• Extends the job creation tax credit enacted in 2006 to any company that creates at least 10 new full-time jobs in the state instead of only to those that (1) have not been conducting business in Connecticut, (2) relocate to Connecticut, and (3) create at least 50 new full-time jobs in the state.

• Increases the credit from up to 25% to up to 50% of the state income tax withheld from the new employees' wages for up to five successive years.

• Establishes transferable state income tax credits for eligible people who invest in qualified Connecticut start-up businesses (“angels”).

• Credit is 35% of the cash investment up to a maximum credit of $ 125,000.

• Credits are transferable from the angel to another taxpayer and from that transferee to another taxpayer. Unused credits may be carried forward for up to five years.

• To receive a credit-eligible angel investment, a business must:

1. have annual gross revenues under $ 5 million,

2. have fewer than 25 employees,

3. have been operating in Connecticut for less than 10 years,

4. be primarily owned by its management and their families,

5. have received less than $ 1 million in angel credits, and

6. be approved by the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) as qualified to receive credit-eligible angel investments.

• Total credits are limited to $ 15 million per year for all investments.

• Establishes a transferable business tax credit for investments in state-certified motion picture industry facility projects in Connecticut. Credits apply against taxes on corporations, insurance premiums, nonprofit corporation unrelated business income, air carriers, railroad companies, cable and satellite t. v. companies, and utility companies.

• Credit amounts depend on the project costs as follows:

• Unused credits can be carried forward for up to three years.

• The Commission on Culture and Tourism (CCCT) administers the credits.

• Extends the existing 30% tax credit for eligible film and digital media production expenses to include production of sound recordings.

• Music, poetry, and spoken-word performance recordings are eligible, but not when recorded as part of a movie, video, theatrical production, t. v. news coverage, or athletic event.

• Requires the Office of Workforce Competitiveness to establish a training program to develop a film industry workforce in Connecticut, in consultation with the labor, education, and DECD commissioners and the CCCT and appropriates money for the program.

• Expands production expenses eligible for the film production tax credit to include expenses for:

1. insurance, insurance loss, and damage payments;

2. completion bonds;

3. production financing;

4. all travel for people working in Connecticut;

5. employee fringe benefits; and

6. publicity work in the state in connection with a state-certified production.

• Eliminates a restriction that limits credit-eligible talent fees for extras, principal day players, and atmosphere as defined by the Screen Actors' Guild to double-scale wages under the guild's current collective bargaining agreement.

• Increases the expense threshold for qualifying for a credit from $ 50,000 to $ 250,000 but requires that, for a series, collection, or multiple episodes of related entertainment content, eligible expenses for the entire production be counted towards the threshold.

• Makes technical corrections.

• Allows production companies to apply to CCCT for tax credit vouchers for eligible expenses starting six months after incurring their first production expenses and three months after their first application for credit eligibility.

• Allows taxpayers to claim credits in the income year when the expenses were incurred and credit vouchers were issued (i. e. , during production), instead of requiring them to wait until the CCCT issues a final certification for the production after it is finished.

• Requires CCCT to deduct any tax credit vouchers issued during production from final credit amounts.

• Allows taxpayers to use film credits against the insurance premiums, nonprofit corporation unrelated business income, air carriers, railroad companies, cable and satellite t. v. companies, and utility companies taxes as well as the corporation tax.

• Allows film credits to be transferred again after a first transfer and eliminates a requirement that a taxpayer claim the credit only in years in which the production company that first received the credit could have claimed it.

• Requires transferees to notify CCCT of subsequent transfers.

• Requires funds to be (1) exclusively devoted to Connecticut-based productions eligible for state film tax credits; (2) certified by both CCCT and the revenue services commissioner; and (3) authorized to do business, and have their primary places of business, in Connecticut. (The bill does not explicitly establish the funds. )

• Allows fund managers to apply to CCCT for fund certification and establishes certification procedures.

• Requires film tax credits for a production company that receives funding from a state-certified fund to be allocated directly to the fund.

• Establishes a tax credit for contributions to state-certified funds equal to 30% of the amount CCCT certifies for credit. (The bill does not specify the amount CCCT certifies. )

• Fund contribution credits apply against the same business taxes as film production credits.

• Requires fund contribution credits to be claimed for the income year in which CCCT issued the credit voucher. Unused credits can be carried forward for three years.

• Allows taxpayers to transfer fund contribution credits and establishes procedures to notify CCCT of transfers.

• Establishes procedures for applying for credits and for refunding fund contributions not certified as eligible for credits.

• Provides an incentive payment to biotech and medical device manufacturing companies who show a net increase in weighted average employment for a year of at least 10 jobs over the prior year.

• Payment is 50% of the income tax withheld on the salaries of the new employees multiplied by the highest marginal income tax rate for the year (currently 5%).

• DRS administers the payments.

• Exempts sales by certified small businesses located in HUBZones from the 6% sales tax for four years and requires them to collect reduced tax for a further two years thereafter as shown below:

• A HUBZone is a “historically under-utilized business” zone established by the federal Small Business Administration.

• To be certified for the program under the federal law, a business must be located in a HUBZone and owned or controlled by U. S. citizens. At least 35% of its employees must live in the zone.

• Allows STEAP-eligible towns, by ordinance, to designate nutmeg zones within their borders.

• Requires ordinances to establish criteria and goals for economic activity in the zones.

• Allows towns to apply to DECD for state approval.

• Requires DECD to conduct a lottery by July 1, 2008 to designate 10 nutmeg zones within the state.

• Reduces property taxes by 10% for 10 years for any facility acquired, substantially renovated, or expanded within a nutmeg zone.

• Requires the state to reimburse towns for the lost property tax revenue.

• Funds grants to regional tourism districts by allocating to them incremental increases in hotel and lodging tax revenue over revenue from the tax in FY 06. CCCT administers the grants.

1369 - An Act Concerning Tourism Marketing

• Same as SB 1368 except the bill intercepts 20% of the gross receipts from the hotel and lodging tax to fund the grants.