261—173.2 (15,15G,83GA,SF344) Definitions.
“Agricultural products advisory council”  or “APAC”  means the council which is composed of five members appointed by the secretary of agriculture and five members appointed by the director of the Iowa department of economic development who are experienced in marketing or exporting agricultural commodities or products, financing the export of agricultural commodities or products, or adding value to and the processing of agricultural products as further described in Iowa Code section 15.203 and which reviews value-added agriculture component applications and makes recommendations to the board.
“Award date” means the date the board or the director approved an application for direct financial assistance or tax credit incentives.
“Base employment level” means the number of full-time equivalent positions at a business, as established by the department and a business using the business’s payroll records, as of the date a business applies for financial assistance. The number of jobs the business has pledged to create and retain shall be in addition to the base employment level.
“Benefits” means all of the following nonwage compensation provided to an employee: medical and dental insurance plans, pension, retirement, and profit-sharing plans, child care services, life insurance coverage, vision insurance coverage, and disability insurance coverage.
“Board” means the Iowa economic development board established under Iowa Code section 15.103.
“Business” means a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation organized for profit or not for profit under the laws of the state of Iowa or another state, under federal statutes, or under the laws of another country.
“County wage” means the county wage calculation performed by the department pursuant to 2009 Iowa Acts, Senate File 344, section 3.
“Created job” means a new, permanent, full-time equivalent (FTE) position added to a business’s payroll in excess of the base employment level at the time of application for assistance.
“Department” means the Iowa department of economic development created by Iowa Code section 15.105.
“Director” means the director of the Iowa department of economic development.
“Due diligence committee”  or “DDC”  means the due diligence committee composed of members of the board whose duties include, but are not limited to, carrying out any duties assigned by the board in relation to programs administered by the department, reviewing applications for financial assistance, conducting a thorough review of proposed projects and making recommendations to the board regarding funding.
“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(15,15G,83GA,SF344).
	  2. 	 A business’s leased or contract employee, provided all of the following elements are satisfied:
	  ● 	 The business receiving the state financial 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 department as conditions of the financial assistance 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 department, in form and content and at the frequency found acceptable to the department, 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 department, or its authorized representatives, to access records related to the funded project.
	  ● 	 The business receiving the state financial assistance agrees to be contractually liable to the department for the performance or nonperformance of the third-party provider.
“Equity-like investment” means the provision of assistance in such a manner that the potential return on investment to the provider varies according to the profitability of the company assisted. This includes but is not limited to: royalty arrangements; warrant arrangements; or other similar forms of investments.
“Financial assistance” means assistance in the form of grants, loans, forgivable loans, float loans, equity-like investment, and royalty payments and other forms 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 financial 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 5-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.
“Grant” means an award of assistance with the expectation that, with the fulfillment of the conditions, terms and obligations of the contract with the department for the project, repayment of funds is not required.
“ICF” means the innovation and commercialization fund established by 2009 Iowa Acts, Senate File 142.
“IVF(2009)” means the grow Iowa values fund established by Iowa Code section 15G.111 as amended by 2009 Iowa Acts, Senate File 344, section 2.
“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 award. 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 (maximum of 30 months) from obligated but unexpended IVF(2009) funds.
“Loan and credit guarantee committee” means the loan and credit guarantee committee composed of members of the board and whose duties include, but are not limited to, carrying out any duties assigned by the board in relation to the loan and credit guarantee program administered by the department, reviewing loan and credit guarantee applications and making recommendations to the board regarding funding.
“Loan guarantee” means a guarantee of all or part of a loan made by a commercial lender. Payment of all or a portion of the loan guarantee would occur if the business defaults on its repayment of the loan, provided the lender has exhausted standard legal remedies in an attempt to secure repayment from the borrower.
“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. It is the specific date established by the department past the project completion date through which the recipient shall maintain the project, the created jobs, and the retained jobs.
“Project completion,” for the EZ and HQJP tax credit programs, for purposes of reporting to the Iowa department of revenue that a project has been completed, means:
	  1. 	 For new manufacturing facilities, the first date upon which the average annualized production of finished product for the preceding 90-day period at the manufacturing facility is at least 50 percent of the initial design capacity of the facility.
	  2. 	 For all other projects, the date of completion of all improvements necessary for the start-up, location, expansion or modernization of a business.
“Project completion date” means the specific date established by the department by which a recipient of financial assistance shall have completed all pledged project activities, met its job creation and job retention obligations, and otherwise satisfied the terms and obligations of the contract with the department for a project. (See rule 261—187.3(15) for a listing of the duration of the project completion period and maintenance period for IDED’s job creation and tax credit programs.)
“Project completion period” means the period of time between the date financial assistance is awarded (the “award date”) and the project completion date.
“Project initiation” means, for all programs and funding sources except EDSA, any one of the following:
	  1. 	 The start of construction of new or expanded buildings;
	  2. 	 The start of rehabilitation of existing buildings;
	  3. 	 The purchase or leasing of existing buildings; or
	  4. 	 The installation of new machinery and equipment or new computers to be used in the operation of the business’s project.
The purchase of land or signing an option to purchase land or earth moving or other site development activities not involving actual building construction, expansion or rehabilitation shall not constitute project initiation. The costs of any land purchase and site development work incurred prior to the award are not eligible qualifying investment expenses.
“Qualifying wage threshold” means the county wage or the regional wage, as calculated by the department, whichever is lower.
“Regional wage” means the regional wage calculation performed by the department pursuant to 2009 Iowa Acts, Senate File 344, section 3.
“Retained job” means a full-time equivalent permanent position in existence at the time an employer applies for financial assistance 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 employer is seeking assistance does not proceed.
“Sufficient benefits” means that the employer applying for financial assistance offers to each full-time equivalent permanent position a benefits package that meets one of the following:
	  1. 	 The employer pays 80 percent of the premium costs for a standard medical and dental plan for single employee coverage with a $750 maximum deductible; or
	  2. 	 The employer pays 50 percent of the premium costs for a standard medical and dental plan for employee family coverage with a $1,500 maximum deductible; or
	  3. 	 The employer provides medical coverage and pays the monetary equivalent of paragraph “1” or “2” above in supplemental employee benefits. Benefits counted toward monetary equivalent could include medical coverage, dental coverage, vision insurance, life insurance, pension, retirement (401k), profit sharing, disability insurance, child care services, and other nonwage compensation approved by the board.
“Sufficient benefits credit” means a benefits credit for which a business qualifies if the business provides sufficient benefits to each employee holding a created or retained job. This credit can be applied against the 130 percent qualifying wage requirement. The credit shall be calculated and applied as follows:
	  1. 	 By multiplying the qualifying wage threshold of the county in which the business is located by one and three-tenths.
	  2. 	 By multiplying the result of paragraph “1” by one-tenth.
	  3. 	 The amount of the result of paragraph “2” shall be credited against the amount of the 130 percent qualifying wage threshold requirement that the business is required to meet.
	  4. 	 The credit shall not be applied against the 100 percent qualifying wage threshold requirement.
“Technology commercialization committee” means the committee established by the board pursuant to Iowa Code section 15.116 to evaluate and approve funding for projects and programs referred to in Iowa Code section 15G.111 as amended by 2009 Iowa Acts, Senate File 344, section 2.
[ARC 7970B, IAB 7/15/09, effective 7/1/09; ARC 8145B, IAB 9/23/09, effective 10/28/09]