It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 42-64.5-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-64.5 entitled "Jobs Development Act" is hereby amended to read as follows:

42-64.5-2. 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 July 1, 1995, 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 owned or controlled by the same persons or shareholders 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 company and its eligible subsidiaries on July 1, 1994. 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 year shall be the calendar year in which the disaster occurred.

(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 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 subsidiary" means each corporation 80% or more of the outstanding common stock of which is owned by an eligible company.

(6) "Eligible company" means any corporation, state bank, federal savings bank, trust company, national banking association, bank holding company, loan and investment company, mutual savings bank, credit union, building and loan association, insurance company, investment company, broker-dealer company, manufacturing company or surety company or an eligible subsidiary of any of the foregoing,. An eligible company does not have to be qualified to do business in the State or have any employees in this state at the time its base employment is determined.

(7) "Full time equivalent active employee" means any employee of an eligible company who (1) works a minimum of 30 hours per week within the State, or two (2) or more part-time employees whose combined weekly hours equal or exceed 30 hours per week within the State and (2) earns no less than 150% of the hourly minimum wage prescribed by Rhode Island law.

(8) "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; provided, however, no eligible company is permitted to transfer, assign or hire employees who are already employed within the State by an 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. 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.

(9) "Rate reduction" means the reduction in tax rate specified in section42-64.5-4.

(10) "Small business concern" means any eligible company which has a base employment level of less than one hundred (100).

(11) "State" means the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

(12) "Units of new employment" means (i) for eligible companies, which are not small business concerns, for each taxable year, the amount of new employment for each taxable year divided by fifty (50), rounded down to the nearest multiple of fifty (50), and (ii) for eligible companies which are small business concerns, for each taxable year, the amount of new employment for each taxable year divided by ten (10), rounded down to the nearest multiple of ten (10).; provided, however, that an eligible 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 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 to the nearest multiple of fifty (50).

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.