77-6919.

Incentives; application; contents; fee; approval; conditions; agreement; confidentiality; limitation on new applications.

(1) To earn the incentives set forth in the Urban Redevelopment Act, the taxpayer shall file an application for an agreement with the Director of Economic Development.

(2) The application shall:

(a) Identify the taxpayer applying for incentives;

(b) Identify the location or locations where the new investment and employment will occur, including documentation to show that each such location is a qualified location;

(c) State the estimated, projected amount of new investment and the estimated, projected number of new equivalent employees; and

(d) Include an application fee of five hundred dollars. The fee shall be remitted to the State Treasurer for credit to the Nebraska Incentives Fund.

(3) Subject to the limit in subsection (4) of this section, the director shall approve the application and authorize the total amount of incentives expected to be earned if he or she is satisfied that the qualified location or locations meet the requirements established in section 77-6920 and such requirements will be reached within the required time period.

(4) The director shall not approve further applications once the expected incentives from the approved projects total eight million dollars. All but one hundred dollars of the application fee shall be refunded to the applicant if the application is not approved for any reason.

(5) Applications for incentives shall be considered in the order in which they are received.

(6) The director has ninety days to approve a complete application.

(7) After approval, the taxpayer and the director shall enter into a written agreement. As part of such agreement, the taxpayer shall agree to increase the levels of employment and investment required by the act and the director, on behalf of the State of Nebraska, shall, in consideration of the taxpayer's agreement, agree to allow the taxpayer to use the incentives contained in the Urban Redevelopment Act up to the total amount that were authorized by the director at the time of approval. The application and all supporting documentation, to the extent approved, shall be considered a part of the agreement. The agreement shall state:

(a) The levels of employment and investment required by the act for the project;

(b) The time period under the act in which the required levels must be met;

(c) The documentation the taxpayer will need to supply when claiming an incentive under the act;

(d) The date the application was filed; and

(e) The maximum amount of incentives authorized.

(8) The application, the agreement, all supporting information, and all other information reported to the Director of Economic Development shall be kept confidential by the director, except for the name of the taxpayer, the location of the project, the estimated amounts of increased employment and investment stated in the application, the date of the complete application, the date the agreement was signed, and the information required to be reported by section 77-6928. The application, the agreement, and all supporting information shall be provided by the director to the Department of Revenue. The director shall disclose, to any municipalities in which project locations exist, the approval of an application and the execution of an agreement under this section. The Tax Commissioner shall also notify each municipality of the amount and taxpayer identity for each refund of local option sales and use taxes of the municipality within thirty days after the refund is allowed or approved. Disclosures shall be kept confidential by the municipality unless publicly disclosed previously by the taxpayer or by the State of Nebraska.

(9) There shall be no new applications for incentives filed under this section after December 31, 2031.