Reference is to Printer's Date 3/27/12-S.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by adding appropriately numbered SECTIONS to read:
/ SECTION __. Section 12-6-3360(M)(13) and (14) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 290 of 2010, is further amended to read:
'(13)
'Qualifying service-related facility' means:
(a)
an establishment engaged in an activity or activities
listed under the North American Industry Classification System
Manual (NAICS) Section 62, subsectors 621, 622, and 623; or
(b)
a business, other than a business engaged in legal,
accounting, banking, or investment services (including a
business identified under NAICS Section 55) or retail sales,
which has a net increase of at least:
(i)
two one
hundred fifty seventy-five jobs at a
single location;
(ii)
one hundred fifty jobs at a single location comprised
of a building or portion of building that has been vacant for at
least twelve consecutive months prior to the taxpayer's
investment;
(iii)
one hundred twenty-five jobs at a
single location and the jobs have an average cash compensation
level of more than one and one-half times the lower of state per
capita income or per capita income in the county where the jobs
are located;
(iii)(iv)
seventy-five fifty jobs at a
single location and the jobs have an average cash compensation
level of more than twice the lower of state per capita income or
per capita income in the county where the jobs are located; or
(iv)(v)
thirty twenty-five jobs at a
single location and the jobs have an average cash compensation
level of more than two and one-half times the lower of state per
capita income or per capita income in the county where the jobs
are located.
A taxpayer shall use the most recent per
capita income data available as of the end of the taxable year
in which the jobs are filled. Determination of the required
number of jobs is in accordance with the monthly average
described in subsection (F).
(14)
'Technology intensive facility' means:
(a)
a facility at which a firm engages in the design,
development, and introduction of new products or innovative
manufacturing processes, or both, through the systematic
application of scientific and technical knowledge. Included in
this definition are the following North American Industrial
Classification Systems, NAICS, Codes published by the Office of
the Management and Budget of the federal government:
(i)
5114 database and directory
publishers;
(ii)
5112 software publishers;
(iii)
54151 computer systems design and related services;
(iv)
541511 custom computer programming services;
(v)
541512 computer systems design services;
(vi)
541710 scientific research and development
services 541711 research and development in
biotechnology; 2007 NAICS;
(vii)
541712 research and development in physical,
engineering, and life sciences; 2007 NAICS;
(viii)
518210 data processing, hosting, and
related services;
(ix)
9271 space research and technology; or
(b)
a facility primarily used for one or more activities
listed under the 2002 version of the NAICS Codes 51811 (Internet
Service Providers and Web Search Portals)."
SECTION __. Section 12-20-105 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 290 of 2010, is further amended to read:
"Section 12-20-105.
(A) Any company subject to a license
tax under Section 12-20-100 may claim a credit against its
license tax liability for amounts paid in cash to provide
infrastructure for an eligible project.
(B)(1) To be considered
an eligible project for purposes of this section, the project
must qualify for income tax credits under Chapter 6, Title 12,
withholding tax credit under Chapter 10, Title 12, income tax
credits under Chapter 14, Title 12, or fees in lieu of property
taxes under either Chapter 12, Title 4, Chapter 29, Title 4, or
Chapter 44, Title 12.
(2)
If a project is located in an office, business,
commercial, or industrial park, or combination of these, is used
exclusively for economic development and is owned or constructed
by a county, political subdivision, or agency of this State when
the qualifying improvements are paid for, the project does not
have to meet the qualifications of item (1) to be considered an
eligible project. As provided in subsection (C)(4), the county
or political subdivision may sell all or a portion of the
business or industrial park.
(C) For the purpose of
this section, 'infrastructure' means improvements for water,
wastewater, hydrogen fuel, sewer, gas, steam, electric energy,
and communication services made to a building or land that are
considered necessary, suitable, or useful to an eligible
project. These improvements include, but are not limited to:
(1)
improvements to both public or private water and sewer
systems;
(2)
improvements to both public or private electric, natural
gas, and telecommunications systems including, but not limited
to, ones owned or leased by an electric cooperative, electric
utility, or electric supplier, as defined in Chapter 27, Title
58;
(3)
fixed transportation facilities including highway, road,
rail, water, and air;
(4)
for a qualifying project under subsection (B)(2),
infrastructure improvements include shell buildings, incubator
buildings whose ownership is retained by the county, political
subdivision, or agency of the State and the purchase of land for
an office, business, commercial, or industrial park, or
combination of these, used exclusively for economic development
which is owned or constructed by a county, political
subdivision, or agency of this State. The county, political
subdivision, or agency may sell the shell building or all or a
portion of the park at any time after the company has paid in
cash to provide the infrastructure for an eligible project;
and
(5)
for a qualifying project pursuant to subsection (B)(2),
infrastructure improvements also include due diligence
expenditures relating to environmental conditions made by a
county or political subdivision after it has acquired
contractual rights to an industrial park. Due diligence
expenditures include such items as Phase I and II studies and
environmental or archeological studies required by state or
federal statutes or guidelines or similar lender requirements.
Contractual rights include options to purchase real property or
other similar contractual rights acquired before the county or
political subdivision files a deed to the property with the
Register of Mesne Conveyances; and
(6)
for a qualifying project pursuant to subsection
(B)(2), site preparation costs include, but are not limited
to:
(a)
clearing, grubbing, grading, and stormwater
retention; and
(b)
refurbishment of buildings that are owned or
controlled by a county or municipality and are used exclusively
for economic development purposes.
(D) A company is not
allowed the credit provided by this section for actual expenses
it incurs in the construction and operation of any building or
infrastructure it owns, leases, manages, or operates.
(E) The maximum
aggregate credit that may be claimed in any tax year by a single
company is three four hundred thousand
dollars.
(F) The credits allowed
by this section may not reduce the license tax liability of the
company below zero. If the applicable credit originally earned
during a taxable year exceeds the liability and is otherwise
allowable under subsection (D), the amount of the excess may be
carried forward to the next taxable year.
(G) For South Carolina
income tax and license purposes, a company that claims the
credit allowed by this section is ineligible to claim the credit
allowed by Section 12-6-3420.
(H) By March first of
each year, the Department of Revenue shall issue a report to the
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the Chairman of the
House Ways and Means Committee, and the Secretary of the
Department of Commerce outlining the history of the credit
allowed pursuant to this section. The report shall include the
amount of credit allowed pursuant to this section and the types
of infrastructure provided to eligible projects."
SECTION __. Section 12-44-30(21) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 290 of 2010, is further amended to read:
"(21) 'Termination date' means the date that is the last day of a property tax year that is no later than the twenty-ninth year following the first property tax year in which an applicable piece of economic development property is placed in service. A sponsor may apply to the county prior to the termination date for an extension of the termination date beyond the twenty-ninth year up to ten years. The county council of the county shall approve an extension by resolution upon a finding of substantial public benefit. A copy of the resolution must be delivered to the department within thirty days of the date the resolution was adopted. With respect to a fee agreement involving an enhanced investment, the termination date is the last day of a property tax year that is no later than the thirty-ninth year following the first property tax year in which an applicable piece of economic development property is placed in service. A sponsor may apply to the county before the termination date for an extension of the termination date beyond the thirty-ninth year up to ten years. If the fee agreement is terminated in accordance with Section 12-44-140, the termination date is the date the agreement is terminated."
SECTION __. Section 4-12-30(O) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 69 of 2003, is amended by adding an appropriately numbered subitem at the end to read:
"( ) Upon the direction of the governing body of the county, a county official may request and obtain such financial books and records from a sponsor that support the sponsor's fee in lieu of taxes return as may be reasonably necessary to verify the calculations of the sponsor's fee in lieu of taxes payment or the calculations of the sponsor's special source revenue credit."
SECTION __. Section 4-29-67(S) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 290 of 2010, is further amended by adding an appropriately numbered subitem at the end to read:
"( ) Upon the direction of the governing body of the county, a county official may request and obtain such financial books and records from a sponsor that support the sponsor's fee in lieu of taxes return as may be reasonably necessary to verify the calculations of the sponsor's fee in lieu of taxes payment or the calculations of the sponsor's special source revenue credit."
SECTION __. Section 12-44-90 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 69 of 2003, is further amended by adding an appropriately numbered subsection at the end to read:
"( ) Upon the direction of the governing body of the county, a county official may request and obtain such financial books and records from a sponsor that support the sponsor's fee in lieu of taxes return as may be reasonably necessary to verify the calculations of the sponsor's fee in lieu of taxes payment or the calculations of the sponsor's special source revenue credit."
SECTION ___. Section 12-36-2120 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 32 of 2011, is further amended by adding an appropriately numbered subsection at the end to read:
"( )(A)(1)
original or replacement computers, computer equipment, and
computer hardware and software purchases used within a
datacenter; and
(2)
electricity used by a datacenter and eligible business
property to be located and used at the datacenter. This subitem
does not apply to sales of electricity for any other purpose,
and such sales are subject to the tax, including, but not
limited to, electricity used in administrative offices,
supervisory offices, parking lots, storage warehouses,
maintenance shops, safety control, comfort air conditioning,
elevators used in carrying personnel, cafeterias, canteens,
first aid rooms, supply rooms, water coolers, drink boxes, unit
heaters and waste house lights.
(B) As used in this
section:
(1)
'Computer' means an electronic device that accepts
information in digital or similar form and manipulates it for a
result based on a sequence of instructions.
(2)
'Computer equipment' means original or replacement
servers, routers, switches, power units, network devices, hard
drives, processors, memory modules, motherboards, racks, other
computer hardware and components, cabling, cooling apparatus,
and related or ancillary equipment, machinery, and components,
the primary purpose of which is to store, retrieve, aggregate,
search, organize, process, analyze, or transfer data or any
combination of these, or to support related computer engineering
or computer science research. This also includes equipment
cooling systems for managing the performance of the datacenter
property, including mechanical and electrical equipment,
hardware for distributed and mainframe computers and servers,
data storage devices, network connectivity equipment, and
peripheral components and systems.
(3)
'Computer software' means a set of coded instructions
designed to cause a computer or automatic data processing
equipment to perform a task.
(4)
'Concurrently maintainable' means capable of having any
capacity component or distribution element serviced or repaired
on a planned basis without interrupting or impeding the
performance of the computer equipment.
(5)
'Datacenter' means a new or existing facility at a single
location in South Carolina:
(i)
that provides infrastructure for
hosting or data processing services and that has power and
cooling systems that are created and maintained to be
concurrently maintainable and to include redundant capacity
components and multiple distribution paths serving the computer
equipment at the facility. Although the facility must have
multiple distribution paths serving the computer equipment, a
single distribution path may serve the computer equipment at any
one time;
(ii)(a)
where a taxpayer invests at least fifty million dollars in
real or personal property or both over a five year period;
or
(b)
where one or more taxpayers invests a minimum aggregate
capital investment of at least seventy-five million dollars in
real or personal property or both over a five year period;
(iii)
where a taxpayer creates and maintains at least twenty
five full-time jobs at the facility with an average cash
compensation level of one hundred fifty percent of the per
capita income of the State or of the county in which the
facility is located, whichever is lower, according to the most
recently published data available at the time the facility is
certified by the Department of Commerce;
(iv)
where the jobs created pursuant to subitem (iii) are
maintained for three consecutive years after a facility with the
minimum capital investment and number of jobs has been certified
by the Department of Commerce; and
(v)
which is certified by the Department of Commerce pursuant
to subsection (D)(1)under such policies and procedures as
promulgated by the Department of Commerce.
(6)
'Eligible business property' means property used for the
generation, transformation, transmission, distribution, or
management of electricity, including exterior substations and
other business personal property used for these purposes.
(7)
'Multiple distribution paths' means a series of
distribution paths configured to ensure that failure on one
distribution path does not interrupt or impede other
distribution paths.
(8)
'Redundant capacity components' means components beyond
those required to support the computer equipment.
(C)(1) To qualify for
the exemption allowed by this item, a taxpayer, and the facility
in the case of a seventy-five million dollar investment made by
more than one taxpayer, shall notify the Department of Revenue
and Department of Commerce, in writing, of its intention to
claim the exemption. For purposes of meeting the requirements
of subsection (B)(5)(ii) and (B)(5)(iii), capital investment and
job creation begin accruing once the taxpayer notifies each
department. Also, the five-year period begins upon
notification.
(2)
Once the taxpayer meets the requirements of subsection
(B)(5), or at the end of the five-year period, the taxpayer
shall notify the Department of Revenue, in writing, whether it
has or has not met the requirements of subsection (B)(5). The
taxpayer shall provide the proof the department determines
necessary to determine that the requirements have been met.
(D)(1) Upon notifying
each department of its intention to claim the exemption pursuant
to subsection (C)(1), and upon certification by the Department
of Commerce, the taxpayer may claim the exemption on eligible
purchases at any time during the period provided in Section
125485(F), including the time period prior to subsection
(B)(5)(iv) being satisfied.
(2)
For purposes of this section, the running of the periods
of limitations for assessment of taxes provided in Section
125485 is suspended for:
(i)
the time period beginning with notice
to each department pursuant to subsection (C)(1) and ending with
notice to the Department of Revenue pursuant to subsection
(C)(2); and
(ii)
during the three year job maintenance requirement pursuant
to subsection (B)(5)(iv).
(E) Any subsequent
purchase of or investment in computer equipment, computer
hardware and software, and computers, including to replace
originally deployed computer equipment or to implement future
expansions, likewise shall qualify for the exemption provided in
this item, regardless of when the taxpayer makes the
investments.
(F)(1) If a taxpayer
receives the exemption for purchases but fails to meet the
requirements of subsection (B)(5) at the end of the five-year
period, the department may assess any state or local sales or
use tax due on items purchased.
(2)
If a taxpayer meets the requirements of subsection (B)(5),
but subsequently fails to maintain the number of full-time jobs
with the required compensation level at the facility, as
previously required pursuant to subsection (B)(5)(iii), the
taxpayer is:
(i)
not allowed the exemption for items
described in subsection (A)(1) until the taxpayer meets the
previous qualifying jobs requirements pursuant to subsection
(B)(5)(iii); and
(ii)
allowed the exemption for electricity pursuant to
subsection (A)(2), but the exemption only applies to a
percentage of the sale price, calculated by dividing the number
of qualifying jobs by twenty-five.
(G) This item only
applies to datacenter that is certified by the Department of
Commerce pursuant to subsection (D)(1) prior to January 1, 2032.
However, this item shall continue to apply to a taxpayer that
is certified by December 31, 2031, for an additional ten year
period. Upon the end of the ten year period, this item is
repealed."
SECTION __. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective. /
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.