[§155D-2.5]  Grants; qualified feed developer.  (a)  Applications for grants submitted by qualified feed developers shall be submitted on a form furnished by the department and shall be filed with accompanying documentation of feed development costs; provided that:

     (1)  The applicant shall comply with applicable federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, age, sexual orientation, or disability;

     (2)  The applicant shall have applied for or received any applicable licenses or permits;

     (3)  The applicant shall indemnify and hold harmless the State and its officers, agents, and employees from all claims arising out of or resulting from the feed sold;

     (4)  The grant shall not exceed a total of $200,000 per qualified feed developer per year; and

     (5)  The department may request an applicant to provide any necessary information for the purposes of verifying actual sales to qualified producers.

     (b)  Documentation of animal feed development costs, as requested by the department, shall be filed for feed sold to qualified producers within the immediately preceding fiscal quarter of the filing and shall be effective for feed development costs incurred after July 1, 2016.

     (c)  The applicant shall submit a quarterly financial statement of revenues and expenses along with other supporting documents as deemed necessary by the department and filed with the documentation of the feed development costs.  An annual financial statement shall be filed with the department within ninety days following the close of the business' fiscal year, for final reconciliation of any reimbursement paid during the previous three quarters within the fiscal year.  The financial statement shall be certified as accurate by the applicant and the preparer of the financial statement on forms prepared by the department.

     (d)  Funds shall be disbursed upon approval by the department to the qualified feed developer for up to fifty per cent of the development costs of feed sold to qualified producers, as verified by a certified public accountant.

     (e)  In no case shall costs be reimbursed to a qualified feed developer when, after evaluation and verification by the department, the department determines that the amount of reimbursement will result in an annual profit of more than ten per cent.

     (f)  The department shall aggregate the total grant applications pursuant to this section and divide and distribute the available grant funds on a pro rata basis. [L 2016, c 221, §2]