Enrolled Version - Final Version
Senate Bill 2006 History
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ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 2006
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Caruth,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Passed August 21, 2007; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACT
to amend and reenact §5B-2-12 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the Tourism
Promotion Fund; and adding advertising on the internet to
the definition of "direct advertising".
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5B-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA DEVELOPMENT OFFICE.
§5B-2-12. Tourism Promotion Fund created; use of funds.
There is hereby continued in the State Treasury the special
revenue fund known as the Tourism Promotion Fund created under
prior enactment of section nine, article one of this chapter.
(a) The Legislature finds that a courtesy patrol program
providing assistance to motorists on the state's highways is one
of the most beneficial methods to introduce a tourist visiting
the state of the state's hospitality and good will. For that reason, four million seven hundred thousand dollars of the moneys
deposited in the fund each year shall be deposited in a special
revenue account in the State Treasury to be known as the Courtesy
Patrol Fund. Expenditures from the fund shall be used solely to
fund the courtesy patrol program providing assistance to
motorists on the state's highways. Amounts collected in the fund
which are found, from time to time, to exceed funds needed for
the purposes set forth in this subdivision may be transferred to
other accounts or funds and redesignated for other purposes by
appropriation of the Legislature.
(b) If there are funds remaining after the distribution
required in subdivision (a) of this section, a minimum of five
percent of the moneys deposited remaining in the fund each year
shall be used solely for direct advertising for West Virginia
travel and tourism: Provided, That no less than twenty percent
of these funds be expended, with the approval of the Director of
the Division of Natural Resources, to effectively promote and
market the state's parks, state forests, state recreation areas
and wildlife recreational resources. Direct advertising means
advertising which is limited to television, radio, mailings,
newspaper, magazines, the internet and outdoor billboards or any
combination thereof.
(c) The balance of the moneys deposited in the fund shall be
used for direct advertising within the state's travel regions as defined by the commission. The funds shall be made available to
these districts beginning the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-five, according to legislative rules
authorized for promulgation by the Tourism Commission.
(d) All advertising expenditures over twenty-five thousand
dollars from the Tourism Promotion Fund require prior approval by
recorded vote of the commission. No member of the commission or
of any committee created by the commission to evaluate
applications for advertising or other grants may participate in
the discussion of, or action upon, an application for or an award
of any grant in which the member has a direct financial interest.