Tourism Entity Bill Advances
February 4, 2016
Dear WH&LA Lodging, CVB and Chamber Members:
AB 714 on Tourism Entity Changes, introduced by Rep. Rohrkaste in mid-January, passed unanimously out of the Assembly Tourism Committee on Wednesday following a public hearing held last week, where WH&LA registered in support. This means the bill now can go to the full Assembly for a vote before the Assembly adjourns in just over two weeks. As many of you know, this is a bill pursued by the Wisconsin Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (WACVB) and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), that will do the following:
- Modify the definition of "Tourism Entity" to more clearly enable chambers and CVBs that are currently receiving Room Tax revenue to spend on tourism promotion & tourism development, to continue to do so. This is a very simplified summary of the exact language changes, which are spelled out in the bill.
- Modify the requirement that a Tourism Entity must have one lodging representative on its Board from every municipality allocating room tax revenue to the entity to now add an option that they may instead have a total of a minimum of four lodging representatives on their governing Board. This applies to tourism entities servicing multiple municipalities in a designated tourism "zone," and is designed to simplify requirements for the zones with large numbers of communities served.
Companion bill SB 578 (identical to AB 714), introduced in the Senate by Sen. Roger Roth, is currently awaiting scheduling for a public hearing in the Senate Agriculture, Small Business and Tourism Committee before it can have a committee vote and advance to the full Senate; however, the Senate will likely be in session until mid-March, so time is not as critical in this house.
What should you do if you wish to add your support?
- Contact your State Assembly Representative and ask them to support AB 714 as it stands when it gets to the Assembly floor for a vote. It is important to clarify "as it stands" to help ensure that amendments are not attempted on the floor to change the language.
- Contact the Chair of the Senate Agriculture, Small Business, and Tourism Committee (Sen. Moulton) and ask him to hold a public hearing on SB 578 in his committee, and copy your State Senator.
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