Establishes program in EDA to encourage employee ownership awareness and provide funding and advisory support.

The entire section establishing the Director of Employee Ownership position was deleted. This role was responsible for administering the program, serving as the State's liaison for employee ownership, and advising EDA on program changes.

The Advisory Commission on Employee Ownership was renamed to an Advisory Committee and restructured from an independent body established 'in, but not of' the authority to an internal body that 'the authority shall establish.' This reduces its independence from EDA management.

The Advisory Committee was given new authority to call upon other State entities within the executive branch for guidance and expertise.

Committee membership was reduced from 13 members to 9. The ex officio seats for the EDA CEO, Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, and State Treasurer were removed. Members are now 'selected by the authority' rather than appointed by the Governor with Senate advice and consent. The final category was reduced from two public members to one individual.

The contractor approval process changed from EDA reviewing and approving applications on a rolling basis to publishing and maintaining a list of eligible contractors, including those pre-qualified for application approval. The list must be updated at least every two years.

Loan applications to the Revolving Loan Fund now require that employee ownership feasibility study services have been completed before an application can be submitted.

Rulemaking authority was changed from EDA adopting rules under the full Administrative Procedure Act process to allowing the CEO to adopt rules immediately upon filing with the Office of Administrative Law, effective for up to 365 days before normal APA requirements apply. This enables faster implementation.