§ 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 §â€‚42-64.14-12. In the case of a manufacturing company that 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, that 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 §â€‚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 §â€‚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 §â€‚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 reductionâ€� means the reduction in tax rate specified in §â€‚42-64.14-11.
(12) "Small business concern� means any eligible life sciences company that has a base
employment level of less than one hundred (100).
(13) "State� means the State of Rhode Island.
(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 that 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 that 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).