NC H870

Tier one areas are counties ranking among the 40 highest in development factor; tier two are the next 40 highest; tier three are all remaining counties.

Secretary of Commerce shall annually assign each county a development factor by November 30 based on four metrics: unemployment rate rank, median household income rank, population growth rate rank, and adjusted assessed property value per capita rank.

Counties with 30% or more of their area within rural census tracts are automatically excluded from being ranked among the 20 lowest counties, regardless of their actual development factor.

Development tier designations become effective only for the calendar year following the annual ranking and publication by the Secretary of Commerce.

Act is effective upon becoming law and applies to all annual rankings performed on or after that date.