Bill Text: CA SB447 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 447

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: GO-Biz: Building and Reinforcing Inclusive, Diverse, Gender-Supportive Equity Project.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-09-13 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 199, Statutes of 2023. [SB447 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB447-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate March 20, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 447

Introduced by Senator Atkins

February 13, 2023

~~An act to amend Section 13995.1 of the Government Code, relating to tourism.~~ An act to amend Section 12096.3 of the Government Code, relating to economic development.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 447, as amended, Atkins. ~~California Tourism Marketing Act.~~ GO-Biz.

Existing law establishes the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. In this regard, existing law authorizes GO-Biz to make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature on new state policies and to provide data, information, and assistance, as specified.
This bill would further authorize the GO-Biz to establish a program to promote social equity, civil rights, and anti-discrimination through marketing and advertising campaigns. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
The California Tourism Marketing Act sets forth the findings and declarations of the Legislature with regard to travel and tourism in the state. Those findings and declarations state, in part, that generic promotion of California as a tourism destination is intended and designed to maintain or increase the overall demand for California tourism and to maintain or increase the size of that market, often by utilizing promotional methods and techniques that individual businesses typically are unable, or have no incentive, to employ.
~~This bill would change the above-described finding to additionally specify that generic promotion is intended and designed to express California’s values and attributes.~~

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 12096.3 of the Government Code is amended to read:

12096.3.

The office shall serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. In this capacity, the office may:

(a) Recommend to the Governor and the Legislature new state policies, programs, and actions, or amendments to existing programs, advance statewide economic goals and respond to emerging economic problems and opportunities, and ensure that all state policies and programs conform to the adopted state economic and business development goals.

(b) Coordinate the development of policies and criteria to ensure that federal grants administered or directly expended by state government advance statewide economic goals and objectives.

(c) Market the business and investment opportunities available in California by working in partnership with local, regional, federal, and other state public and private institutions to encourage business development and investment in the state.

(d) Provide, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Economic and demographic data.

(2) Financial information to help link businesses with state and local public and private programs.

(3) Workforce information, including, but not limited to, labor availability, training, and education programs.

(4) Transportation and infrastructure information.

(5) Assistance in obtaining state and local permits.

(6) Information on tax credits and other incentives.

(7) Permitting, siting, and other regulatory information pertinent to business operations in the state.

(e) Establish a well-advertised telephone number, an interactive ~~Internet Web site,~~ internet website, and an administrative structure that effectively supports the facilitation of business development and investment in the state.

(f) Encourage collaboration among research institutions, startup companies, local governments, venture capitalists, and economic development agencies to promote innovation.

(g) In cooperation with the federal government, foster relationships with overseas entities to improve the state’s image as a destination for business investment and expansion.

(h) Conduct research on the state’s business climate, including, but not limited to, research on how the state can remain on the leading edge of innovation and emerging sectors.

(i) Support small businesses by providing information about accessing capital, complying with regulations, and supporting state initiatives that support small business.

(j) Establish a program to promote social equity, civil rights, and anti-discrimination through marketing and advertising campaigns.

SECTION 1.Section 13995.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:
13995.1.
~~The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:~~
~~(a)Tourism is among California’s biggest industries, contributing over fifty-two billion dollars ($52,000,000,000) to the state economy and employing nearly 700,000 Californians in 1995.~~
~~(b)In order to retain and expand the tourism industry in California, it is necessary to market travel to and within California.~~
(c)State funding, while an important component of marketing, has been unable to generate sufficient funds to meet the threshold levels of funding necessary to reverse recent losses of California’s tourism market share.
~~(d)In regard to the need for a cooperative partnership between business and industry:~~
(1)It is in the state’s public interest and vital to the welfare of the state’s economy to expand the market for, and develop, California tourism through a cooperative partnership funded in part by the state that will allow generic promotion and communication programs.
(2)The mechanism established by this chapter is intended to play a unique role in advancing the opportunity to expand tourism in California, and it is intended to increase the opportunity for tourism to the benefit of the tourism industry and the consumers of the State of California.
~~(3)Programs implemented pursuant to this chapter are intended to complement the marketing activities of individual competitors within the tourism industry.~~
(4)While it is recognized that smaller businesses participating in the tourism market often lack the resources or market power to conduct these activities on their own, the programs are intended to be of benefit to businesses of all sizes.
(5)These programs are not intended to, and they do not, impede the right or ability of individual businesses to conduct activities designed to increase the tourism market generally or their own respective shares of the California tourism market, and nothing in the mechanism established by this chapter shall prevent an individual business or participant in the industry from seeking to expand its market through alternative or complementary means, or both.
(6)(A)An individual business’s own advertising initiatives are typically designed to increase its share of the California tourism market rather than to increase or expand the overall size of that market.
(B)In contrast, generic promotion of California as a tourism destination is intended and designed to express California’s values and attributes, to maintain or increase the overall demand for California tourism, and to maintain or increase the size of that market, often by utilizing promotional methods and techniques that individual businesses typically are unable, or have no incentive, to employ.
(7)This chapter creates a mechanism to fund generic promotions that, pursuant to the required supervision and oversight of the director as specified in this chapter, further specific state governmental goals, as established by the Legislature, and result in a promotion program that produces nonideological and commercial communication that bears the characteristics of, and is entitled to all the privileges and protections of, government speech.
(8)The programs implemented pursuant to this chapter shall be carried out in an effective and coordinated manner that is designed to strengthen the tourism industry and the state’s economy as a whole.
~~(9)Independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the programs will assist the Legislature in ensuring that the objectives of the programs as set out in this section are met.~~
(e)An industry-approved assessment provides a private-sector financing mechanism that, in partnership with state funding, will provide the amount of marketing necessary to increase tourism marketing expenditures by California.
~~(f)The goal of the assessments is to assess the least amount per business, in the least intrusive manner, spread across the greatest practical number of tourism industry segments.~~
~~(g)The California Travel and Tourism Commission shall target an amount determined to be sufficient to market effectively travel and tourism to and within the state.~~
~~(h)In the course of developing its written marketing plan pursuant to Section 13995.45, the California Travel and Tourism Commission shall, to the maximum extent feasible, do both of the following:~~
~~(1)Seek advice and recommendations from all segments of California’s travel and tourism industry and from all geographic regions of the state.~~
~~(2)Harmonize, as appropriate, its marketing plan with the travel and tourism marketing activities and objectives of the various industry segments and geographic regions.~~
(i)The California Travel and Tourism Commission’s marketing budget shall be spent principally to bring travelers and tourists into the state. No more than 15 percent of the commission’s assessed funds in any year shall be spent to promote travel within California, unless approved by at least two-thirds of the commissioners.