Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
REGULAR SESSION
                Engrossed Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 675
             BY SENATOR WOODRUM
   [Originating in the Committee on Government Organization; reported February 20, 2024]
     Eng CS for SB 675
  A BILL to amend and reenact §7-18-13a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating
         to accreditation of convention and visitors bureaus; providing time extension for certain
         bureaus to become accredited and still be eligible for distribution of hotel occupancy tax
         proceeds; and requiring all bureaus to obtain and maintain accreditation as requirement
         to receive distribution of net proceeds after certain date.
     Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
     §7-18-13a. Annual reports by convention and visitors bureaus; eligibility for hotel occupancy tax proceeds.
         (a) On or before 90 days after the end of its fiscal year, every convention and visitors
  bureau which receives any appropriation of hotel occupancy tax from one or more counties or
  municipalities shall file with each such county or municipality, the State Auditor, the Joint
  Committee on Government and Finance, and the West Virginia Association of Convention and
  Visitors Bureaus a report, including an income statement and balance sheet, showing all amounts
  of hotel occupancy tax appropriated to the convention and visitors bureau and all expenditures of
  hotel occupancy tax made by the convention and visitors bureau for the prior fiscal year, as well
  as any such information required by subsection (b) of this section. A convention and visitors
  bureau that has not filed a report in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be
 ineligible to receive additional appropriations of hotel occupancy tax proceeds until such report
 has been filed.
        (b) In order to qualify for a distribution of net proceeds pursuant to §7-18-14 of this code,
 a convention and visitors bureau shall satisfy the following requirements:
        (1) The convention and visitors bureau shall have a minimum annual budget;
        (2) The convention and visitors bureau shall establish a marketing plan targeting markets
 outside of a 50-mile radius of the bureau's municipality or county of operation;
        (3) The annual operating budget for the convention and visitors bureau allocates
 approximately 40 percent of annual revenues to advertising and marketing, approximately 40
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     Eng CS for SB 675
 percent to salaries and personnel, and approximately 20 percent to other operating expenses:
 Provided, That a convention and visitors bureau that allocates less than 40 percent of annual
 revenues to salaries and personnel shall be considered to have satisfied the budget allocation
 requirement;
        (4) The convention and visitors bureau has a full-time executive director that maintains the
 minimum number of continuing education hours recommended annually by industry standards;
        (5) The convention and visitors bureau has a physical office and/or visitor center that is
 accessible at least 40 hours per week and has a dedicated phone line;
        (6) The convention and visitors bureau maintains a website and appropriate marketing
 materials;
        (7) The convention and visitors bureau has received, and maintains, accreditation from an
 accrediting body: Provided, That convention and visitors bureaus in existence on the effective
 date of the amendments to this section enacted during the regular session of the Legislature,
 2021, shall have until June 30, 2026, to receive and maintain accreditation from an accrediting
 body, and may, until that date, receive a distribution of net proceeds pursuant to §7-18-14 of this
 code if all other requirements for receiving a distribution are satisfied; and
        (8) The convention and visitors bureau submits an annual report to all of its funding
 entities, which shall include, but not be limited to, the information provided for in this subsection.
        Nothing in this section may be construed as to interfere with the ability of a county or
 municipality to enter into any agreements or partnerships with convention and visitors bureaus in
 neighboring counties or municipalities for the purposes of distributing net tax proceeds pursuant
 to §7-18-14 of this code, so long as all other requirements of this section are met.
        (c) At least once every three years, any bureau that receives any appropriation of hotel
 occupancy tax from one or more counties or municipalities shall cause an audit or financial review,
 in a form as is appropriate to the particular bureau, to be made by an independent certified public
 accountant of all its books, accounts, and records relating to all receipts and expenditures of any
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 hotel occupancy tax appropriations for the three prior fiscal years of the bureau. A copy of the
 audit or financial review shall be filed with each county or municipality from which the bureau
 received an appropriation of hotel occupancy tax, the State Auditor, the Joint Committee on
 Government and Finance, and the West Virginia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.
 After July 1, 2024, a bureau that has not caused such an audit or financial review to be made is
 ineligible to receive an appropriation of hotel occupancy tax proceeds pursuant to §7-18-14 of this
 code.
         (d) In order to encourage counties and municipalities to work within the existing framework
 of convention and visitors bureaus, there shall be a moratorium on the authorization of new
 convention and visitors bureaus until June 30, 2025. A county or municipality may not appropriate
 any net proceeds of hotel occupancy taxes, pursuant to §7-18-14 of this code, to any convention
 or and visitors bureau created on or after the amendments to this section enacted during the
 regular session of the Legislature, 2021, and prior to the end of the moratorium imposed by this
 subsection.
         (e) On or after June 30 July 1, 2025, any new convention and visitors bureau which that
 meets and maintains all of the requirements of subsection (b) of this section shall qualify for a
 distribution of net proceeds pursuant to §7-18-14 of this code.
         (e) (f) Nothing in this section may prohibit either the State Auditor or the Legislative Auditor
 from conducting regular reviews or audits of the operations or finances of a convention and visitors
 bureau to ensure compliance with this code.
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Statutes affected: 
Introduced Version: 7-18-13a
Committee Substitute: 7-18-13a
Engrossed Committee Substitute: 7-18-13a