Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 261 - Economic Development Authority › Part IV - Business Development Division › Chapter 68 - High Quality Jobs Program (HQJP) › Rule 261-68.1 - Administrative Procedures and Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1)
Administrative
				procedures.
The HQJP is subject to the requirements of the authority's
				rules located in 261-Part VII, additional application requirements and
				procedures, and 261-Part VIII, legal and compliance. Part VII and Part VIII
				include standard program requirements; wage, benefit and investment
				requirements; application review and approval procedures; contracting; contract
				compliance and job counting; and annual reporting requirements. The standard
				definitions in 261-Chapter 173 in Part VII have been incorporated as applicable
				in subrule 68.1(2) and are not otherwise applicable to the HQJP.
(2)
Definitions.
"Annual base rent"
means the business's
				  annual lease payment minus taxes, insurance and operating or maintenance
				  expenses.
"Authority"
means the economic development
				  authority created in Iowa Code section
				  15.105.
"Award date"
means the date the board
				  approved an application for project completion assistance, other direct
				  financial assistance, or tax incentives.
"Base employment level"
means the number of
				  full-time equivalent positions at a business, as established by the authority
				  and a business using the business's payroll records, as of the date a business
				  applies for tax incentives or project completion assistance. The number of jobs
				  the business has pledged to create shall be in addition to the base employment
				  level. The number of jobs the business has pledged to retain are included as
				  all or a part of the base employment level. If the project is a modernization
				  project, the job obligations will not include created or retained jobs. The
				  business will be required to maintain the base employment level.
"Benefits"
means nonwage compensation
				  provided to an employee. Benefits include medical and dental insurance plans;
				  pension, retirement, and profit-sharing plans; child care services; and life
				  insurance, vision insurance, and disability insurance coverage. Benefits may
				  include other nonwage compensation as determined by the board.
"Board"
means the members of the economic
				  development authority appointed by the governor and in whom the powers of the
				  authority are vested pursuant to Iowa Code section
				  15.105.
"Brownfield site"
means the same as defined
				  in Iowa Code section
				  15.291.
"Business"
means a sole proprietorship,
				  partnership, corporation, or other business entity organized for profit under
				  the laws of the state of Iowa or another state, under federal statutes, or
				  under the laws of another country.
"Community"
means a city, county, or other
				  entity established pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 28E.
"Contractor or subcontractor"
means a person
				  who contracts with the eligible business or subcontracts with a contractor for
				  the provision of property, materials, or services for the construction or
				  equipping of a facility of the eligible business.
"Created job"
means a new, permanent,
				  full-time equivalent (FTE) position added to a business's payroll in excess of
				  the base employment level.
"Department"
means the Iowa department of
				  revenue.
"Economically distressed area"
means a
				  county meeting the requirements of a distressed area pursuant to rule
				  261-174.6 (15).
"Eligible business"
means a business meeting
				  the conditions of Iowa Code section
				  15.329.
"Employee"
means:
1. An individual filling a full-time position
				that is part of the payroll of the business receiving financial assistance from
				any of the programs identified in rule
				261-173.1 (15).
2. A business's leased or contract employee,
				provided all of the following elements are satisfied:
* The business receiving the tax incentives or project
				  completion assistance has a legally binding contract with a third-party
				  provider to provide the leased or contract employee.
* The contract between the third-party provider and the
				  business specifically requires the third-party provider to pay the wages and
				  benefits at the levels required and for the time period required by the
				  authority as conditions of the award to the business.
* The contract between the third-party provider and the
				  business specifically requires the third-party provider to submit payroll
				  records to the authority, in form and content and as frequently as required by
				  the authority, for purposes of verifying that the business's job
				  creation/retention and benefit requirements are being met.
* The contract between the third-party provider and the
				  business specifically authorizes the authority, or its authorized
				  representatives, to access the third-party provider's records related to the
				  funded project.
* The business receiving the tax incentives or project
				  completion assistance agrees to be contractually liable to the authority for
				  the performance or nonperformance of the third-party provider.
"Financial assistance"
means assistance
				  provided only from the funds, rights, and assets legally available to the
				  authority. Financial assistance includes assistance provided in the form of
				  grants, loans, forgivable loans, float loans, equity-like assistance, and
				  royalty payments and other forms of assistance deemed appropriate by the board,
				  consistent with Iowa law.
"Fiscal impact ratio"
or
"FIR"
means a ratio calculated by estimating the amount of
				  taxes to be received by the state from a business and dividing the estimate by
				  the estimated cost to the state of providing certain project completion
				  assistance and tax incentives to the business, reflecting a ten-year period of
				  taxation and incentives and expressed in terms of current dollars. "Fiscal
				  impact ratio" does not include taxes received by political subdivisions.
"Full-time equivalent job"
or
"full-time"
means the employment of one person:
1. For 8 hours per day for a
				five-day, 40-hour workweek for 52 weeks per year, including paid holidays,
				vacations and other paid leave; or
2. The number of hours or days per week,
				including paid holidays, vacations and other paid leave, currently established
				by schedule, custom, or otherwise, as constituting a week of full-time work for
				the kind of service an individual performs for an employing unit, provided that
				the number of hours per week is at least 32 hours per week for 52 weeks per
				year, including paid holidays, vacations, and other paid leave.
For purposes of this definition, "employment of one person"
				  means the employment of one natural person and does not include "job sharing"
				  or any other means of aggregation or combination of hours worked by more than
				  one natural person.
"Grayfield site"
means the same as defined
				  in Iowa Code section
				  15.291.
"Greenfield site"
means a site that does not
				  meet the definition of a brownfield site or grayfield site. A project proposed
				  at a site located on previously undeveloped or agricultural land shall be
				  presumed to be a greenfield site.
"High quality jobs"
means created or
				  retained jobs that meet the wage requirements established in subrule 68.2(4)
				  and subrules 68.2(7) and 68.2(8) when applicable.
"Laborshed area"
means the geographic area
				  surrounding an employment center from which the employment center draws its
				  commuting workers. The Iowa department of workforce development (IWD)
				  determines the employment centers and defines the boundaries of each laborshed
				  area. IWD defines laborshed areas by surveying commuters within the various zip
				  codes surrounding an employment center, combining the zip codes into as many as
				  three zones, and determining how many people commute from a zip code to the
				  employment center from each zone. The zones reflect the fact that as the
				  distance from an employment center increases, the number of people willing to
				  commute to the employment center decreases. The laborshed wage applicable to
				  the project shall be the laborshed wage for the closest laborshed area, as
				  determined by road distance between the employment center and the zip code of
				  the project location.
"Laborshed wage"
means the same as defined
				  in Iowa Code section
				  15.327. The authority
				  will calculate the laborshed wage as follows:
1. The most current covered wage and
				employment data available from IWD will be used.
2. The wage will be computed as a mean wage
				figure and represented in terms of an hourly wage rate.
3. Only the wages paid by employers for jobs
				performed within the first two zones of a laborshed area will be
				included.
4. The wages paid by
				employers in the following categories will be excluded from the calculation:
				government, retail trade, health care and social assistance, and accommodations
				and food service. The wages paid by employers in all other categories will be
				included in the calculation.
5. To
				the extent that a laborshed area includes zip codes from states other than
				Iowa, the wages paid by employers in those zip codes may be included if IWD has
				finalized a data-sharing agreement with the state in question and has received
				the required data.
6. Only those
				wages within two standard deviations from the mean wage will be included.
"Loan"
means an award of assistance with the
				  requirement that the award be repaid with term, interest rate, and other
				  conditions specified as part of the conditions of the award. "Loan" includes
				  deferred loans, forgivable loans, and float loans. A "deferred loan" is one for
				  which the payment for principal, interest, or both is not required for some
				  specified period. A "forgivable loan" is one for which repayment is eliminated
				  in part or entirely if the borrower satisfies specified conditions. A "float
				  loan" means a short-term loan (not to exceed 30 months) made from obligated but
				  unexpended moneys.
"Maintenance period"
means the period of
				  time between the project completion date and the maintenance period completion
				  date.
"Maintenance period completion date"
means
				  the date on which the maintenance period ends. The specific date on which the
				  maintenance period ends will be established by contract between the authority
				  and the business. The maintenance period completion date will be a date on or
				  after the project completion date and will be used to establish the period of
				  time during which the project, the created jobs, and the retained jobs must be
				  maintained. Rule 261-187.3 (15) provides standard
				  durations for project completion and maintenance periods.
"Modernization project"
means a project that
				  will result in increased skills and wages for current employees and that does
				  not involve created or retained jobs. The business must maintain the base
				  employment level.
"Program"
means the high quality jobs
				  program created pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 15, part 13.
"Project"
means an activity or set of
				  activities directly related to the start-up, location, modernization, or
				  expansion of a business, and proposed in an application by a business, that are
				  consistent with the goals of the program.
"Project completion assistance"
means
				  financial assistance or technical assistance provided to an eligible business
				  in order to facilitate the start-up, location, modernization, or expansion of
				  the business in this state and provided in an expedient manner to ensure the
				  successful completion of the start-up, location, modernization, or expansion
				  project.
"Project completion date"
means the date by
				  which a recipient of incentives or assistance has agreed to meet all the terms
				  and obligations contained in an agreement with the authority. The specific date
				  on which the project completion period ends will be established by contract
				  between the authority and the business. The project completion date will be a
				  date on which the project must be completed, all incented jobs must be created
				  or retained, and all other applicable requirements must be met. Rule
				  261-187.3 (15) provides standard
				  durations for project completion and maintenance periods.
"Project completion period"
means the period
				  of time between the award date and the project completion date.
"Qualifying wage threshold"
means the
				  laborshed wage for an eligible business.
"Retail business"
means any business engaged
				  in the business of selling tangible personal property or taxable services at
				  retail in this state. Retail business includes a business obligated to collect
				  sales or use tax under Iowa Code chapter 423. "Retail business" includes any
				  business engaged in selling tangible personal property or taxable services
				  online.
"Retained job"
means a full-time equivalent
				  permanent position that is included in the base employment level which remains
				  continuously filled or authorized to be filled as soon as possible and which is
				  at risk of elimination if the project for which the business is seeking
				  assistance does not proceed. The authority may require a business to verify
				  that a job is at risk. Such verification may include the signed statement of an
				  officer of the business, documentation that the business is actively exploring
				  other sites for the project, or any other information the authority may
				  reasonably require during the application review process to establish that a
				  job is at risk.