North Carolina HB 723: Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 723

Short Title: Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Logan, Ross, Belk, and Reives (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
April 3, 2025
*H723-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE NORTH CAROLINA TECHNOLOGY COALITIONS 2
STRATEGIC SUPPORT FUND. 3
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4
SECTION 1. Article 10 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes is amended by 5
adding a new section to read: 6
"§ 143B-437.84. The North Carolina Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund. 7
(a) Fund; Purposes. – The North Carolina Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund 8
is established as a special fund in the Department of Commerce. The Office of Science, 9
Technology, and Innovation shall be responsible for administering grants awarded by the 10
Department from the Fund with oversight from the Board of Science, Technology, and 11
Innovation. Grants shall be for the purpose of encouraging regional technology-based economic 12
growth by fostering collaboration throughout a technology coalition and aligning State resource 13
investment to scale critical and secure supply chains. 14
(b) Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this section: 15
(1) Cost match. – Financial or in-kind resources provided through the Fund to a 16
recipient, defined by a ratio of funding pursued or granted by non-State 17
sources to that provided by the Fund. 18
(2) Department. – The Department of Commerce. 19
(3) Fund. – The North Carolina Technology Coalitions Strategic Support Fund 20
established in this section. 21
(4) Office. – The Office of Science, Technology, and Innovation. 22
(5) Recipient. – An organization supported by the Fund that represents a 23
technology coalition. Recipients may be an industry alliance, nonprofit 24
organization, local government, academic institution, or State agency. 25
(6) Regional area. – Area of service by the technology coalition and the focus of 26
economic development metric analysis for a technology-based industry 27
sector. For purposes of the Fund, a regional area must be defined within the 28
boundaries of the State. 29
(7) Technology coalition. – A regional network of organizations, such as private 30
sector, academic, nonprofit, and government institutions, in a network of 31
formal and informal relationships that contribute to technological and 32
economic development in a technology-based industry sector, such as (i) 33
artificial intelligence, (ii) high-performance computing and semiconductors, 34
(iii) quantum science and technology, (iv) advanced manufacturing, (v) 35

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 723-First Edition
disaster prevention, (vi) advanced communications technology, (vii) 1
cybersecurity, (viii) biotechnology, (ix) advanced energy technology, and (x) 2
material science. 3
(c) Eligibility. – To be eligible for a grant from the Fund, all of the following conditions 4
must be met: 5
(1) The recipient must have its principal place of operation in the State. 6
(2) The recipient must certify that (i) the grant will be used for allowable purposes 7
solely within the State and (ii) it will retain its principal place of operation in 8
the State for as long as it receives grant money from the Fund or the term 9
required by the Office, whichever is longer. 10
(3) The recipient applies under oath, to, and on a form prescribed by the Office 11
that includes all of the following: 12
a. The name of the business, the form of organization under which it is 13
operated, and the names and addresses of the principals or 14
management of the business. 15
b. A description of how a grant from the Fund will aid the technology 16
coalition to advance its goals. 17
c. Justifications for the use of Fund resources for intended economic 18
impact to a regional area. 19
d. Any other information necessary for the Office to evaluate the 20
application. 21
(4) The recipient does not apply for or receive concurrent funding support from 22
other sources duplicating the purposes of the Fund. 23
(5) The recipient uses the grant from the Fund only for the activities listed in the 24
application and for which the grant was awarded. 25
(d) Use. – Other than administrative funds retained by the Department in an amount equal 26
to the greater of (i) one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) or (ii) two percent (2%) of the 27
appropriation to the Fund for the year, the Department shall award distributions from the Fund 28
based on strategic and tactical programmatic needs solely for the following: 29
(1) Coalition infrastructure support, including (i) funding recipients to provide 30
external support or funding to State agencies or divisions of State agencies to 31
conduct market and econo