(1) The Washington manufacturing innovation and modernization extension service program is created to provide assistance to small manufacturers located in the state of Washington. The program shall be administered by the department.

     (2)(a) Application to receive assistance under this program must be made to the department in a form and manner specified by the department. Successful applicants will receive an innovation and modernization extension voucher from the department to cover the costs of extension services performed by a qualified manufacturing extension partnership affiliate. An applicant may not receive a voucher or vouchers of over two hundred thousand dollars per calendar year. The department shall only allocate up to sixty percent of available funding during the first year of a biennium.

     (b) Applicants must:

     (i) Have a valid agreement with a qualified manufacturing extension partnership affiliate to engage in innovation and modernization extension services;

     (ii) Agree to: (A) Make a contribution to the manufacturing innovation and modernization account created in RCW 43.338.030, in an amount equal to twenty-five percent of the amount of the innovation and modernization extension voucher, upon completion of the innovation and modernization extension service; and (B) make monthly or quarterly contributions over the subsequent eighteen months, as specified in their agreement with the affiliate, to the manufacturing innovation and modernization account created in RCW 43.338.030 in an amount equal to eighty percent of the amount of the innovation and modernization extension voucher;

     (iii) Be a small manufacturer or an industry association or cluster association at the time the applicant entered into an agreement with a qualified manufacturing extension partnership affiliate; and

     (iv) If a small manufacturer, ensure that the number of employees the applicant has in the state during the calendar year following the completion of the program will be equal to or greater than the number of employees the applicant had in the state in the calendar year preceding the start of the program.

     (3) The director may solicit and receive gifts, grants, funds, fees, and endowments, in trust or otherwise, from tribal, local, federal, or other governmental entities, as well as private sources, for the purpose of providing funding for the innovation and modernization extension services and outreach services specified in this chapter. All revenue solicited and received by the department pursuant to this subsection must be deposited into the manufacturing innovation and modernization account created in RCW 43.338.030.

     (4) The department may adopt rules to implement this section.

     (5) Any qualified manufacturing extension partnership affiliate receiving funding under this program is required to submit a copy of its annual independent federal audit to the department within three months of its issuance.

[2008 c 315 § 3.]

NOTES:

     Sunset Act application: See note following chapter digest.