§ 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.)