Bill Text: MI SB0705 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Taxation; convention tourism assessments; regional tourism marketing act; revise. Amends title & sec. 2 of 1989 PA 244 (MCL 141.892) & adds secs. 1a, 7a & 7b.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2018-12-28 - Assigned Pa 0466'18 [SB0705 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2017-SB0705-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 705
December 5, 2017, Introduced by Senators SCHMIDT and HORN and referred to the Committee on Commerce.
A bill to amend 1989 PA 244, entitled
"Regional tourism marketing act,"
by amending the title and section 2 (MCL 141.892) and by adding
sections 1a, 7a, and 7b.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
TITLE
An act to promote tourism in certain regions of this state; to
provide for the creation of tourism marketing programs; to provide
for the imposition and collection of assessments on the owners of
transient facilities to support tourism marketing programs; to
provide for the disbursement of the assessments; to prescribe the
oversight powers and duties of certain state departments, state
agencies, and officers;
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 this 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
under this act.
(b) "Assessment revenues" means the money collected by a
regional marketing organization from the assessment, including any
interest and penalties on the assessment, imposed under this act.
(c) "Board" means the board of directors elected by the
members of a regional marketing organization.
(d)
"Director" means the director of commerce.president of the
Michigan strategic fund or his or her designee.
(e) "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.
(f) (e)
"Owner" means the owner
of a transient facility that
is located within the regional 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.
Owner includes a person electing to come under the provisions of
this act pursuant to section 9.
(g) (f)
"Regional assessment
district" means a region of this
state composed of a number of counties in which a regional
marketing organization operates. Regional assessment district does
not include a portion of the region that is a special charter,
fourth class city.
(h) (g)
"Regional marketing
organization" means a nonprofit
corporation that promotes tourism within a region of this state.
Regional marketing organization includes only an organization that
has been operating for 10 or more years and that operates in a
region composed of 15 counties.
(i) (h)
"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.
(j) (i)
"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 room charge, and reimbursement of the assessment as
allowed in section 6.
(k) (j)
"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
includes a building or combination of buildings, the owner of which
has elected to come under the provisions of this act pursuant to
section 9. Transient facility does not include a college or school
dormitory; a hospital; a nursing home; a hospice; a building or
combination of buildings that is otherwise a transient facility,
but that is located within 1 mile of a ski lift as defined in
section
2 of the ski area safety act of 1962, Act No. 199 of the
Public
Acts of 1962, being section 408.322 of the Michigan Compiled
Laws;
1962 PA 199, MCL 408.322; 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.
(l) (k)
"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.
(m) (l) "Tourism
marketing program" means a program
established by a regional marketing organization to develop,
encourage, solicit, and promote tourism within a region of this
state. The encouragement and promotion of tourism includes a
service, function, or activity, whether or not performed,
sponsored, or advertised by a regional marketing organization, that
intends to attract transient guests to the regional assessment
district.
(n) (m)
"Tourism marketing program
notice" means the notice
described in section 3.
(o) "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
regional marketing organization. A rejected marketing plan shall
not be instituted by the regional marketing organization.
Sec. 7b. (1) The vice-president of the travel bureau and the
president or chief administrative officer of the regional marketing
organization 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 regional marketing organization 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 regional marketing
organization'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
regional marketing organization 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 regional marketing
organization.
