Sec. 201 Eligibility requirements for Economic Freedom Zone Status
In general— In order to be eligible for designation as an Economic Freedom Zone by the Secretary, an eligible entity shall meet one or more of the following requirements (in order of priority) and the requirements of section 202:
Eligible chapter 9 debtor— An eligible entity that satisfies the requirements under section 109(c) of title 11, United States Code.
Eligible entity at risk of insolvency—
In general— An eligible entity that is at risk of insolvency, as described in subparagraph (B).
Requirements— An eligible entity is at risk of insolvency if—
an independent actuarial firm that has been engaged by the eligible entity and that does not have a conflict of interest with the eligible entity, including any previous relationship with the eligible entity, as determined by the Secretary—
determines that the eligible entity is insolvent (as defined in section 101(a)(4)); and
submits its analysis regarding the insolvency of the eligible entity to the Secretary; and
the Secretary has reviewed and approved the determination of insolvency by the actuarial firm.
Low economic and high poverty zones—
In general— An eligible entity that is designated as a low economic or high poverty zone under subparagraph (B).
Designation— The Secretary, after reviewing supporting data as deemed appropriate, shall designate an eligible entity as a low economic or high poverty area if—
the State or local government with jurisdiction over the entity certifies that—
the entity is one of pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress;
the average rate of unemployment within such entity during the most recent 3-month period for which data is available is at least 1.5 times the national unemployment rate for the period involved;
during the most recent 3-month period, at least 30 percent of the area residents have incomes below the national poverty level; or
at least 70 percent of the are residents have incomes below 80 percent of the median income of households within the jurisdiction of the local government (as determined in the same manner as under section 119(b)(2) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974); and
the Secretary determines that such a designation is appropriate.
Special high poverty requirement for designation— An eligible entity shall be designated as a low economic or high poverty zone if the Secretary determines that—
the State in which the entity is located within one of the 10 most impoverished States, as determined using United States Census Bureau data;
the entity is one of pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress;
the average rate of unemployment within such entity during the most recent 3-month period for which data is available is at least 1.25 times the national unemployment rate for the period involved;
during the most recent 3-month period, at least 25 percent of the area residents have income below the national poverty level; or
at least 65 percent of the residents have incomes below 80 percent of the median income of households within the jurisdiction of the local government (as determined in the same manner as under section 119(b)(2) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974).
Refusal To grant status— The Secretary may refuse to designate an eligible entity as an Economic Freedom Zone if the Secretary determines that any requirement under this Act, including any requirement under subsection (a)(2)(B), has not been satisfied.