---
kind: "section"
citation: "40 U.S.C. § 14524"
title: "40"
title_heading: "Public Buildings, Property, and Works"
number: "14524"
heading: "Program development criteria"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/40/14524"
units:
  - "Subtitle IV — Appalachian Regional Development"
  - "Chapter 145 — Special Appalachian Programs"
  - "Subchapter II — Administrative"
---

# §14524. Program development criteria

- (a) **Factors To Be Considered.—** In considering programs and projects to be given assistance under this subtitle, and in establishing a priority ranking of the requests for assistance presented to the Appalachian Regional [Commission](/usc/40/15101.md?p=1), the [Commission](/usc/40/15101.md?p=1) shall follow procedures that will ensure consideration of—
  - (1) the relationship of the project or class of projects to overall regional development, including its location in a severely and persistently distressed county or area;
  - (2) the population and area to be served by the project or class of projects, including the per capita market income and the unemployment rates in the area;
  - (3) the relative financial resources available to the State or political subdivisions or instrumentalities of the State that seek to undertake the project;
  - (4) the importance of the project or class of projects in relation to other projects or classes of projects that may be in competition for the same amounts;
  - (5) the prospects that the project for which assistance is sought will improve, on a continuing rather than a temporary basis, the opportunities for employment, the average level of income, or the economic and social development of the area served by the project; and
  - (6) the extent to which the project design provides for detailed outcome measurements by which grant expenditures may be evaluated.
- (b) **Limitation on Use.—** Financial assistance made available under this subtitle shall not be used to assist establishments relocating from one area to another.
- (c) **Determination Required Before Amounts May Be Provided.—** Amounts may be provided for programs and projects in a State under this subtitle only if the [Commission](/usc/40/15101.md?p=1) determines that the level of federal and state financial assistance under other laws for the same type of programs or projects in that part of the State within the [Appalachian region](/usc/40/14102.md?p=a-1) will not be diminished in order to substitute amounts authorized by this subtitle.
- (d) **Minimum Amount of Assistance to Distressed Counties and Areas.—** For each fiscal year, not less than 50 percent of the amount of grant expenditures the [Commission](/usc/40/15101.md?p=1) approves shall support activities or projects that benefit severely and persistently distressed counties and areas.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 107–217, Aug. 21, 2002, 116 Stat. 1275.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 14524(a) | 40 App.:224(a). | Pub. L. 89–4, title II, § 224(a), Mar. 9, 1965, 79 Stat. 18; Pub. L. 90–103, title I, § 119(a), Oct. 11, 1967, 81 Stat. 264; Pub. L. 105–393, title II, § 218(a), (b), Nov. 13, 1998, 112 Stat. 3622; Pub. L. 107–149, §§ 8(a), 13(g), Mar. 12, 2002, 116 Stat. 70, 72. |
| 14524(b) | 40 App.:224(b). | Pub. L. 89–4, title II, § 224(b), Mar. 9, 1965, 79 Stat. 19; Pub. L. 90–103, title I, § 119(b), Oct. 11, 1967, 81 Stat. 264; Pub. L. 105–393, title II, § 218(c), Nov. 13, 1998, 112 Stat. 3623. |
| 14524(c) | 40 App.:224(c). | Pub. L. 89–4, title II, § 224(c), as added Pub. L. 94–188, title I, § 117, Dec. 31, 1975, 89 Stat. 1084. |
| 14524(d) | 40 App.:224(d). | Pub. L. 89–4, title II, § 224(d), as added Pub. L. 107–149, § 8(b), Mar. 12, 2002, 116 Stat. 70. |