Section 520.620  Eligibility Criteria

A business shall be designated by the Department as a High Impact Business if the business:

a)         General.  Is located in Illinois and:

1)         Not in a Zone.  Is not located in an Illinois Enterprise Zone; and

2)         Minimum Eligible Investment.  Intends to make a minimum eligible investment of $12 million that will be placed in service in qualified property in Illinois and intends to create 500 full-time equivalent jobs at a designated location in Illinois; or intends to make a minimum eligible investment of $30 million that will be placed in service in qualified property in Illinois and intends to retain 1,500 full-time equivalent jobs at a designated location in Illinois. The business must certify in writing that the investments would not be placed in service in qualified property and the job creation or job retention would not occur without the tax credits and exemptions set forth in Section 5.5(b) of the Act.  The terms "placed in service" and "qualified property" have the same meanings as described in subsection (h) of Section 201 of the Illinois Income Tax Act [20 ILCS 655/5.5(a)(3)(A)]; or

b)         New Electric Generating Facility.  Intends to establish a new electric generating facility at a designated location in Illinois. Such facility shall be designed to provide baseload electric generation and shall operate on a continuous basis throughout the year; and shall have an aggregate rated generating capacity of at least 1,000 megawatts for all new units at one site if it uses natural gas as its primary fuel and foundation construction of the facility is commenced on or before December 31, 2004, or shall have an aggregate rated generating capacity of at least 400 megawatts for all new units at one site if it uses coal or gases derived from coal as its primary fuel and shall support the creation of at least 150 new Illinois coal mining jobs.  The business must certify in writing that the investments necessary to establish a new electric generating facility would not be placed in service and the job creation in the case of a coal-fueled plant would not occur without the tax credits and exemptions set forth in Section 5.5(b-5) of the Act [20 ILCS 655/5.5(a)(3)(B)]; or

c)         Production Operations at a New Coal Mine. Intends to establish production operations at a new coal mine, re-establish production operations at a closed coal mine, or expand production at an existing coal mine at a designated location in Illinois not sooner than July 1, 2001; provided that the production operations result in the creation of 150 new Illinois coal mining jobs as described in Section 5.5(a)(3)(B) of the Act; and further provided that the coal extracted from the mine is utilized as the predominant source for a new electric generating facility.  The business must certify in writing that the investments necessary to establish a new, expanded, or reopened coal mine would not be placed in service and the job creation would not occur without the tax credits and exemptions set forth in Section 5.5(b-5) of the Act.  The term "placed in service" has the same meaning as described in subsection (h) of Section 201 of the Illinois Income Tax Act [20 ILCS 655/5.5(a)(3)(C)]; or

d)           New or Upgraded Transmission Facilities.  Intends to construct new transmission facilities or upgrade existing transmission facilities, at designated locations in Illinois, for which construction commenced not sooner than July 1, 2001.  The business must certify in writing that the investments necessary to construct new transmission facilities or upgrade existing transmission facilities would not be placed in service without the tax credits and exemptions set forth in Section 5.5(b-5) of the Act [20 ILCS 655/5.5(a)(3)(D)].

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