SB-0704, As Passed Senate, September 26, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE BILL No. 704

 

 

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

 

 

     A bill to amend 2010 PA 254, entitled

 

"Regional convention and tourism promotion act,"

 

by amending the title and section 2 (MCL 141.1432) and by adding

 

sections 1a, 6a, and 6b.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

TITLE

 

     An act relating to the promotion of convention business and

 

tourism in this state; to provide for regional tourism and

 

convention marketing and promotion programs in certain areas; to

 

provide for imposition and collection of assessments on the owners

 

of transient facilities to support tourism and convention marketing

 

and promotion programs; to provide for the disbursement of the

 

assessments; to establish the oversight functions and duties of


certain state departments, state agencies, and state employees; and

 

to prescribe penalties and remedies.

 

     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 combination of 2 or more

 

adjoining municipalities as described in a marketing program.

 

     (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 of a bureau.

 

     (e) "Bureau" means a nonprofit corporation incorporated under

 

the laws of this state existing solely to promote convention

 

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

 

and that complies with all of the following:

 

     (i) Has been actively engaged in promoting convention business

 

and tourism for not less than 5 years.


     (ii) Has a board of directors elected by its members.

 

     (iii) Has a full-time chief executive officer and not fewer

 

than 2 full-time equivalent employees.

 

     (iv) Is a member of 1 or more nationally recognized

 

associations of travel and convention bureaus.

 

     (f) "Director" means the chief executive officer of the

 

Michigan economic development corporation or his or her designee.

 

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

 

bureau to develop, encourage, solicit, and promote regional

 

convention business and tourism within this state or a portion of

 

this state within which the bureau operates. The encouragement and

 

promotion of regional convention business and tourism shall include

 

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.

 

     (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

 

more than 80,000 and less than 115,000 and that contains a city

 

with a population of more than 35,000 and less than 45,000, at the

 

time the marketing notice is filed with the director, and that

 

shares a border with a county that levies a tax on accommodations

 

under 1974 PA 263, MCL 141.861 to 141.867.


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

 

located within the assessment district 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, including the furnishings and other accessories in the

 

room.

 

     (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 reimbursement of the assessment imposed by this

 

act.

 

     (n) (m) "Transient facility" means a building that contains 2

 

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. A transient facility shall not

 

include a hospital or nursing home.

 

     (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 for the room.

 

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

 

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

 

MCL 2.102a.

 

     (q) (o) "Use tax" means the tax imposed under the use tax act,

 

1937 PA 94, MCL 205.91 to 205.111.

 

     Sec. 6a. 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

 

6b, an approved annual marketing plan shall be instituted by the

 

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

 

bureau.

 

     Sec. 6b. (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.