Section 162-L:1 Definitions. - New Hampshire Statutes

In this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context indicates another meaning or intent:
   I. ""Authority'' means the community development finance authority established by RSA 162-L:2.
   II. ""Community development corporation'' means a nonprofit corporation, organized under the laws of the state to carry out certain public purposes and with bylaws providing that:
      (a) The corporation shall be organized to operate within specific geographic boundaries.
      (b) Membership in the corporation shall be open to all residents of the target area who are 18 years of age or older; membership may be open to persons outside the target area, but voting membership of persons not residing in the target area shall be limited to 10 percent of the total membership.
      (c) The corporation shall have a board of directors, a majority of whom reside in a target area or are members of a target population, 2/3 of whom are elected by the membership, with each member having an equal vote.
      (d) The corporation shall make a demonstrable effort to hire low income or underemployed residents of the operating area.
      (e) The corporation shall impose an annual individual membership fee of not less than $1 nor more than $10.
   III. ""Other nonprofit organizations and municipal governments involved in community development'' means a nonprofit organization organized under the laws of the state or municipal government to carry out purposes related to community development, improvement, revitalization, or other activities consistent with the purposes of this chapter.
   IV. ""Cost of a project'' means any and all costs associated with the design, planning, and implementation of a project undertaken in a target area or with a target population which can reasonably be recovered in the financing of the project. Such costs may include, but are not limited to, the costs of planning and design, options to buy land, feasibility or other studies, seed money, construction, working capital, and any other costs determined by the authority to be necessary for the purposes of this chapter.
   V. ""Employee cooperative'' means a corporation in which the power to elect at least 2/3 of the corporation's directors is held by the employees and in which such elections are held on a one person-one vote basis.
   VI. ""Other type of cooperative'' means any corporation in which the power to elect the governing body is held by the members of the corporation and in which elections are held on a one person-one vote basis. This may include cooperatives such as housing cooperatives and consumer cooperatives.
   VII. ""Low income'' means an income equal to or less than 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, as established by the Bureau of Labor Statistics lower level budget.
   VIII. ""Primary employment'' means work which pays at least 1 1/2 times the minimum wage as established under RSA 279:21 or under federal law, whichever is greater, which offers adequate fringe benefits, including health insurance, and which is not seasonal or part-time.
   IX. ""Project'' means any commercial, industrial, or real estate business or other economic activity designed to create or preserve primary employment for low income people or to reduce conditions of blight, economic depression, or widespread reliance on public assistance in a target area or of a target population.
   X. ""Pledge'' means a written agreement between the community development finance authority and a contributor for the contributor to provide cash contributions in the future.

Source. 1991, 334:3. 1994, 336:1. 1998, 338:2, eff. July 1, 1999.