(a) The Director of Finance must pay, subject to appropriation, a Biotechnology Investment Incentive Tax Credit Supplement to each applicant who meets certain eligibility standards.
(b) An applicant, who need not be a County resident, is eligible to receive the Supplement if:
(1) the applicant has been designated as a qualified investor under state law and has received a final tax credit certificate for the Maryland biotechnology investment incentive tax credit for the preceding calendar year; and
(2) the tax credit received by the applicant was generated by an investment in a qualified Maryland biotechnology company, as defined in state law, that has its headquarters and base of operations in the County.
(c) The County Executive, by regulations issued under Method (1), may impose other eligibility standards. However, those standards must not make any person ineligible to receive the Supplement who would be eligible under subsection (b).
(d) (1) The Supplement paid to each eligible applicant must equal the product of:
(A) the amount of the credit received by the applicant under the State Biotechnology Investment Tax Credit Program, divided by the total amount of credits received by all Montgomery County biotechnology companies under the State Biotechnology Investment Tax Credit Program during the preceding calendar year; and
(B) the total amount of funds appropriated to the Supplement Program for that fiscal year.
(2) The Supplement paid to any recipient must not exceed:
(A) 50% of the State tax credit that recipient receives from the Maryland Biotechnology Investment Tax Credit Program in the preceding calendar year; or
(B) 15% of the total annual appropriation for the Supplement program.
(e) The Director must request from the Comptroller of the Treasury and Department of Business and Economic Development, by January 15 of each year, a list of each qualified investor for a qualified Maryland biotechnology company that was issued a final credit certificate during the preceding calendar year in order to calculate the Supplement paid under subsection (d), and may take any other action necessary to administer the Supplement. The Executive may issue regulations under Method (1) to implement this Section.
(f) If the Comptroller of the Treasury agrees, the Director may arrange for the Comptroller to pay the Supplement on behalf of the County. To the extent that the Comptroller does not pay the supplement, the Director must pay it directly to each recipient.
(g) A person who submits a false or fraudulent application, or withholds material information, to obtain a payment under this Section has committed a Class A violation. In addition, the person must repay the County for all amounts improperly paid and all accrued interest and penalties that would apply to those amounts as if they were overdue taxes. A person who violates this Section is liable for all court costs and expenses of the County in any civil action brought by the County to recover any payment, interest, or penalty. The County may collect any amount due, and otherwise enforce this Section, by any appropriate legal action.
(h) If all or part of the allowed state tax credit is recaptured under the applicable state law, the recipient must repay the County within 60 days the portion of any Supplement paid by the County that was based on the recaptured credit. (2010 L.M.C., ch. 9, § 1; 2011 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 1; 2015 L.M.C., ch. 36, § 1.)
Editor’s note—2015 L.M.C., ch. 36, § 8 also states, in part: All other provisions of this Act take effect 180 days after the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation is designated under Section 30B-2.