Defines community significant projects as a business creating or retaining current jobs as determined by the commissioner, with particular emphasis on employment and/or training of current public housing residents, currently located or to be located in existing leased space of a building in a public housing development in the state and which makes significant qualified capital investments to start a business, or improve services and working conditions for an existing business, when located in such public housing space and including such projects in the excelsior jobs program.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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9954
IN ASSEMBLY
March 3, 2020
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JOYNER, CYMBROWITZ -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Economic Development
AN ACT to amend the economic development law, in relation to defining
community significant projects and including such projects in the
excelsior jobs program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 17 and 20-a of section 352 of the economic
2 development law, subdivision 17 as amended by section 1 of part K and
3 subdivision 20-a as added by section 1 of part ZZ of chapter 59 of the
4 laws of 2017, are amended and a new subdivision 18-a is added to read as
5 follows:
6 17. "Qualified investment" means an investment in tangible property
7 (including a building or a structural component of a building) owned by
8 a business enterprise which:
9 (a) is depreciable pursuant to section one hundred sixty-seven of the
10 internal revenue code;
11 (b) has a useful life of four years or more;
12 (c) is acquired by purchase as defined in section one hundred seven-
13 ty-nine (d) of the internal revenue code;
14 (d) has a situs in this state; [and]
15 (e) is placed in service in the state on or after the date the certif-
16 icate of eligibility is issued to the business enterprise; and
17 (f) demolition and remediation of costs incurred and paid in the
18 leased building by the business enterprise in a public housing develop-
19 ment in the state, as determined by the commissioner.
20 18-a. "Community significant project" means (a) a business creating or
21 retaining current jobs as determined by the commissioner, with partic-
22 ular emphasis on employment and/or training of current public housing
23 residents; (b) currently located or to be located in existing leased
24 space of a building in a public housing development in the state that is
25 owned and operated by a public housing authority created under article
26 thirteen of the public housing law; (c) which makes significant quali-
27 fied capital investments to start a business, or improve services and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15041-03-0
A. 9954 2
1 working conditions for an existing business, when located in such public
2 housing space; and (d) creates at least five new net jobs or retaining
3 current jobs or makes qualified capital investments to such space of a
4 building. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations pursuant to
5 section three hundred fifty-six of this article to determine what addi-
6 tional criteria a business must meet to be eligible as a community
7 significant project, including, but not limited to, incentivizing child
8 care providers and other businesses that support the needs of the work-
9 force residing in such public housing and the social and health needs of
10 residents in such public housing, ensuring that residents are not
11 displaced and ensuring that services or programs being offered to public
12 housing residents by either a public housing authority or an entity
13 already onsite, are not displaced in order to locate or expand a busi-
14 ness in a public housing development.
15 20-a. "Significant capital investment" means a project which will be
16 either a newly constructed facility or a newly constructed addition to,
17 expansion of or improvement of a facility, consisting of tangible
18 personal property and other tangible property, including buildings and
19 structural components of buildings, that are depreciable pursuant to
20 section one hundred sixty-seven of the internal revenue code, have a
21 useful life of four years or more, are acquired by purchase as defined
22 in section one hundred seventy-nine (d) of the internal revenue code,
23 and that is equal to or exceeds (a) one million dollars for a manufac-
24 turer; (b) two hundred fifty thousand dollars for an agriculture busi-
25 ness; (c) three million dollars for a financial services firm or back
26 office operation; (d) fifteen million dollars for a distribution center;
27 (e) three million dollars for a scientific research and development
28 firm; [or] (f) three million dollars for other businesses; or (g) one
29 million dollars for a significant project.
30 § 2. Subdivisions 1, 3 and 4 of section 353 of the economic develop-
31 ment law, subdivision 1 as amended by section 2 of part K, subdivision 3
32 as separately amended by section 2 of part K and section 2 of part ZZ
33 and subdivision 4 as separately amended by section 3 of part K and
34 section 2 of part ZZ of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, are amended to
35 read as follows:
36 1. To be a participant in the excelsior jobs program, a business enti-
37 ty shall operate in New York state predominantly:
38 (a) as a financial services data center or a financial services back
39 office operation;
40 (b) in manufacturing;
41 (c) in software development and new media;
42 (d) in scientific research and development;
43 (e) in agriculture;
44 (f) in the creation or expansion of back office operations in the
45 state;
46 (g) in a distribution center;
47 (h) in an industry with significant potential for private-sector
48 economic growth and development in this state as established by the
49 commissioner in regulations promulgated pursuant to this article. In
50 promulgating such regulations the commissioner shall include job and
51 investment criteria;
52 (i) as an entertainment company;
53 (j) in music production; [or]
54 (k) as a life sciences company; or
55 (l) as a community significant project.
A. 9954 3
1 3. For the purposes of this article, in order to participate in the
2 excelsior jobs program, a business entity operating predominantly in
3 manufacturing must create at least five net new jobs; a business entity
4 operating predominately in agriculture must create at least five net new
5 jobs; a business entity operating predominantly as a financial service
6 data center or financial services customer back office operation must
7 create at least twenty-five net new jobs; a business entity operating
8 predominantly in scientific research and development must create at
9 least five net new jobs; a business entity operating predominantly in
10 software development must create at least five net new jobs; a business
11 entity creating or expanding back office operations must create at least
12 twenty-five net new jobs; a business entity operating predominately in
13 music production must create at least five net new jobs; a business
14 entity operating predominantly as an entertainment company must create
15 or obtain at least one hundred net new jobs; [or] a business entity
16 operating predominantly as a distribution center in the state must
17 create at least fifty net new jobs, notwithstanding subdivision five of
18 this section; [or] a business entity operating predominately as a life
19 sciences company must create at least five net new jobs; [or] a business
20 entity must be a regionally significant project as defined in this arti-
21 cle; or a community significant project as defined in this article; or
22 4. A business entity operating predominantly in one of the industries
23 referenced in paragraphs (a) through (h) or in paragraph (k) or (l) of
24 subdivision one of this section but which does not meet the job require-
25 ments of subdivision three of this section must have at least twenty-
26 five full-time job equivalents unless such business is a business entity
27 operating predominantly in manufacturing then it must have at least five
28 full-time job equivalents and must demonstrate that its benefit-cost
29 ratio is at least ten to one.
30 § 3. Subdivision 2 and paragraph (a) of subdivision 4 of section 355
31 of the economic development law, as amended by section 4 of part G of
32 chapter 61 of the laws of 2011, are amended to read as follows:
33 2. Excelsior investment tax credit component. A participant in the
34 excelsior jobs program shall be eligible to claim a credit on qualified
35 investments. The credit shall be equal to two percent of the cost or
36 other basis for federal income tax purposes of the qualified investment.
37 A participant may not claim both the excelsior investment tax credit
38 component and the investment tax credit set forth in subdivision
39 [twelve] one of section two hundred [ten] ten-b, subsection (a) of
40 section six hundred six, the former subsection (i) of section fourteen
41 hundred fifty-six, or subdivision (q) of section fifteen hundred eleven
42 of the tax law for the same property in any taxable year, except that a
43 participant may claim both the excelsior investment tax credit component
44 and the investment tax credit for research and development property. In
45 addition, a taxpayer who or which is qualified to claim the excelsior
46 investment tax credit component and is also qualified to claim the
47 brownfield tangible property credit component under section twenty-one
48 of the tax law may claim either the excelsior investment tax credit
49 component or such tangible property credit component, but not both with
50 regard to a particular piece of property. A credit may not be claimed
51 until a business enterprise has received a certificate of tax credit,
52 provided that qualified investments made on or after the issuance of the
53 certificate of eligibility but before the issuance of the certificate of
54 tax credit to the business enterprise, may be claimed in the first taxa-
55 ble year for which the business enterprise is allowed to claim the cred-
56 it. Expenses incurred prior to the date the certificate of eligibility
A. 9954 4
1 is issued are not eligible to be included in the calculation of the
2 credit.
3 (a) A participant in the excelsior jobs program who either qualified
4 as a regionally significant project, a community significant project or
5 is located in an investment zone shall be eligible to claim a credit for
6 a period of ten years. For the purposes of this subdivision, the lease
7 payment paid by the business enterprise pursuant to a public housing
8 development in this state shall be eligible real property tax for
9 purposes of this subdivision.
10 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to taxable
11 years beginning on and after January 1, 2021.