SB-0707, As Passed House, December 20, 2018

SB-0707, As Passed Senate, September 26, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE BILL No. 707

 

 

December 5, 2017, Introduced by Senators SCHMIDT and HORN and referred to the Committee on Commerce.

 

 

     A bill to amend 1980 PA 395, entitled

 

"Community convention or tourism marketing act,"

 

by amending the title and section 2 (MCL 141.872), the title as

 

amended by 1984 PA 59 and section 2 as amended by 2010 PA 82, and

 

by adding sections 1a, 7a, and 7b.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

                                TITLE

 

     An act relating to the promotion of convention business or

 

tourism in municipalities in this state; to provide for tourism or

 

convention marketing programs in municipalities through nonprofit

 

convention and tourist bureaus; to provide for the imposition and

 

collection of assessments on the owners of transient facilities to

 

support tourism or convention marketing programs; to provide for


the disbursement of the assessments; to establish the oversight

 

functions and duties of the department of commerce; certain state

 

departments, state agencies, and state employees; and to prescribe

 

remedies and penalties.

 

     Sec. 1a. (1) The legislature finds all of the following:

 

     (a) Tourism is a major source of employment, income, and tax

 

revenues in this state, and the expansion of the tourism industry

 

is vital to the growth of the state's economy.

 

     (b) The tourism industry is important to this state, not only

 

because of the number of people it serves and the vast human,

 

financial, and physical resources it employs, but because of the

 

benefits tourism and related activities confer on individuals and

 

on society as a whole.

 

     (c) State oversight and resources are needed to implement a

 

coordinated and effective marketing program consistent with the

 

master plan developed by this state to promote travel to, and

 

within, this state under the Michigan tourism policy act, 1945 PA

 

106, MCL 2.101 to 2.103a, and to optimize the considerable

 

investment of time, energy, capital, and resources being made by

 

the tourism industry.

 

     (d) This state can best undertake effective tourism marketing

 

through the coordinated efforts of existing state government

 

agencies in tourism promotion and private convention and tourism

 

promotional bureaus who are better able than state agencies to

 

market and promote their unique assessment districts, which will

 

maximize the economic and employment benefits of the tourism

 

industry to this state and its citizens.


     (e) The coordinated efforts within this act to market and

 

promote tourism represent a broader regulator scheme that does not

 

impinge on an individual's First Amendment rights.

 

     (2) Nothing in this act shall be construed to do 1 or more of

 

the following:

 

     (a) Restrain an owner or participant from communicating its

 

own message or marketing plan.

 

     (b) Require any owner or participant to adopt any actual or

 

symbolic speech.

 

     (c) Endorse or finance any political speech or ideological

 

view.

 

     Sec. 2. As used in this act:

 

     (a) "Assessment" means the amount levied against an owner of a

 

transient facility within an assessment district, computed by

 

application of the applicable percentage against aggregate room

 

charges with respect to that transient facility during the

 

applicable assessment period.

 

     (b) "Assessment district" means a municipality or combination

 

of municipalities as described in a marketing program. A

 

combination of municipalities is not required to be contiguous.

 

     (c) "Assessment revenues" means the money derived from the

 

assessment, including any interest and penalties on the assessment,

 

imposed by this act.

 

     (d) "Board" means the board of directors elected by the

 

members of a bureau. A majority of the members of a board shall be

 

owners of transient facilities.

 

     (e) "Bureau" means a nonprofit corporation existing to promote


convention business or tourism within this state or a portion of

 

this state.

 

     (f) "Director" means the president of the Michigan strategic

 

fund or his or her designee.

 

     (g) "Marketing program" means a program established by a

 

bureau to develop, encourage, solicit, and promote convention

 

business or tourism within this state or a portion of this state

 

within which the bureau operates. The encouragement and promotion

 

of convention business or tourism includes any service, function,

 

or activity, whether or not performed, sponsored, or advertised by

 

a bureau, that intends to attract transient guests to the

 

assessment district. For a bureau described in section 3(8), a

 

marketing program includes a contract with a nonprofit organization

 

formed to promote convention business or tourism that receives

 

funding from a tax levied under 1974 PA 263, MCL 141.861 to

 

141.867, in a contiguous county to provide for the promotion of

 

convention business or tourism.

 

     (h) "Marketing program notice" means the notice described in

 

section 3.

 

     (i) "Master plan" means the comprehensive, long-range master

 

plan developed by the Michigan travel commission and the travel

 

bureau under section 2c of the Michigan tourism policy act, 1945 PA

 

106, MCL 2.102c.

 

     (j) (i) "Municipality" means a county with a population of

 

less than 650,000 or a city, village, or township within a county

 

with a population of less than 650,000.

 

     (k) (j) "Owner" means the owner of a transient facility to be


served by the bureau or, if the transient facility is operated or

 

managed by a person other than the owner, then the operator or

 

manager of that transient facility.

 

     (l) (k) "Room" means a room or other space provided for

 

sleeping that can be rented independently, including the

 

furnishings and other accessories in the room. Room includes, but

 

is not limited to, a condominium or time-sharing unit that,

 

pursuant to a management agreement, may be used to provide

 

dwelling, lodging, or sleeping quarters for a transient guest.

 

     (m) (l) "Room charge" means the charge imposed for the use or

 

occupancy of a room, excluding charges for food, beverages, state

 

use tax, telephone service, or like services paid in connection

 

with the charge, and excluding reimbursement of the assessment

 

imposed by this act.

 

     (n) (m) "Transient facility" means a building or combination

 

of buildings under common ownership, operation, or management that

 

contains 10 or more rooms used in the business of providing

 

dwelling, lodging, or sleeping to transient guests, whether or not

 

membership is required for the use of the rooms. Transient facility

 

does not include a college or school dormitory, a hospital, a

 

nursing home, or a facility owned and operated by an organization

 

qualified for an exemption from federal taxation under section

 

501(c) of the internal revenue code.

 

     (o) (n) "Transient guest" means a natural person who occupies

 

a room in a transient facility for less than 30 consecutive days

 

regardless of who pays the room charge.

 

     (p) "Travel bureau" means the Michigan travel bureau created


under section 2a of the Michigan tourism policy act, 1945 PA 106,

 

MCL 2.102a.

 

     Sec. 7a. The board at regular intervals, but not less than

 

twice per year, shall convene a formal meeting at which the board

 

shall review its current annual marketing plan and its proposed

 

annual marketing plan for the succeeding 1-year period. Once a year

 

at these formal meetings, the board shall review and either approve

 

or reject the proposed annual marketing plan. Subject to section

 

7b, an approved annual marketing plan shall be instituted by the

 

bureau. A rejected marketing plan shall not be instituted by the

 

bureau.

 

     Sec. 7b. (1) The vice-president of the travel bureau and the

 

president or chief administrative officer of the bureau shall meet

 

periodically, but at least once each year, to discuss the master

 

plan and the annual marketing plan approved by the board.

 

     (2) The bureau and the travel bureau shall coordinate their

 

marketing program activities and annual marketing plan activities

 

with the master plan with a goal of maximizing the impact of

 

tourism and convention business on the economy of this state.

 

     (3) The director shall disapprove of the bureau's annual

 

marketing plan within 30 days of the meeting provided for in

 

subsection (1) upon finding that it is detrimental to the master

 

plan or the travel bureau's promotional programs. The bureau shall

 

not implement an annual marketing plan that is disapproved by the

 

travel bureau. If the director does not disapprove of an annual

 

marketing plan within the 30-day period, the annual marketing plan

 

shall be considered approved and may be implemented by the bureau.