§ 42-64.3-3. Definitions.
As used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings
unless the context shall indicate another or different meaning or intent:
(1) "Council� or "enterprise zone council� means the governmental agency created pursuant
to §â€‚42-64.3-3.1.
(2) "Effective date of certification� means the date upon which the qualified business
meets the tests imposed in subsections (6)(i)(A) through (F) of this section and applies
to the calendar year for which these tests were performed.
(3) "Enterprise job employees� means those full-time employees whose business activity
originates and terminates from within the enterprise zone business and facility on
a daily basis, and who are domiciled residents of the state (or who, in the case of
employees of a high performance manufacturer as that term is defined in §â€‚44-31-1(b)(3)(ii), pay personal income taxes to the state) and hired (or transferred, in the case of
existing out-of-state employees) and employed by the qualified business in the enterprise
zone after the effective date of certification or annual recertification in excess
of those full-time employees employed by the qualified business in any Rhode Island
enterprise zone in the prior calendar year. An employee who is hired and terminated
in the same certification period does not constitute an enterprise job employee.
(4) "Enterprise zone,� "economic revitalization zone,� or "zone� means an economically
distressed United States bureau of the census division or delineation in need of expansion
of business and industry, and the creation of jobs, which is designated to be eligible
for the benefits of this chapter.
(5) "Governing authority� means the governing body of a state, city, or town within which
a qualified United States bureau of the census division or delineation lies.
(6)(i) "Qualified business� or "business facility� means any business corporation, sole proprietorship,
partnership, or limited partnership or limited liability company that:
(A) After the date of its original application for membership in the enterprise zone program
or the date annual membership is renewed creates and hires a minimum of five percent
(5%) new or additional enterprise jobs or in the case of a company having twenty (20)
employees or less, this requirement shall be that the company create and hire one
new or additional enterprise job, in the respective zone during the same certification
year; and
(B) Whose total Rhode Island wages including those Rhode Island wages for additional enterprise
jobs, exceeds the total Rhode Island wages paid to its employees in the prior calendar
year; and
(C) Obtains certificates of good standing from the Rhode Island division of taxation,
the corporations division of the Rhode Island secretary of state, and the appropriate
municipal authority at the time of certification; and
(D) Provides the council with an affidavit stating under oath that the entity seeking
certification as a qualified business has not within the preceding twelve (12) months
from the date of application for certification changed its legal status for the purpose
of gaining favorable treatment under the provisions of this chapter; and
(E) Meets certain other requirements as set forth by the council; and
(F) Has received certification from the council pursuant to the rules and regulations
promulgated by the council prior to July 1, 2015.
(ii) In the event that an applicant for certification meets the criteria of subsections
(6)(i)(A) and (6)(i)(C) to (F), but fails to meet the requirements of subsection (6)(i)(B)
solely because the amount of wages paid to the owner or owners of the business has
decreased from the prior calendar year, the Council may, for good cause shown, certify
the applicant as a qualified business. The applicant shall have the burden to show,
notwithstanding its failure to meet the requirements of subsection (6)(i)(B), that
the applicant has met the intent of this chapter. For the purposes of this provision,
owner shall mean a person who has at least twenty percent (20%) of the indicia of
ownership of the applicant.
(7) "Wages� means wages, tips and other compensation as defined in the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986, 26 U.S.C. §â€‚1 et seq.