{"data":{"id":"us/7-cfr-4280.43","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"7 CFR 4280.43","heading":"Discretionary points.","body":"The RBS Administrator has the discretion to designate up to 25 points (no more than 5 points for each of the following elements) based on whether the Project:\n(a) Is located in a Rural Empowerment Zone, Rural Economic Area Partnership Zone, Rural Enterprise Community, or Champion Community;\n(b) Is located in a county that has experienced the loss, removal, or closing of a major source or sources of employment in the last 3 years which causes an increase of 2 percentage points or more in the county's most recent unemployment rate compared with the same period immediately before the dislocation;\n(c) Is located in a county that has experienced chronic or long-term economic deterioration;\n(d) Is located in a county that was designated a disaster area by the President of the United States that significantly affected rural economic development and job creation. The county must have been designated within 3 years prior to filing of the completed application with Rural Development; or\n(e) Is consistent with the Rural Development State Office's approved strategic plan and mission area objectives and is identified as a priority area for assistance in the States' plan.","path":["Title 7—Agriculture","Subtitle B—Regulations of the Department of Agriculture","CHAPTER XLII—RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE","PART 4280—LOANS AND GRANTS","Subpart A—Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Programs"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-7.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:24:01Z","sha256":"1d8273d565b928f5d40bf89d77a22f995abc872ba058af727ba6e29f6f88abc3","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/7-cfr-4280.42","next":"us/7-cfr-4280.44"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}