Business owners urge flexible headquarters rules to avoid excluding firms that do local work

Multiple business owners told city and state officials that requiring a firm’s corporate headquarters to be located in North Carolina would exclude companies that do substantial work in the Charlotte region. Melody Compton, speaking from the floor, said she would be excluded if the headquarters rule were strict: "I DO HALF OF OUR BUSINESS HERE IN NORTH CAROLINA ... WE ARE HEADQUARTERED IN FLORIDA AND SO ELIMINATING THAT WOULD PUT ME COMPLETELY OUT OF THE SB CATEGORY."

Panelists and other attendees urged alternatives such as a threshold for the portion of revenue generated in‑state, local employment counts, or required numbers of employees based locally. Officials said they will capture this feedback in writing and consider flexible approaches to prioritize locally headquartered firms without automatically excluding firms that create local jobs.