As used in sections 100.700 to 100.850, the following terms mean:

(1) “Assessment”, an amount of up to five percent of the gross wages paid in one year by an eligible industry to all eligible employees in new jobs, or up to ten percent if the economic development project is located within a distressed community as defined in section 135.530;

(2) “Board”, the Missouri development finance board as created by section 100.265;

(3) “Certificates”, the revenue bonds or notes authorized to be issued by the board pursuant to section 100.840;

(4) “Credit”, the amount agreed to between the board and an eligible industry, but not to exceed the assessment attributable to the eligible industry’s project;

(5) “Department”, the Missouri department of economic development;

(6) “Director”, the director of the department of economic development;

(7) “Economic development project”:

(a) The acquisition of any real property by the board, the eligible industry, or its affiliate; or

(b) The fee ownership of real property by the eligible industry or its affiliate; and

(c) For both paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision, “economic development project” shall also include the development of the real property including construction, installation, or equipping of a project, including fixtures and equipment, and facilities necessary or desirable for improvement of the real property, including surveys; site tests and inspections; subsurface site work; excavation; removal of structures, roadways, cemeteries and other surface obstructions; filling, grading and provision of drainage, storm water retention, installation of utilities such as water, sewer, sewage treatment, gas, electricity, communications and similar facilities; off-site construction of utility extensions to the boundaries of the real property; and the acquisition, installation, or equipping of facilities on the real property, for use and occupancy by the eligible industry or its affiliates;

(8) “Eligible employee”, a person employed on a full-time basis in a new job at the economic development project averaging at least thirty-five hours per week who was not employed by the eligible industry or a related taxpayer in this state at any time during the twelve-month period immediately prior to being employed at the economic development project. For an essential industry, a person employed on a full-time basis in an existing job at the economic development project averaging at least thirty-five hours per week may be considered an eligible employee for the purposes of the program authorized by sections 100.700 to 100.850;

(9) “Eligible industry”, a business located within the state of Missouri which is engaged in interstate or intrastate commerce for the purpose of manufacturing, processing or assembling products, conducting research and development, or providing services in interstate commerce, office industries, or agricultural processing, but excluding retail, health or professional services. “Eligible industry” does not include a business which closes or substantially reduces its operation at one location in the state and relocates substantially the same operation to another location in the state. This does not prohibit a business from expanding its operations at another location in the state provided that existing operations of a similar nature located within the state are not closed or substantially reduced. This also does not prohibit a business from moving its operations from one location in the state to another location in the state for the purpose of expanding such operation provided that the board determines that such expansion cannot reasonably be accommodated within the municipality in which such business is located, or in the case of a business located in an incorporated area of the county, within the county in which such business is located, after conferring with the chief elected official of such municipality or county and taking into consideration any evidence offered by such municipality or county regarding the ability to accommodate such expansion within such municipality or county. An eligible industry must:

(a) Invest a minimum of fifteen million dollars, or ten million dollars for an office industry, in an economic development project; and

(b) Create a minimum of one hundred new jobs for eligible employees at the economic development project or a minimum of five hundred jobs if the economic development project is an office industry or a minimum of two hundred new jobs if the economic development project is an office industry located within a distressed community as defined in section 135.530, or in the case of an approved company for a project for a world headquarters of a business whose primary function is tax return preparation in any home rule city with more than four hundred thousand inhabitants and located in more than one county, create a minimum of one hundred new jobs for eligible employees at the economic development project. An industry that meets the definition of “essential industry” may be considered an eligible industry for the purposes of the program authorized by sections 100.700 to 100.850.

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Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this subdivision, a development agency, as such term is defined in subdivision (3) of section 100.255, or a corporation, limited liability company, or partnership formed on behalf of a development agency, at the option of the board, may be authorized to act as an eligible industry with such obligations and rights otherwise applicable to an eligible industry, including the rights of an approved company under section 100.850, so long as the eligible industry otherwise meets the requirements imposed by this subsection;

(10) “Essential industry”, a business that otherwise meets the definition of eligible industry except an essential industry shall:

(a) Be a targeted industry;

(b) Be located in a home rule city with more than twenty-six thousand but less than twenty-seven thousand inhabitants located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than one million inhabitants or in a city of the fourth classification with more than four thousand three hundred but fewer than four thousand four hundred inhabitants and located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than one million inhabitants;

(c) Have maintained at least two thousand jobs at the proposed economic development project site each year for a period of four years preceding the year in which application for the program authorized by sections 100.700 to 100.850 is made and during the year in which said application is made;

(d) Retain, at the proposed economic development project site, the level of employment that existed at the site in the taxable year immediately preceding the year in which application for the program, authorized by sections 100.700 to 100.850, is made. Retention of such level of employment shall commence three years from the date of issuance of the certificates and continue for the duration of the certificates; and

(e) Invest a minimum of five hundred million dollars in the economic development project by the end of the third year after the issuance of the certificates under this program;

(11) “New job”, a job in a new or expanding eligible industry not including jobs of recalled workers, replacement jobs or jobs that formerly existed in the eligible industry in the state. For an essential industry, an existing job may be considered a new job for the purposes of the program authorized by sections 100.700 to 100.850;

(12) “Office industry”, a regional, national or international headquarters, a telecommunications operation, a computer operation, an insurance company, or a credit card billing and processing center;

(13) “Program costs”, all necessary and incidental costs of providing program services including payment of the principal of premium, if any, and interest on certificates, including capitalized interest, issued to finance a project, and funding and maintenance of a debt service reserve fund to secure such certificates. Program costs shall include:

(a) Obligations incurred for labor and obligations incurred to contractors, subcontractors, builders and materialmen in connection with the acquisition, construction, installation or equipping of an economic development project;

(b) The cost of acquiring land or rights in land and any cost incidental thereto, including recording fees;

(c) The cost of contract bonds and of insurance of all kinds that may be required or necessary during the course of acquisition, construction, installation or equipping of an economic development project which is not paid by the contractor or contractors or otherwise provided for;

(d) All costs of architectural and engineering services, including test borings, surveys, estimates, plans and specifications, preliminary investigations and supervision of construction, as well as the costs for the performance of all the duties required by or consequent upon the acquisition, construction, installation or equipping of an economic development project;

(e) All costs which are required to be paid under the terms of any contract or contracts for the acquisition, construction, installation or equipping of an economic development project; and

(f) All other costs of a nature comparable to those described in this subdivision;

(14) “Program services”, administrative expenses of the board, including contracted professional services, and the cost of issuance of certificates;

(15) “Targeted industry”, an industry or one of a cluster of industries that is identified by the department as critical to the state’s economic security and growth.