Bill Text: NY A00872 | 2011-2012 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Authorizes and directs the commissioner of economic development to promulgate regulations governing criteria for the use of tourism matching funds for promoting tourism, resort, vacation, culture and convention activities, replacing annual guidelines therefor.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-11 - enacting clause stricken [A00872 Detail]
Download: New_York-2011-A00872-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 872 2011-2012 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y (PREFILED) January 5, 2011 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. DESTITO, JACOBS, GUNTHER -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. CLARK, COLTON, MAGEE, McENENY, PHEFFER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry AN ACT to amend the economic development law, in relation to deleting references to annual guidelines and providing for promulgation of rules and regulations by the commissioner of economic development THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions (b) and (c) of section 161 of the economic 2 development law, as amended by chapter 465 of the laws of 1981, are 3 amended to read as follows: 4 (b) [Establish and publish on an annual basis guidelines] PROMULGATE 5 REGULATIONS relative to the use of funds to be granted hereunder. Such 6 [guidelines] REGULATIONS shall [authorize] SPECIFY CRITERIA FOR the use 7 of funds for the promotion of year round tourist travel, resort, vaca- 8 tion, culture and convention activities; 9 (c) Accept or reject applications for matching funds for recognized 10 advertising programs by tourist promotion agencies on the basis of 11 [annually published guidelines] CRITERIA SPECIFIED IN REGULATIONS 12 PROMULGATED BY THE COMMISSIONER; 13 S 2. Subdivisions (b) and (e) of section 164 of the economic develop- 14 ment law, as amended by chapter 563 of the laws of 1985, are amended to 15 read as follows: 16 (b) In reviewing such applications, the commissioner may select from 17 among competing or overlapping applications the application or applica- 18 tions that the commissioner considers to be of greater benefit to a 19 given area and the welfare of the people of the state. Further, the 20 commissioner shall select from among filed applications those applica- 21 tions which the commissioner considers to be most in accord with the EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01710-01-1 A. 872 2 1 [guidelines established for the fiscal year in which the funds are to be 2 expended] CRITERIA SPECIFIED IN THE REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO THE USE OF 3 TOURISM MATCHING FUNDS. If the commissioner determines that an applica- 4 tion does not meet [the guidelines] SUCH CRITERIA, the tourist promotion 5 agency submitting such shall be notified of its rejection and the 6 reasons therefor by certified mail. A tourist promotion agency whose 7 application has been rejected may resubmit the application to meet [the 8 guidelines determined by the commissioner] CRITERIA SPECIFIED IN THE 9 REGULATIONS. The resubmitted application shall be postmarked within two 10 weeks of the date of receipt of notice of failure of its initial appli- 11 cation. After review of a submitted or resubmitted application, if 12 satisfied that the program of the tourist promotion agency appears to be 13 in accord with the purposes of this [act] ARTICLE, the commissioner 14 shall authorize in writing the payment of matching funds appropriated 15 pursuant to this [act] ARTICLE to such tourist promotion agency equal to 16 funds allocated by such agency to the program described in its applica- 17 tion, provided, however, that such matching grant shall not exceed an 18 amount equal to five per centum of the matching grant appropriation for 19 each county represented by such agency for the purposes set forth in 20 this [act] ARTICLE. Provided that sufficient funds are appropriated, no 21 such grant shall be less than either twenty thousand dollars per county 22 represented by such tourist promotion agency or the amount of funds held 23 by, or committed or subscribed to such tourist promotion agency for the 24 purposes described in its application, whichever sum is less. No such 25 minimum grant shall allow the awarding of matching funds for applica- 26 tions other than those meeting [the guidelines established by the 27 department] CRITERIA SPECIFIED IN REGULATIONS PROMULGATED BY THE COMMIS- 28 SIONER. 29 (e) Applications required by this section shall be submitted only 30 upon forms provided by the department. [Such forms shall contain a 31 statement of the guidelines which the commissioner shall use to estab- 32 lish priorities among applications. Such guidelines shall be established 33 by the commissioner on an annual basis and, once established, shall not 34 be changed until the following year.] 35 S 3. Subdivision (b) of section 166 of the economic development law, 36 as added by chapter 465 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as 37 follows: 38 (b) The department shall annually, on or before March first, submit 39 to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker 40 of the assembly, a report on the activities of the matching funds 41 program. Such report shall include [a statement of the guidelines 42 promulgated by the department pursuant to section one hundred sixty-one 43 of this article,] a summary of the financial statements received by the 44 department from tourist promotion agencies, a summary of activities 45 conducted by the tourist promotion agencies and analyses of the effec- 46 tiveness of the matching funds program in stimulating tourist promotion 47 and recommendations concerning the future organization, implementation 48 and improvement of the matching funds program. 49 S 4. This act shall take effect on the first of May next succeeding 50 the date on which it shall have become a law.