PART III.  PLAN; RENEWAL OF COMMUNITIES

§1041.  Strategic plan to combat poverty; renewal of communities; criterion; implementation

A.  The plan shall be a coordinated attempt to address the economic needs of the state's economically disadvantaged citizens whose concerns have not been addressed through the enactment of the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000.

B.  The plan's participants shall consist of the several parishes of the state which possess a census tract which includes a poverty rate of twenty percent or higher and an unemployment rate of eight and four-tenths percent or higher, according to statistical data published by the United States Bureau of the Census for the 1990 federal decennial census.  Such parishes shall be entitled to the same economic incentives as provided by the state in its application for renewal communities.

C.  The governor's Office of Rural Development within the Office of Community Programs, shall extend to all census tracts or parishes meeting the standard provided for in Subsection B of this Section, all economic incentives as provided by the state in its application for renewal communities.

D.  The Departments of Social Services, Health and Hospitals, Labor, Economic Development, Transportation and Development and Education shall provide information relative to the development of a strategic plan to combat poverty and shall direct such information to the governor's Office of Rural Development.

E.  The director of the office of rural development shall submit an annual report to the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, and International Affairs Committee and to the House Commerce Committee detailing actions taken by the office in furtherance of the provisions of this Chapter.

Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 162, §3, eff. April 26, 2002; Acts 2003, No. 183, §8.