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rr <br />~r <br />w <br />Chapter 2 <br />Project Description <br />Project Overview <br />The City is submitting an application to the State of California HCD for a <br />15-year SEZ designation. The proposed SEZ is designed to attract new <br />businesses, create new jobs, and retain existing businesses and jobs in the city. <br />The project would allow businesses located within the SEZ to take advantage of <br />state tax incentives and City benefits. <br />The SEZ, in and of itself, would not result in any specific construction projects, <br />land acquisition projects, or other development projects. Such activities may <br />occur from individual projects as an indirect result of the SEZ business <br />incentives; however, those projects would be subject to individual environmental <br />review pursuant to CEQA, as well as the City's general plan and zoning <br />regulations. The Santa Ana SEZ would have a horizon year of 2023, extending <br />15 years from the June 7, 2008, expiration date of the existing enterprise zone. <br />Project Background <br />Original enterprise zones had their beginning in Britain, which offered tax <br />reductions and a lifting of regulatory burdens for local businesses. The main <br />objective was to foster an attractive business environment in specific areas where <br />economic growth was lacking. Two legislative bills, Assembly Bill (AB) 40 and <br />AB 514, were approved in 1984 and established the Enterprise Zone and <br />Economic Incentive Area Programs in the State of California. The Nolan Bill <br />provided for the establishment of 25 enterprise zones, while the Waters Bill <br />provided for the establishment of 9 program/economic incentive areas. The bills <br />varied slightly in terms of the incentives offered to businesses; however, both <br />programs were designed to help communities spur business growth and job <br />generation by offering state tax credits and incentives to qualifying businesses. <br />The first zones/areas were awarded in 1986 and by 1993 all original "slots" <br />provided by legislation were filled. With the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 2023 in <br />1997, the two zone programs were unified into an even stronger and more <br />lucrative program. SB 965, which was also passed in 1997, made the Work <br />Opportunity Tax Credit and its successor programs an automatic Enterprise Zone <br />Hiring Program qualifier. In 1990, with the onset of the recession and the impact <br />Initial Study <br />N~~ac LVIIC <br />2-1 <br />19E-11 <br />November2007 <br />J$S 00814.07 <br />