(a) Petition. Each calendar year, the Governor of a State may submit a petition to the SBA Office of the HUBZone Program requesting that certain covered areas be designated as Governor-designated covered areas. For a specific covered area to receive a designation as a Governor-designated covered area, the Governor of the State in which the identified covered area is wholly contained shall include such area in a petition to SBA requesting such a designation.

(1) A Governor may submit not more than one petition described in this section per calendar year.

(2) The petition described in this section shall include all covered areas in a State for which the Governor seeks designation as a Governor-designated covered area. The total number of covered areas included in such petition may not exceed ten percent of the total number of covered areas in the State.

(3)(i) The total number of covered areas in a State shall be calculated by aggregating the number of census tracts and counties that qualify as covered areas as described in paragraph (d) of this section.

(ii) A petition need not seek SBA approval for those covered areas previously designated as Governor-designated covered areas.

(b) SBA Review. In reviewing a request for designation included in such a petition, SBA may consider:

(1) The potential for job creation and investment in the covered area;

(2) The demonstrated interest of small business concerns in the covered area to be designated as a Governor-designated covered area;

(3) How State and local government officials have incorporated the covered area into an economic development strategy; and

(4) If the covered area was a HUBZone before becoming the subject of the petition, the impact on the covered area if the Administrator did not approve the petition.

(c) SBA Decision. The AA/GCBD (or designee) is authorized to grant the petitions described in this section. If the AA/GCBD (or designee) grants a petition described in this section, SBA will issue a written notice to the petitioning Governor and add the newly designated Governor-designated covered areas to the HUBZone Map.

(d) Length of designation. A Governor-designated covered area will be treated as a HUBZone until SBA next updates the HUBZone Map in accordance with § 126.105(a), or one year after the petition is approved, whichever is later.

(e) Definitions. In this section:

(1) The term “covered area” means a census tract or county in a State—

(i) That is located outside of an urban area, as determined by the Bureau of the Census, with a population of not more than 50,000; and

(ii) For which the average unemployment rate is at least 120 percent of the average unemployment rate of the United States or of the State in which the covered area is located, whichever is less, based on the most recent data available from the American Community Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census.

(2) The term “Governor” means the chief executive of a State.

(3) The term “State” means each of the States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa.