§ 15-4-2703 - Definitions. - Arkansas Statutes

15-4-2703. Definitions.

As used in this subchapter:

(1) "Applied research" means any activity that seeks to utilize, synthesize, or apply existing knowledge, information, or resources to the resolution of a specific problem, question, or issue;

(2) (A) "Average hourly wage" means the amount obtained when payroll, as defined in this section, is divided by the number of hours worked to earn the payroll.

(B) For the purpose of subdivision (2)(A) of this section, forty (40) hours per week shall be used as the number of hours worked for a salaried employee;

(3) "Basic research" means any original investigation for the advancement of scientific or technological knowledge;

(4) "Commission" means the Arkansas Economic Development Commission;

(5) "Contractual employee" means an employee who:

(A) May be included in the payroll calculations of a business qualifying for benefits under this subchapter and is under the direct supervision of the business receiving benefits under this subchapter, but is an employee of a business other than the one receiving benefits under this subchapter;

(B) Otherwise meets the requirements of a new full-time permanent employee of the business receiving benefits under this subchapter; and

(C) Receives a benefits package comparable to direct employees of the business receiving benefits under this subchapter;

(6) (A) "Corporate headquarters" means the facility or portion of a facility where corporate staff employees are physically employed and where the majority of the company's financial, personnel, legal, planning, information technology, or other headquarters-related functions are handled either on a regional basis or a national basis.

(B) A corporate headquarters must be a regional corporate headquarters or a national corporate headquarters;

(7) (A) "County or state average hourly wage" means the weighted average weekly earnings for Arkansans in all industries, both statewide and countywide, as calculated by the Department of Workforce Services in its most recent "Annual Covered Employment and Earnings" publication, divided by forty (40).

(B) The average hourly wage threshold determined at the signing date of the financial incentive agreement shall be the threshold for the term of the agreement;

(8) "Director" means the Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission;

(9) "Distribution center" means a facility for the reception, storage, and shipping of:

(A) A business's own products or products that the business wholesales to retail businesses or ships to its own retail outlets if seventy-five percent (75%) of the sales revenues are from out-of-state customers;

(B) Products owned by other companies with which the business has contracts for storage and shipping if seventy-five percent (75%) of the sales revenues of the product owner are from out-of-state customers; or

(C) Products for sale to the general public if seventy-five percent (75%) of the sales revenues are from out-of-state customers;

(10) "Eligible businesses" means nonretail businesses engaged in commerce for profit that meet the eligibility requirements for the applicable incentive offered by this subchapter and fall into one (1) or more of the following categories:

(A) Manufacturers classified in sectors 31-33 in the North American Industry Classification System, as in effect January 1, 2003;

(B) (i) Businesses primarily engaged in the design and development of prepackaged software, digital content production and preservation, computer processing and data preparation services, or information retrieval services.

(ii) All businesses in this group shall derive at least seventy-five percent (75%) of their sales revenue from out of state;

(C) (i) Businesses primarily engaged in motion picture productions.

(ii) All businesses in this group shall derive at least seventy-five percent (75%) of their sales revenue from out of state;

(D) Distribution centers or intermodal facilities;

(E) Office sector businesses;

(F) National or regional corporate headquarters, North American Industry Classification System Code 551114, as in effect January 1, 2005;

(G) Firms primarily engaged in commercial, physical, and biological research as classified in the North American Industry Classification System Code 541710, as in effect January 1, 2005;

(H) (i) Scientific and technical services businesses.

(ii) (a) All businesses in this group shall derive at least seventy-five percent (75%) of their sales revenue from out of state.

(b) (1) The average hourly wages paid by businesses in this group shall exceed one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the county or state average hourly wage, whichever is less.

(2) The average hourly wage threshold determined at the signing date of the financial incentive agreement shall be the threshold for the term of the agreement; and

(I) The director may classify a nonretail business as an eligible business if the following conditions exist:

(i) The business receives at least seventy-five percent (75%) of its sales revenue from out of state; and

(ii) The business proposes to pay wages in excess of one hundred ten percent (110%) of the county or state average hourly wage, whichever is less;

(11) "Equity investment" means capital invested in common or preferred stock, royalty or intellectual property rights, limited partnership interests, limited liability company interests, and any other securities or rights that evidence ownership in private businesses, including a federal agency's award of a Small Business Innovative Research grant or a Small Business Technology Transfer grant;

(12) (A) "Existing employees" means those employees hired by the business before the date the financial incentive agreement was signed.

(B) Existing employees may be considered new full-time permanent employees only if:

(i) The position or job filled by the existing employee was created in accordance with the signed financial incentive agreement; and

(ii) The position vacated by the existing employee was either filled by a subsequent employee or no subsequent employee will be hired because the business no longer conducts the particular business activity requiring that classification.

(C) If the Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the Director of the Department of Finance and Administration find that a significant impairment of Arkansas job opportunities for existing employees will otherwise occur, they may jointly authorize the counting of existing employees as new full-time permanent employees;

(13) "Facility" means a single physical location at which the eligible business is conducting its operations;

(14) "Financial incentive agreement" means an agreement entered into by an eligible business and the commission to provide the business an incentive to locate a new business or to expand an existing business in Arkansas;

(15) "Fund" means the Economic Development Incentive Fund;

(16) "Governing authority" means the quorum court of a county or the governing body of a municipality;

(17) (A) (i) "In-house research" means applied research supported by the business through the purchase of supplies for research activities and payment of wages and usual fringe benefits for employees of the business who conduct research activities in research facilities:

(a) Dedicated to the conduct of research activities;

(b) Operated by the business; and

(c) Performed primarily under laboratory, clinical, or field experimental conditions for the purpose of reducing a concept or idea to practice or to advance a concept or idea or improvement thereon to the point of practical application.

(ii) "In-house research" includes:

(a) Experimental or laboratory activity to develop new products, improve existing products, or develop new uses of products, but only to the extent that activity is conducted in Arkansas; and

(b) A contractual agreement with a state college, state university, or other research organization to perform research for a targeted business if the President of the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority makes a written determination before the research is performed that the research is essential to the core function of the targeted business.

(B) "In-house research" does not include tests or inspections of materials or products for quality control, efficiency surveys, management studies, other market research, or any other ordinary and necessary expenses of conducting business;

(18) "Intellectual property" means an invention, discovery, or new idea that the legal entity responsible for commercialization has decided to legally protect for possible commercial gain, based on the disclosure of the creator;

(19) "Intermodal facility" means a facility with more than one (1) mode of interconnected movement of freight, commerce, or passengers;

(20) "Investment threshold" means the minimum amount of investment in project costs that must be incurred in order to qualify for eligibility;

(21) "Invests" or "investment" means money expended by or on behalf of an approved eligible business that seeks to begin or expand operations in Arkansas, and without this infusion of capital, the location or expansion may not take place;

(22) "Lease" means a right to possession of real property for a specific term in return for consideration, as determined in a lease agreement by both parties;

(23) (A) "Modernization" means an increase in efficiency or productivity of a business through investment in machinery or equipment, or both.

(B) "Modernization" does not include costs for routine maintenance or the installation of equipment that does not improve efficiency or productivity, except for expenditures for pollution control equipment mandated by state or federal laws or regulations;

(24) "National corporate headquarters" means the sole corporate headquarters in the nation that handles headquarters-related functions on a national basis;

(25) (A) (i) "New full-time permanent employee" means a position or job that was created pursuant to the signed financial incentive agreement and that is filled by one (1) or more employees or contractual employees who:

(a) Were Arkansas taxpayers during the year in which the tax credits or incentives were earned;

(b) Work at the facility identified in the financial incentive agreement; and

(c) Are not existing employees, except as allowed under subdivision (12) of this section.

(ii) The position or job held by the employee or employees shall have been filled for at least twenty-six (26) consecutive weeks with an average of at least thirty (30) hours per week.

(B) However, to qualify under this subchapter, a contractual employee shall be offered a benefits package comparable to a direct employee of the business seeking incentives under this subchapter;

(26) "Nonretail business" means a business that derives less than ten percent (10%) of its total Arkansas revenue from sales to the general public;

(27) (A) "Office sector business" means business operations that support primary business needs, including, but not limited to, customer service, credit accounting, telemarketing, claims processing, and other administrative functions.

(B) All businesses in this group must be nonretail businesses and derive at least seventy-five percent (75%) of their sales revenue from out of state;

(28) "Payroll" means the total taxable wages, including overtime and bonuses, paid during the preceding tax year of the eligible business to new full-time permanent employees hired after the date of the signed financial incentive agreement;

(29) (A) "Person" means an individual, trust, estate, fiduciary, firm, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation.

(B) "Person" includes:

(i) The directors, officers, agents, and employees of any person;

(ii) Beneficiaries, members, managers, and partners; and

(iii) Any county or municipal subdivision of the state;

(30) "Preconstruction costs" means the cost of eligible items incurred before the start of construction, including:

(A) Project planning costs;

(B) Architectural and engineering fees;

(C) Right-of-way purchases;

(D) Utility extensions;

(E) Site preparations;

(F) Purchase of mineral rights;

(G) Building demolition;

(H) Builders risk insurance;

(I) Capitalized start-up costs;

(J) Deposits and process payments on eligible machinery and equipment; and

(K) Other costs necessary to prepare for the start of construction;

(31) (A) "Project" means costs associated with the:

(i) Construction of a new plant or facility including, but not limited to, land, building, production equipment, or support infrastructure;

(ii) Expansion of an established plant or facility by adding to the building, production equipment, or support infrastructure; or

(iii) Modernization of an established plant or facility through the replacement of production or processing equipment or support infrastructure that improves efficiency or productivity.

(B) "Project" does not include:

(i) Expenditures for routine repair and maintenance that do not result in new construction or expansion;

(ii) Routine operating expenditures;

(iii) Expenditures incurred at multiple facilities; or

(iv) The purchase or acquisition of an existing business unless:

(a) There is sufficient documentation that the existing business was closed; and

(b) The purchase of the existing business will result in the retention of the jobs that would have been lost due to the closure.

(C) Eligible project costs must be incurred within four (4) years from the date a financial incentive agreement was signed by the commission;

(32) "Project plan" means a plan:

(A) Submitted to the commission containing such information as may be required by the director to determine eligibility for benefits; and

(B) That if approved is a supplement to the financial incentive agreement;

(33) "Qualified business" means an eligible business that:

(A) Has met the qualifications for one (1) or more economic development incentives authorized by this subchapter; and

(B) Has signed a financial incentive agreement with the commission or is involved in a research and development program administered by the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority;

(34) "Qualified research expenditures" means the sum of any amounts that are paid or incurred by an Arkansas taxpayer during the taxable year in funding a qualified research program that has been approved for tax credit treatment under rules and regulations promulgated by the commission;

(35) "Region" or "regional" means a geographic area comprising two (2) or more states, including this state;

(36) (A) "Regional corporate headquarters" means the location where a headquarters staff performs functions on a regional basis that involve the services of administration, planning, research and development, marketing, personnel, legal, computer, or telecommunications.

(B) (i) As used in subdivision (36)(A) of this section, "regional" means a geographic area composed of this state and a contiguous state.

(ii) However, a function on a regional basis does not include a function involving manufacturing, processing, warehousing, distributing, or wholesaling activities or the operation of a call center;

(37) "Research and development programs of the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority" means statutory programs operated by the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority under 15-3-101 et seq.;

(38) "Research area of strategic value" means research in fields having long-term economic or commercial value to the state and that have been identified in the research and development plan approved from time to time by the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority;

(39) "Scientific and technical services business" means a business:

(A) Primarily engaged in performing scientific and technical activities for others, including:

(i) Architectural and engineering design;

(ii) Computer programming and computer systems design; and

(iii) Scientific research and development in the physical, biological, and engineering sciences;

(B) Selling expertise;

(C) Having production processes that are almost wholly dependent on worker skills;

(D) Deriving at least seventy-five percent (75%) of its sales revenue from out of state; and

(E) Paying average hourly wages that exceed one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the county or state average hourly wage, whichever is less;

(40) "Start of construction" means any activity that causes a physical change to the building or property, or both, identified as the site of the approved project, but excluding engineering surveys, soil tests, land clearing, and extension of roads and utilities to the project site;

(41) "Strategic research" means research that has strategic economic or long-term commercial value to the state and that is identified in the research and development plan approved from time to time by the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority;

(42) "Support infrastructure" means physical assets necessary for the business to operate including, but not limited to, water systems, wastewater systems, gas and electric utilities, roads, bridges, parking lots, and communication infrastructure;

(43) (A) "Targeted businesses" means a grouping of growing business sectors, not to exceed six (6), that include the following:

(i) Advanced materials and manufacturing systems;

(ii) Agriculture, food, and environmental sciences;

(iii) Biotechnology, bioengineering, and life sciences;

(iv) Information technology;

(v) Transportation logistics; and

(vi) Bio-based products.

(B) In order to receive benefits as a targeted business, the business must:

(i) Have been operating in the state for less than five (5) years;

(ii) Pay not less than one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the lesser of the county or state average hourly wage; and

(iii) Have been selected to receive special benefits; and

(44) "Tiers" means the ranking of the seventy-five (75) counties of Arkansas into four (4) divisions that delineate the economic prosperity of the counties and allow for different levels of benefits.