Bill Text: MI HB4816 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Economic development: other; regional event center financing act; provide for. Creates new act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-12-31 - Assigned Pa 340'20 [HB4816 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-HB4816-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL No. 4816
July 18, 2019, Introduced by Rep. Iden and referred to the Committee on Commerce and Tourism.
A bill relating to the promotion of regional convention
business and tourism in this state and certain regions of this
state; to provide for 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.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
"regional event center financing act".
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 a
combination of municipalities as described in an event center
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) "Clerk" means the clerk of the municipality.
(e) "Event center" means all or any part, or any combination
of convention halls, auditoriums, stadiums, music halls, arenas,
meeting rooms, exhibit areas, and related public areas owned by a
municipality or related event center authority. An event center
does not include any facility owned in whole or in part by any
private individual, business, or corporation.
(f) "Event center financing program" means a program
established by a municipality to plan, develop, design, and
construct an event center.
(g) "Event center financing program notice" means the notice
described in section 3.
(h) "Municipality" means a county having a population of
greater than 250,000 and less than 300,000 according to the most
recent federal decennial census.
(i) "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.
(j) "Room" means a room or other space provided for sleeping,
including the furnishings and other accessories in the room.
(k) "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.
(l) "Transient facility" means a building that contains 35 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.
(m) "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.
(n) "Use tax" means the tax imposed under the use tax act,
1937 PA 94, MCL 205.91 to 205.111.
Sec. 3. (1) A municipality may, by ordinance, establish an
event center financing program.
(2) The event center financing program shall describe the
proposed size, location, cost, and financing structure of the
proposed event center.
(3) The event center financing program shall specify the
amount of the assessment proposed to be levied, which shall not
exceed 4% of the room charges in the applicable payment period.
(4) Upon adoption of an ordinance establishing an event center
financing program, the clerk of the municipality shall cause an
event center financing program notice to be mailed by registered or
certified mail to each owner of a transient facility located in the
municipality. In assembling the list of owners to whom the notices
shall be mailed, the clerk shall use any data that are reasonably
available to the clerk.
(5) The form of the event center financing program notice, in
addition to the information required by subsections (1), (2), and
(3), shall set forth the right of referendum prescribed in
subsection (7).
(6) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (7), the
assessment set forth in the notice shall become effective on the
first day of the month following the expiration of 40 days after
the date the notice is mailed, unless the clerk, within the 40-day
period, receives written requests for a referendum by owners of
transient facilities located within the assessment district
representing not less than 40% of the total number of owners or not
less than 40% of the total number of rooms in all of the transient
facilities.
(7) If the clerk receives referendum requests in the time and
number set forth in subsection (7), the clerk shall cause a written
referendum to be held by mail or in person, as the clerk chooses,
among all owners of transient facilities in the assessment district
within 20 days after the expiration of the 40-day period. For the
purposes of the referendum, each owner of a transient facility
shall have 1 vote for each room in each of the owner's transient
facilities within the assessment district. If a majority of votes
actually cast at the referendum approve the assessment, as proposed
by the bureau in its marketing program notice, the assessment shall
become effective as to all owners of transient facilities located
in the assessment district on the first day of the month following
expiration of 30 days after certification of the results of the
referendum by the clerk. If a majority of votes actually cast at
the referendum are opposed to the assessment, the assessment shall
not become effective. If the assessment is defeated by the
referendum, the municipality may file and serve a new notice of
intention if at least 60 days have elapsed from the date of
certification of the results of the earlier referendum. Not more
than 2 referenda or notices may be held pursuant to this subsection
or filed pursuant to this section in any 1 calendar year. Only 1
assessment under this act may be in existence in an assessment
district, or any part of an assessment district, at any 1 time.
(8) The assessment described in this act shall not be
effective before January 1, 2020.
Sec. 4. (1) Upon the effective date of an assessment, each
owner of a transient facility in the assessment district shall be
liable for payment of the assessment, computed using the percentage
set forth in the event center financing program notice. The
assessment shall be paid by the owner of each such transient
facility to the municipality within 30 days after the end of each
calendar month and shall be accompanied by a statement of room
charges imposed with respect to the transient facility for that
month. This act shall not prohibit a transient facility from
reimbursing itself by adding the assessment imposed pursuant to
this act to room charges payable by transient guests, provided that
the transient facility discloses that it has done so on any bill
presented to a transient guest.
(2) Within 30 days after the close of each calendar quarter,
each owner within an assessment district shall forward to the
independent certified public accountants who audit the financial
statements of the municipality copies of its use tax returns for
the preceding quarter. These copies of the use tax returns shall be
used solely by the certified public accountants to verify and audit
the owner's payment of the assessments and shall not be disclosed
to the municipality except as necessary to enforce this act.
(3) Interest shall be paid by an owner to the municipality on
any assessments not paid within the time called for under this act.
The interest shall accrue at the rate of 1.5% per month. Owners
delinquent for more than 90 days in paying assessments, in addition
to the 1.5% interest, shall pay a delinquency charge of 10% per
month or fraction of a month on the amount of the delinquent
assessments. The municipality may sue in its own name to collect
the assessments, interest, and delinquency charges.
(4) The owner of a transient facility shall not be liable for
payment of an assessment until a notice has been mailed to the
transient facility of the owner pursuant to section 3(4).
Sec. 5. The revenues derived from the assessment imposed under
this act shall be deposited in a special fund to be used by the
municipality or by an authority that is organized pursuant to state
law, together with other available funds only to pay for 1 or more
of the following:
(a) The cost of administration and enforcement of the
ordinance.
(b) The financing of the acquisition, construction,
improvement, enlargement, repair, or maintenance of convention and
entertainment facilities, including the payment of principal and
interest, when due, on bonds or other evidence of indebtedness
issued by the municipality for an event center.
(c) Current or future annual rental payable by the
municipality to an authority organized pursuant to state law for
the purpose of acquiring, constructing, improving, enlarging,
repairing, or maintaining the convention and entertainment
facilities and leasing them to the municipality.
