous year. (3) If the director approves a county's move to a higher tier, a qualified business that has signed a financial incentive agreement with the commission dated before the director's action shall receive the incentives that were assigned to the county to which it located at the time the financial incentive agreement was signed, regardless of any subsequent change to the tier. (4) A tier increase approved under this subsection remains in effect until the annual tier rankings are updated under subsection (d) of this section.

Legislative History

Amended by Act 2019, No. 327,§ 1, eff. 7/24/2019. Amended by Act 2019, No. 910,§ 398, eff. 7/1/2019. Acts 2003, No. 182, § 1; 2005, No. 1296, § 2.