(1) Various sections of the town of West Warwick are deteriorated blighted areas which have created very difficult challenges to economic development;

(2) The town of West Warwick is in a distressed financial condition as defined by RIGL sections 45-13-12(1) through (4) and cannot finance economic development projects on its own without the participation of private enterprise;

(3) The General Assembly has found that it is nearly impossible for private enterprise alone to meet such challenges;

(4) In certain sections of the town of West Warwick, the serious challenges of economic development and/or redevelopment have not been met by private enterprise alone and the impact is being felt throughout the community;

(5) Legislation enacted to encourage redevelopment of such deteriorated blighted areas through the formation of local redevelopment agencies has had very limited success;

(6) Various states, such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan have had a great deal of success in generating economic development by exercising the authority to exempt and/or stabilize taxes;

(7) The state of Rhode Island has generated economic growth by redirecting and/or exempting certain commercial and retail activity from the imposition of sales, use and income taxes with recent examples being the Providence Place Mall, the Arts Districts in the cities of Providence, Pawtucket and Westerly, and financial services and acquaculture industries.

(8) Most recently, municipalities in our state have had great success in attracting large commercial development, including financial services, manufacturing, and major energy facilities, due in large part to the authority to exempt and/or stabilize property, tangible and/or inventory taxes;

(9) Attracting large non-residential developments or encouraging expansion of existing commercial entities can be extremely important to municipalities, where the quality of public education is largely dependent on the local tax base, thereby expanding the commercial tax base and reducing reliance upon the residential tax base;

(10) The ability to attract such development and increase the non-residential tax base, in turn, improves municipalities' ability to finance school systems, municipal services and infrastructure, thereby improving the quality of life;

(11) In addition to increasing the local non-residential tax base, such development creates construction jobs, permanent jobs, and spurs additional investment by private enterprises; and

(12) Providing authority to offer tax exemptions from, or to stabilize, the imposition of sales and use taxes will attract and assist in expanding, revitalizing and redeveloping the tax base in our municipalities.

(b) Exemption or stabilization of sales and use taxes imposed on sales from businesses located in Municipal Economic Development Zones.

In order to attract new construction and development in a municipal economic development zone ("MED Zone"), upon the designation of such a zone as provided herein, all businesses engaging in qualifying sales and located in new construction in a MED zone (a MED Zone Business) shall be exempt from the requirement to charge and collect sales and use tax pursuant to RIGL sections 44-18-18 and 44-18-20 for a period of ten (10) years. The ten (10) year exemption period for all med zone businesses shall begin to run from the earliest to occur of (1) the date that is three (3) years from the effective date of this legislation; or (2) the date that is two (2) years from the date upon which the city or town council designates the med zone for its municipality; or (3) the date the first med zone business obtains a certificate of exemption as set forth in section (5) below. For purposes of this statute, "qualifying sales" for a MED zone business shall not include gambling activities, or the retail sales of automobiles, tobacco products, or packaged alcoholic beverages.

(c) Creation of Municipal Economic Development Zones.

(1) The following area or portions thereof of the town of West Warwick may be designated as the town's municipal economic development zone by the town council of the town of West Warwick after public notice, hearing and vote thereon as provided in section 45-32-4:

(i) The area bounded generally by Legion Way in the east, Archambault and Gardner Avenue in the north, McNiff, McGlynn and Blanchard Streets in the west, and Washington Street south of Nolan and West Streets in the south, all as more particularly described on the West Warwick Municipal Economic Development Zone map on file with the town clerk.

(2) The city or town council of any other municipality may similarly designate one (1) MED Zone in such municipality after public notice, hearing and vote thereon as provided in section 45-32-4, provided that either:

(i) the municipality is a financially distressed community as defined by RIGL section 45-13-12(b), using the criteria set forth in RIGL sections 45-13-12(1) through (4); and

(ii) the med zone shall be a parcel or contiguous parcels of land consisting in total of not less than ten (10) acres but not more than thirty (30) acres in area; or

(b)(i) the municipality is not a financially distressed community as defined by RIGL section 45-13-12(b); but

(ii) the area to be designated as the med zone:

(A) consists of a parcel or contiguous parcels of land which:

(1) has received all necessary municipal approvals for the construction of not less than one million, one hundred fifty thousand (1,150,000) square feet of new building construction for non-residential development; and

(2) is served by public utilities, highway, parking and transportation facilities as determined by the city or town council to be adequate for such development, in accordance with applicable zoning and planning standards and requirements of the municipality; and

(B) when developed will generate, using generally accepted economic indicators, the creation of not less than two thousand, eight hundred (2,800) new permanent employment positions in the med zone, subject to the provisions of subsection (5) below; and

(C) when developed, will contain construction and infrastructure development that will result in an increase of not less than one hundred percent (100%) in the assessed value of non-residential real estate in the med zone over the assessed value of the same real estate in the med zone as assessed in the year next preceding the year in which the med zone was designated.

(3) The city or town councils in designating a med zone shall comply with the plan requirements of RIGL section 45-23-8 and shall be responsible for carrying out said plan. The city or town council in implementing the med zone plan shall have the power of eminent domain as set forth in RIGL section 45-32-24, and the provisions of RIGL sections 45-32-25 through and including section 45-32-41 shall apply to all such condemnations.

(4) The tax administrator shall issue a certification of exemption to a med zone business at the time such business applies for its permit to make sales at retail and provides the tax administrator with a med zone business certificate issued by the city or town clerk stating that such business is located in new construction in the municipality's med zone. The duration of said certificate shall be determined in accordance with paragraph (b)(1) above.

(5) No business shall be permitted to become a med zone business or to receive a certificate of exemption pursuant to subsection (4) hereof by relocating from any area within the state of Rhode Island but outside a med zone to new construction within a med zone, unless such relocation results in the creation of new permanent employment positions that increase the total employment of the business by not less than one hundred percent (100%) of its average total employment for the two (2) year period immediately preceding the year in which it applies for its certificate of exemption. Any business that expands its operations by adding a new location within a med zone and then ceases to operate any of its locations within the state of Rhode Island that existed prior to the establishment of the med zone location shall immediately have its certificate of exemption for the med zone location revoked.