(a) The firm is an eligible business firm engaged in eligible business operations under ORS 285C.135 that are located inside the enterprise zone;
(b) The firm owns or leases qualified property that is located inside the enterprise zone;
(c) Except as otherwise provided in ORS 285C.203, the employment of the firm, on or before the earlier of April 1 or the date on which the initial exemption claim is filed under ORS 285C.220, following the year in which the qualified property is first placed in service in the enterprise zone, is not less than the greater of:
(A) 110 percent of the annual average employment of the firm; or
(B) The annual average employment of the firm plus one employee;
(d) The firm does not diminish employment outside the enterprise zone as provided in subsection (4) or (5) of this section;
(e) The firm does not substantially curtail operations within the enterprise zone as described in ORS 285C.210; and
(f) The firm complies in all material respects with local, Oregon and federal laws applicable to the firm’s operations inside the enterprise zone since the application for authorization and throughout the period of exemption, as prescribed by rule.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1)(c) or (e) of this section, an eligible business firm may meet the qualifications of this section if the firm has satisfied the following requirements:
(a) The firm is authorized subject to ORS 285C.155 and the firm satisfies those requirements; and
(b)(A) The firm completes an investment of $25 million or more in qualified property; or
(B) The firm fulfills the requirements of ORS 285C.205 and the employment of the firm does not decrease below the annual average employment of the firm.
(3) An authorized business firm that engages in both eligible and ineligible operations in an enterprise zone and is an eligible business firm because of ORS 285C.135 (3) meets the qualifications of this section if:
(a) The eligible operations of the firm under ORS 285C.135 meet the qualifications of this section; and
(b) The employees of the firm work a majority of their time in eligible operations within the enterprise zone.
(4) A business firm does not meet the qualifications of this section if the firm or any other firm under common control closes or permanently curtails operations in another part of the state more than 30 miles from the nearest boundary of the enterprise zone in which the firm seeks a property tax exemption. This subsection applies to the transfer of any of the business firm’s eligible operations to the enterprise zone from another part of the state, if the closure or permanent curtailment in the other part of the state diminished employment in the county and more local labor markets after authorization and on or before December 31 of the first tax year for which any qualified property of the firm in that zone would otherwise be exempt under ORS 285C.175.
(5) An authorized business firm that moves any of its employees from a site or sites within 30 miles from the nearest boundary of the enterprise zone after authorization may meet the qualifications under this section if the employment of the firm has been increased within the zone and at the site or sites from which the employees were transferred, no later than April 1 preceding the first tax year for which qualified property of the firm is exempt under ORS 285C.175, to not less than 110 percent of the annual average employment of the firm within the zone and the site or sites from which the employees were transferred, calculated over the 12 months preceding the date of application for authorization.
(6) For purposes of subsection (1)(f) of this section, the Oregon Business Development Department shall adopt rules that define the effect of noncompliance on an eligible business firm’s continuing exemption in an enterprise zone and that indicate what is necessary to establish the noncompliance in terms of materiality of the relevant violation, the finality of applicable legal or regulatory proceedings and judgments involving the firm, the failure by the firm to perform or submit to remedial or curative actions and similar factors.
(7) As used in this section:
(a) "Annual average employment of the firm" means the average employment of the firm, calculated over the 12 months preceding the date of application for authorization.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section, "employment of the firm" means:
(A) The number of employees working for the firm a majority of their time in eligible operations at locations throughout the enterprise zone; or
(B) In the case of a firm described in ORS 285C.135 (5)(b), the number of employees working a majority of their time at the facility in the enterprise zone for which authorization was obtained. [Formerly 285B.704; 2010 c.39 §3; 2017 c.83 §5]