| This bill includes annual General Fund appropriations |
| totalling $2,000,000 for the Department of Economic and Community |
| Development. It provides $1,200,000 annually to continue the |
| momentum of the department's proactive business attraction |
| marketing program. It also provides $800,000 annually for a |
| capacity building block grant program to regional economic |
| development districts, giving them a flexible and discretionary |
| funding source to address a variety of locally determined |
| priority issues and needs such as responding to defense |
| conversion issues, coping with the loss of a major employer, |
| responding to long-term patterns of downsizing in a mature or |
| dominant business sector or helping to develop grass roots |
| economic development capacity in underserved communities and |
| areas through organizational development, coalition building and |
| staffing assistance. |
