COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 368
(By Senators Helmick, White, Minard, Unger and Kessler)
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[Originating in the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure; reported February 16, 2010.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §5B-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to moneys deposited in Tourism
Promotion Fund; and authorizing excess funds in the Courtesy
Patrol Fund to be transferred back to the Tourism Promotion
Fund.
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.
This
fund shall consist of moneys deposited as provided in articles
twenty-two-a and twenty-five, chapter twenty-nine of this code,
income from the investment of moneys held in the fund, such other moneys as the Legislature may appropriate to the fund and all other
moneys available for deposit to the fund from any source, public or
private.
(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,
$4,700,000 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 according to the following
schedule: On July 31 of each year, $850,000, and on the last day
of each month thereafter, $350,000. Expenditures from the fund
shall be used solely to fund the courtesy patrol program providing
assistance to motorists on the state's highways.
At the end of
each fiscal year, amounts collected in the fund which are found,
from time to time,
by the secretary of the Department of Commerce
to exceed funds needed for the purposes set forth in this
subdivision
may will be transferred
to other accounts or funds and
redesignated for other purposes by appropriation of the Legislature
back to the Tourism Promotion Fund.
(b) If there are funds remaining after the monthly
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 July 1, 1995, according to legislative
rules authorized for promulgation by the Tourism Commission.
(d) All advertising expenditures over $25,000 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.
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(NOTE: Strike-throughs indicate language that would be
stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new
language that would be added.)