Economic development: foreign trade.

The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development serves as the Governor's lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. The office, among others, makes recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature regarding policies, programs, and actions to advance statewide economic goals. This bill would establish the California Foreign Investment Program. The bill would require the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to serve as the lead state entity for overseeing the state's participation with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services' EB-5 Investment Program. The bill would require the director of the office to set the terms and conditions for issuing a state designation letter for targeted employment areas within the structure and scope of the EB-5 Investment Program and to post on the office's Internet Web site a list with the contact information for each regional center, as specified. The bill would require a regional center with one or more offices in the state to provide the office with, among other things, information on the number of clients served, the location of investments, and the number of direct and indirect jobs created. The bill would authorize specified public and private corporations to establish, operate, and maintain a regional center subject to specified conditions and restrictions. The bill would apply only to EB-5 activities of the state relating to the EB-5 Investment Program occurring on or after January 1, 2014.