§209E-4  Enterprise zone designation. 
(a)  The governing body of any county may apply in writing to the department to
have an area declared to be an enterprise zone.  The application shall include
a description of the location of the area or areas in question, and a general
statement identifying proposed local incentives to complement the state and any
federal incentives.



(b)  The governor, upon the recommendation of
the director, shall approve the designation of up to six areas in each county
as enterprise zones for a period of twenty years.  Any such area shall be
located in one United States census tract or two or more contiguous United
States census tracts in accordance with the most recent decennial United States
Census.  The census tract or tracts within which each enterprise zone is
located also shall meet at least one of the following criteria:



(1)  Twenty-five per cent or more of the population
have incomes below eighty per cent of the median family income of the county;
or



(2)  The unemployment rate is 1.5 times the state
average. [L 1986, c 78, pt of §1; am L 1989, c 390, §2; am L 1993, c 341, §2;
am L 1995, c 91, §3; am L 1997, c 262, §2; am L 2009, c 174, §3]



 



Attorney General Opinions



 



  Act 262, L 1997, did
not require city and county to offer county-level incentives to qualified
businesses in new enterprise zone created legislatively by the Act.  Att. Gen.
Op. 98-1.



  If extending survey
and reporting requirements to new enterprise zone (EZ) created by the
legislature would result in an increase in the level of service under city and
county's existing program, then, unless department was willing to share in the
cost, city and county was not required to submit initial survey or annual
report on new EZ.  Att. Gen. Op. 98-1.



  Qualified businesses
located in new enterprise zone (EZ) would be eligible for state tax incentives
for seven-year period set forth in §§209E-10(a) and 209E-11, although a portion
of that seven-year period extended beyond new EZ's five-year sunset date.  Att.
Gen. Op. 98-1.



  Where legislature
designated agricultural lands in Waialua district as an enterprise zone (EZ) in
Act 262, L 1997, existing EZ at Waialua-Haleiwa was not affected because it was
established prior to December 31, 1996, the retroactive effective date of the
Act.  Att. Gen. Op. 98-1.