Connecticut 2020 Regular Session

Connecticut Senate Bill SB00133 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	LCO No. 1343 1 of 4
4	4
5	5	General Assembly Raised Bill No. 133
6	6	February Session, 2020
7	7	LCO No. 1343
8	8
9	9
10	10	Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
11	11
12	12
13	13	Introduced by:
14	14	(CE)
15	15
16	16
17	17
18	18
19	19	AN ACT CONCERNING RE GIONAL TOURISM DISTR ICTS.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
21	21	Assembly convened:
22	22
23	23	Section 1. Section 10-397 of the 2020 supplement to the general 1
24	24	statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2
25	25	(Effective from passage): 3
26	26	(a) There are established three regional tourism districts, each of 4
27	27	which shall promote and market districts as regional leisure and 5
28	28	business traveler destinations to stimulate economic growth. The 6
29	29	districts shall be as follows: 7
30	30	(1) The eastern regional district, which shall consist of Ashford, 8
31	31	Bozrah, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Chaplin, Colchester, Columbia, 9
32	32	Coventry, East Lyme, Eastford, Franklin, Griswold, Groton, Hampton, 10
33	33	Killingly, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Lyme, Mansfield, Montville, New 11
34	34	London, North Stonington, Norwich, Old Lyme, Plainfield, Pomfret, 12
35	35	Preston, Putnam, Salem, Scotland, Sprague, Sterling, Stonington, 13
36	36	Thompson, Union, Voluntown, Waterford, Willington, Windham and 14
37	37	Woodstock; 15 Raised Bill No. 133
38	38
39	39
40	40
41	41	LCO No. 1343 2 of 4
42	42
43	43	(2) The central regional district, which shall consist of Andover, 16
44	44	Avon, Berlin, Bethany, Bloomfield, Bolton, Branford, Canton, Cheshire, 17
45	45	Chester, Clinton, Cromwell, Deep River, Durham, East Granby, East 18
46	46	Haddam, East Hampton, East Hartford, East Haven, East Windsor, 19
47	47	Ellington, Enfield, Essex, Farmington, Glastonbury, Granby, Guilford, 20
48	48	Haddam, Hamden, Hartford, Hebron, Killingworth, Madison, 21
49	49	Manchester, Marlborough, Meriden, Middlefield, Middletown, Milford, 22
50	50	New Britain, New Haven, Newington, North Branford, North Haven, 23
51	51	Old Saybrook, Orange, Plainville, Portland, Rocky Hill, Simsbury, 24
52	52	Somers, South Windsor, Southington, Stafford, Suffield, Tolland, 25
53	53	Vernon, Wallingford, West Hartford, West Haven, Westbrook, 26
54	54	Wethersfield, Windsor, Windsor Locks and Woodbridge; and 27
55	55	(3) The western regional district, which shall consist of Ansonia, 28
56	56	Barkhamsted, Beacon Falls, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bridgeport, Bridgewater, 29
57	57	Bristol, Brookfield, Burlington, Canaan, Colebrook, Cornwall, Danbury, 30
58	58	Darien, Derby, Easton, Fairfield, Goshen, Greenwich, Hartland, 31
59	59	Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, Middlebury, Monroe, Morris, Naugatuck, 32
60	60	New Fairfield, New Hartford, New Milford, New Canaan, Newtown, 33
61	61	Norfolk, North Canaan, Norwalk, Oxford, Plymouth, Prospect, 34
62	62	Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Salisbury, Seymour, Sharon, Shelton, 35
63	63	Sherman, Southbury, Stamford, Stratford, Thomaston, Torrington, 36
64	64	Trumbull, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Watertown, Weston, 37
65	65	Westport, Wilton, Winchester, Wolcott and Woodbury. 38
66	66	(b) Each regional tourism district shall be overseen by a board of 39
67	67	directors consisting of one representative from each municipality within 40
68	68	the district, appointed by the legislative body of the municipality and, 41
69	69	where the legislative body is a town meeting, by the board of selectmen. 42
70	70	Any such member of a board of directors shall serve for a term of three 43
71	71	years. In addition, the board of directors may appoint up to twenty-one 44
72	72	persons representing tourism interests within the district to serve on the 45
73	73	board. No board member shall be deemed a state employee for serving 46
74	74	on said board. All appointments to the board of directors shall be 47
75	75	reported to the Commissioner of Economic and Community 48
76	76	Development. 49 Raised Bill No. 133
77	77
78	78
79	79
80	80	LCO No. 1343 3 of 4
81	81
82	82	(c) The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, as defined in 50
83	83	section 1-200, shall apply to each regional tourism district. 51
84	84	(d) Each tourism district shall adopt a charter and bylaws governing 52
85	85	its operation. 53
86	86	(e) Each regional tourism district shall (1) comply with uniform 54
87	87	standards for accounting and reporting expenditures that are 55
88	88	established by the Department of Economic and Community 56
89	89	Development in accordance with section 10-392 and are based on 57
90	90	industry accounting standards developed by the International 58
91	91	Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus or other national 59
92	92	organizations related to tourism, and (2) on or before January first of 60
93	93	each year, submit to the department, the Office of Policy and 61
94	94	Management and the Office of Fiscal Analysis an independent audit in 62
95	95	accordance with the provisions of sections 4-230 to 4-236, inclusive. 63
96	96	(f) Each regional tourism district shall solicit and may accept private 64
97	97	funds for the promotion of tourism within its towns and cities and shall 65
98	98	coordinate its activities with any private nonprofit tourist association 66
99	99	within the district and within this state, that promotes tourism industry 67
100	100	businesses in this state, in order to foster cooperation in the promotion 68
101	101	of such businesses. Any funds received by a regional tourism district 69
102	102	may be deposited in the account established in section 10-395 or in an 70
103	103	account established by such tourism district to receive such funds. 71
104	104	[(g) The central regional district office shall be located within the 72
105	105	department.] 73
106	106	[(h)] (g) The commissioner shall, within available appropriations, 74
107	107	distribute tourism funding evenly among the three tourism districts. At 75
108	108	the end of each fiscal year, commencing with the fiscal year ending June 76
109	109	30, 2020, each regional tourism district shall return any unexpended 77
110	110	funds to the Department of Economic and Community Development. 78
111	111	The commissioner shall use such funds to support state-wide 79
112	112	marketing. 80 Raised Bill No. 133
113	113
114	114
115	115
116	116	LCO No. 1343 4 of 4
117	117
118	118	[(i)] (h) Each regional tourism district may establish and administer a 81
119	119	matching grant program for any tourism industry business, tourism 82
120	120	destination, or not-for-profit arts and culture organization that has 83
121	121	received private funds for the marketing of such business, destination, 84
122	122	organization or regional tourism district. Such grants shall be used for 85
123	123	the marketing of such business, destination, organization or regional 86
124	124	tourism district. 87
125	125	This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
126	126	sections:
127	127
128	128	Section 1 from passage 10-397
129	129
130	130	Statement of Purpose:
131	131	To require each regional tourism district to return unexpended tourism
132	132	funding to the Department of Economic and Community Development
133	133	for the purpose of supporting state-wide marketing and to eliminate the
134	134	requirement that the central regional district office be located within the
135	135	department.
136	136	[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
137	137	that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
138	138	underlined.]
139	139