CHAPTER 54.  CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS RELOCATION PROGRAM

§3111.  Definitions

The following words or terms as used in this Chapter shall have the following meanings, unless a different meaning appears from the context:

(1)  "Business" means any individual, firm, joint venture, association, corporation, estate, partnership, business trust, receiver, syndicate, or any other legal business entity.

(2)  "Department" means the Department of Economic Development unless otherwise designated.

(3)  "Headquarters" means a principal or regional corporate office located or to be located in Louisiana, in which are based the principal or regional executive officers normally constituting a principal or regional headquarters providing corporate governance.  Such officers include but are not limited to chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and other senior level officers or appropriate regional equivalents.

(4)  "Headquarters jobs" means permanent full-time new executive, administrative, or professional jobs based at a headquarters and filled by residents of the state employed by a qualified business, and each job paying at least sixty thousand dollars per year or two hundred percent of the average annual wages paid by employers subject to the Louisiana Employment Security Law in the parish in which the headquarters is located, whichever is lower.

(5)  "Program" means the Corporate Headquarters Relocation Program established pursuant to this Chapter.

(6)  "Qualified business" means a business that (a) the secretary has determined meets the eligibility requirements of R.S. 51:3112, (b) has been approved by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget to participate in the program, and (c) has executed a contract with the department governing its participation in the program.

(7)  "Relocation costs" means actual, direct, and substantiated costs incurred by the qualified business to relocate a headquarters to the state, including capital expenditures and leasing costs for a facility and equipment, and personnel relocation costs; provided that such personnel relocation costs shall not include any real estate commission in excess of six percent, but such limit shall not prevent a real estate commission less than six percent.  Personnel relocation costs shall be limited to costs associated with no more than sixty percent of headquarters jobs.  Relocation costs shall also include capital expenditures and leasing costs for expansion of a headquarters facility in the state, excluding personnel relocation costs.  Qualifying relocation costs shall be limited to the maximum amount provided by the contract executed pursuant to this Chapter.

(8)  "Secretary" means the secretary of the Department of Economic Development.

(9)  "Significant economic benefit" means net positive tax revenue.  This shall be determined by taking into account direct, indirect, and induced impacts based on a standard economic impact methodology utilized by the department, the value of the rebate, and any other state tax and financial incentives that are used by the department to secure the qualified business.

(10)  "State" means the state of Louisiana.

Acts 2012, No. 503, §1, eff. July 1, 2012.