Bill > SB555

This bill modifies the Tourism Supplemental Revenue Fund by substantially changing how the fund is established and managed. The bill creates a new special fund in the state treasury called the "Division of Tourism Supplemental Revenue Fund" that can receive appropriations from the general assembly, as well as gifts, contributions, grants, or bequests from various sources. The fund will be administered by the state treasurer and used exclusively by the division of tourism to carry out its legal duties. The bill removes previous complex provisions related to calculating deposits based on sales tax increases from tourism-oriented goods and services, and eliminates specific fiscal year restrictions that were previously in place. Instead, the bill now requires the division of tourism to present a promotional marketing strategy to legislative committees before making appropriations from the fund, including details about targeted markets, market plans, strategies, and estimated investment returns. Notably, the bill changes the legislative committees receiving this presentation from the previous "committee on tourism, recreational and cultural affairs" to a "special committee on tourism" and from the "transportation and tourism" committee to the "economic and workforce development" committee. The bill also stipulates that any unspent funds at the end of a biennium will not be transferred to the general revenue fund.