§ 37-6.1-3. Purposes for which payments made. (a) Payments for actual expenses. Upon application approved by the department of transportation, a person displaced by any state highway project may elect to receive actual reasonable expenses in moving him or herself, his or her family, his or her business, or his or her farm operation, including personal property, for a reasonable distance.

(b) Optional payments -- Dwellings. Any displaced person who moves from a dwelling who elects to accept the payments authorized by this subsection in lieu of the payments authorized by subsection (a) of this section may receive:

(1) A moving expense allowance determined according to a schedule established by the director of transportation, not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200); and

(2) A dislocation allowance of one hundred dollars ($100).

(c) Optional payments -- Business and farm operations. Any displaced person who moves or discontinues his or her business or farm operation who elects to accept the payment authorized by this subsection in lieu of the payment authorized by subsection (a) of this section, may receive a fixed relocation payment in an amount equal to the average annual net earnings of the business or farm operation, or five thousand dollars ($5,000), whichever is the lesser. In the case of a business, no payment shall be made under this subsection unless the director of transportation is satisfied that the business (i) cannot be relocated without a substantial loss of its existing patronage, and (ii) is not part of a commercial enterprise having at least one other establishment not being acquired by the state, which is engaged in the same or similar business. For purposes of this subsection, the term "average annual net earnings" means one half (1/2) of any net earnings of the business or farm operation, before taxes on income or gross receipts, during the two (2) taxable years immediately preceding the taxable year in which the business or farm operation moves from the real property acquired for the project, and includes any compensation paid by the business or farm operation to the owner, his or her spouse, or his or her dependents during the two (2) year period.

History of Section. (P.L. 1963, ch. 90, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 37-6.1-2; P.L. 1969, ch. 218, § 1; P.L. 1970, ch. 297, § 1.)