The RISE Grant Program

The grant program will be structured in the following manner:

• $250,000,000 allocation from remaining state ARPA Funds
• $5000 grants to businesses for hiring a qualified employee for a net new job.
• Eligible businesses must have 50 or less employees. Grants are only eligible for net new jobs which provide at least 30 hours of work per week at or above the minimum wage.
• Qualified employees are those who lost their jobs after the Governor’s first executive order mandating closures in 2020. March 20, 2020
• Grants shall be awarded in the order the grant applications are received

"Net new job" means a full-time equivalent employment position (outlined above) that causes the taxpayer's average employee head count in the State for the calendar year in which the taxable year begins to exceed its employee head count in the State on the effective date of this legislation.

"Qualified employee" means a resident of the State who is hired by the taxpayer to fill a net new job and was unemployed because of COVID-19 prior to the date he or she was hired by the taxpayer. The term "qualified employee" includes, but is not limited to, a resident who was self-employed but became unemployed because of COVID-19. The term "qualified employee" does not include an employee who was furloughed by the taxpayer and reinstated during the taxable year.