Department of Workforce; workforce talent recruitment grant program established, eligibility provided for, and fund established

HB354 ENGROSSED
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HB354
HGMQ588-2
By Representative Robbins
RFD: Ways and Means Education
First Read: 29-Jan-26
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First Read: 29-Jan-26
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to the Department of Workforce; to establish a
talent recruitment grant program administered by the
department; to award grant funds to eligible applicants; to
provide eligibility standards; and to establish the Talent
Recruitment Program Grant Fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. For the purposes of this act, the following
terms have the following meanings:
(1) DEPARTMENT. The Alabama Department of Workforce.
(2) HOUSEHOLD. A group of one or more individuals who
dwell together within the same dwelling.
(3) HOUSEHOLD GOAL. The total number of households that
a talent recruitment program seeks to successfully incentivize
to relocate or commit to relocate from outside this state to a
county or municipality in this state.
Section 2. (a) Subject to the availability of funds,
the department shall:
(1) Establish and administer a workforce talent
recruitment grant program for the purpose of awarding grants
for talent recruitment programs that incentivize households to
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for talent recruitment programs that incentivize households to
relocate from outside this state to this state;
(2) Award grants to eligible applicants for the purpose
of administering the talent recruitment program and the costs
associated with incentivizing households to relocate from
outside this state to this state; and
(3) Disburse 50 percent of the total grant award upon
entering into a grant contract and 50 percent of the total
grant award upon the recipient reporting to the department
that the recipient has successfully met half of the household
goal stated in the talent recruitment program plan. If the
recipient fails to meet half of its stated household goal, the
department shall not disburse the remaining grant amount.
(b) Eligible applicants for the talent recruitment
program shall include:
(1) A municipality or county in this state; and
(2) A nonprofit organization that has a mission
relating to economic development, workforce and talent
development, or community development.
(c) Applicants for the talent recruitment program shall
do all of the following:
(1) Provide the department with a talent recruitment
program plan that includes:
a. The total estimated cost of the program;
b. The individual estimated costs associated with the
program's design, administration, marketing, and relocation
incentive initiatives;
c. The program's plan to assure that new households do
not displace households that already live in the county or
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not displace households that already live in the county or
municipality;
d. The program's household goal;
e. The estimated total grant amount per relocated
household;
f. The program's estimated state and local tax impact;
and
g. The program's estimated total economic impact.
(2) Demonstrate the ability to contribute at least 20
percent of the total talent recruitment program cost. The
applicant's contribution may include local investments and
in-kind donations. In order for a previous grant recipient to
be eligible for additional grant funds, the applicant must
have met the household goal stated in the talent recruitment
program plan.
(d) Each grant recipient must provide semiannual
reports to the department with the following information:
(1) The total number of household applications.
(2) The total number of approved households.
(3) The cost per approved household.
(4) The annual incomes and occupations of approved
households.
(5) The economic impact of the talent recruitment
program, including state and local tax revenue and new
consumer spending.
(6) Verification of eligibility for moved and committed
to move households.
(e) A household is eligible for the talent recruitment
program incentives if the household meets all of the following
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program incentives if the household meets all of the following
requirements:
(1) Resides outside of this state at the time the
household applies for talent recruitment program incentives.
(2) Has an individual household income equal to or
greater than the median household income for the state, as
reported in the most recently completed decennial census
published by the United States Bureau of the Census.
(3) Submits an application to the recipient of a grant
to receive talent recruitment program incentives.
Section 3. (a) The Talent Recruitment Program Grant
Fund is created in the State Treasury.
(b) The fund shall consist of all monies paid into the
State Treasury to the credit of the fund or by legislative
appropriations, grants, gifts, or otherwise.
(c) Monies contained in the fund may be expended for
grants as provided under this act.
(d) At the end of any fiscal year, any unexpended or
unencumbered monies contributed to or deposited in the fund
from any source shall remain in the fund for the use of the
department for the talent recruitment grant program.
(e) All monies in the fund shall be budgeted and
allotted pursuant to the Budget Management Act in accordance
with Article 4 of Chapter 4 and Chapter 19 of Title 41, Code
of Alabama 1975, and only in the amount provided by the
Legislature in the general appropriations act or other
appropriations act.
Section 4. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2026.
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1, 2026.
House of Representatives
Read for the first time and referred
to the House of Representatives
committee on Ways and Means
Education
................29-Jan-26
Read for the second time and placed
on the calendar:
1 amendment
................03-Mar-26
Read for the third time and passed
as amended
Yeas 91
Nays 0
Abstains 4
................19-Mar-26
John Treadwell
Clerk
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