Section 520.600  Definitions

The following definitions are applicable to Subpart F.

"Department" means the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs.

"Eligible investment" means the required amount of investments in qualified property, as defined by Section 201(h) of the Illinois Income Tax Act [35 ILCS 5/201(h)] that qualifies a business for the High Impact Business designation.

"Foreign Trade Zone" or "Foreign Trade Sub-Zone" means a geographic area designated by the federal government under the Foreign Trade Zone Act of 1934, as amended (19 USC 81(a)) or rules promulgated under that Act (15 CFR 400 (1986)).

"Full-time employer" means a person who works an average of a minimum of 35 regular hours per week for 52 weeks for a total of 1,820 or more hours per year. Vacations, paid holidays and sick time are included in this computation. Overtime is not considered a part of regular hours.

"Full-time equivalent job" means the number of employees required to equal one full-time employee.  For purposes of this definition, employee means a person who works a minimum of 35 hours per week for a minimum of 13 consecutive weeks to be counted toward full-time equivalency.

"High Impact Business" means a business located in Illinois designated as a High Impact Business by the Department pursuant to Section 5.5 of the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act [20 ILCS 655/5.5].

"Job creation" means at least 500 full-time equivalent employees are to be hired at a designated location in Illinois over the number of full-time equivalent employees that were employed by the applicant prior to January 1, 1989. Job titles being filled or refilled as a result of strikes or layoffs or replacement workers to replace company locked out employees cannot be counted as job creation.  Job creation must occur within 36 months after the designation date.

"Job retention" means at least 1,500 full-time employees are to be retained by the High Impact Business as a direct result of the eligible investment, and that the employees would have lost their jobs had the eligible investment not been made.  Job retention means maintaining all full-time jobs of a company that existed at the designated locations at the time of application submittal.

"Large scale investment and development project" means a project of a High Impact Business that is the result of a minimum eligible investment of $12 million that will be placed in service in qualified property and causes the creation of 500 full-time equivalent jobs, or is the result of a minimum eligible investment of $30 million that will be placed in service in qualified property and causes the retention of 1,500 full-time jobs at a designated location in Illinois.

"New electric generating facility" means a newly-constructed electric generation plant or a newly-constructed generation capacity expansion at an existing electric generation plant, including the transmission lines and associated equipment that transfers electricity from points of supply to points of delivery, and for which such new foundation construction commenced not sooner than July 1, 2001.

"New Illinois coal mining jobs" means coal mining jobs created in Illinois coal mines, not sooner than July 1, 2001, not including a call back from a layoff, supported by a "new electric generating facility" as described in this Section.  Alternatively, a "new Illinois coal mining job" can be indirectly determined from quantities of coal purchased, or to be purchased, annually, based on the average amount of coal produced per Illinois miner in calendar year 2000, as published in the Annual Statistical Report of the Division of Mines and Minerals, Illinois Department of Natural Resources.  Illinois miners produced an average of 9,691 tons of coal in calendar year 2000.

"Placed in service" means the state or condition of readiness and availability for a specifically assigned function.  An eligible investment in qualified property as defined in Section 201(h) of the Illinois Income Tax Act shall be considered placed in service on the date the property is placed in a condition of readiness and availability for use, or the date on which the depreciation period of that property begins.

"Transmission facilities" means transmission lines with a voltage rating of 115 kilovolts or above, including associated equipment, that transfer electricity from points of supply to points of delivery and that transmit a majority of the electricity generated by a new electric generating facility designated as a High Impact Business in accordance with Section 5.5(d) of the Act.  

(Source:  Amended at 27 Ill. Reg. 3282, effective February 14, 2003)