Bill Text: MI SB0705 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Engrossed

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

SB-0705, As Passed House, December 20, 2018

SB-0705, As Passed Senate, September 26, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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