TITLE 42

State Affairs and Government

CHAPTER 42-64.14

The I-195 Redevelopment Act of 2011

SECTION 42-64.14-4



   § 42-64.14-4  Definitions. –

As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:



   (1) "Adjusted current employment" means, for any taxable year

ending on or after January 1, 2012, the aggregate of the average daily number

of full-time equivalent active employees employed within the state by an

eligible company and its eligible subsidiaries during each taxable year.



   (2) "Affiliated entity" means any corporation or other

business entity owned or controlled by the same persons or shareholders or

equity holders who own or control an eligible company.



   (3) "Base employment" means the aggregate number of full-time

equivalent active employees employed within the state by an eligible life

sciences company and its eligible life sciences subsidiaries on January 1,

2011, or at the election of the eligible life sciences company, on an

alternative date as provided by § 42-64.14-12. In the case of a

manufacturing company which is ruined by disaster, the aggregate number of

full-time equivalent active employees employed at the destroyed facility would

be zero, under which circumstance the base employment date shall be January 1

of the calendar year in which the disaster occurred. Only one base employment

period can be elected for purposes of a rate reduction by an eligible life

sciences company.



   (4) "Disaster" means an occurrence, natural or otherwise,

which results in the destruction of sixty percent (60%) or more of an operating

manufacturing business facility in this state, thereby making the production of

products by the eligible life sciences company impossible and as a result

active employees of the facility are without employment in that facility.

However, disaster does not include any damage resulting from the willful act of

the owner(s) of the manufacturing business facility.



   (5) "Eligible life sciences company" means a business

corporation, partnership, firm, unincorporated association or other entity

engaged in life sciences research, development, manufacturing or

commercialization in the state, as further defined in this section, and any

affiliate thereof, which is, or the members of which are, subject to taxation.



   (6) "Eligible life sciences subsidiary" means each life

sciences corporation eighty percent (80%) or more of the outstanding equity

securities of which is owned by an eligible life sciences company.



   (7) "Full-time equivalent active employee" means any employee

of an eligible life sciences company who:



   (i) Works a minimum of thirty (30) hours per week within the

state, or two (2) or more part-time employees whose combined weekly hours equal

or exceed thirty (30) hours per week within the state; and



   (ii) Earns no less than two hundred fifty percent (250%) of

the hourly minimum wage prescribed by Rhode Island law; provided that the first

tax year that an eligible life sciences company qualifies for a rate reduction

pursuant to § 42-64.14-10, for purposes of this section, two hundred fifty

percent (250%) of the hourly minimum wage prescribed by Rhode Island law shall

apply at:



   (A) The time the employee was first treated as a full-time

equivalent active employee during a tax year that the eligible life sciences

company qualified for a rate reduction pursuant to § 42-64.14-10; or, if

later,



   (B) The time the employee first earned at least two hundred

fifty percent (250%) of the hourly minimum wage prescribed by Rhode Island law

as an employee of the eligible life sciences company.



   (8) "Initial new employment level" means the number of units

of new employment reported by an eligible life sciences company in 2012, or, if

applicable, the third (3rd) taxable year following the base employment period

election set forth in § 42-64.14-12.



   (9) "Life sciences" means in advanced and applied sciences

that expand the understanding of human physiology and have the potential to

lead to medical advances or therapeutic applications including, but not limited

to, agricultural biotechnology, biogenerics, bioinformatics, biomedical

engineering, biopharmaceuticals, biotechnology, chemical synthesis, chemistry

technology, diagnostics, genomics, image analysis, marine biology, marine

technology, medical devices, nanotechnology, natural product pharmaceuticals,

proteomics, regenerative medicine, RNA interference, stem cell research,

veterinary science or computer and information technology. An eligible company

does not have to be in existence, be qualified to do business in the state or

have any employees in this state at the time its base employment is determined.



   (10) "New employment" means for each taxable year the amount

of adjusted current employment for each taxable year minus the amount of base

employment, but in no event less than zero (0); provided, however, no eligible

company is permitted to transfer, assign or hire employees who are already

employed within the state by such eligible company from itself or any

affiliated entity or utilize any other artifice or device for the purpose of

artificially creating new employees in order to qualify for the rate reduction

provided for in this chapter.



   New employment shall not include employees already employed

in this state who become employees of an eligible life sciences company as a

result of an acquisition of an existing company by purchase, merger, or

otherwise, if the existing company was eligible for a rate reduction. In the

case of a manufacturing company that suffers a disaster, it shall mean any

employment retained or added as the result of reconstruction of the

manufacturing facility.



   (11) "Rate reduction" means the reduction in tax rate

specified in § 42-64.14-11.



   (12) "Small business concern" means any eligible life

sciences company which has a base employment level of less than one hundred

(100).



   (13) "State" means the State of Rhode Island and Providence

Plantations.



   (14) "Total employment" for an eligible life sciences company

as of any date means the total number of full-time equivalent active employees

employed within the state by the eligible life sciences company and its

eligible life sciences subsidiaries on such date.



   (15) "Units of new employment" means:



   (i) For eligible life sciences companies which are not small

business concerns, the number of full-time equivalent active employees divided

by fifty (50), rounded down to the nearest multiple of fifty (50); and



   (ii) For eligible life sciences companies which are small

business concerns the amount of new employment divided by ten (10), rounded

down to the nearest multiple of ten (10); provided, however, that an eligible

life sciences company with adjusted current employment of one hundred (100) or

more employees in its first year of operation or in any other period following

the date its base employment is determined shall determine its units of new

employment by dividing the first one hundred (100) employees less its base

employment by ten (10), rounded down to the nearest multiple of ten (10), and

by dividing the number of additional employees in excess of one hundred (100)

by fifty (50), rounded down to the nearest multiple of fifty (50).



History of Section.

(P.L. 2011, ch. 245, § 3; P.L. 2011, ch. 267, § 3.)