Senate Bill No. 191
(By Senator Love)
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[Introduced January 17, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §5B-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing for a small grants
program for the Tourism Promotion Fund; and providing
flexibility for direct advertising projects costing under ten
thousand dollars.
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 continued; 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.
(a) A minimum of five percent of the moneys deposited 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 and outdoor billboards, or
any combination thereof.
(b) 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 the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-five, according to legislative rules authorized for
promulgation by the tourism commission:
Provided, That the
commission shall establish a separate small grants program under
which the commission shall provide seventy-five percent of the cost
of direct advertising for advertising projects costing under ten
thousand dollars each, which shall be limited to no more than two
projects per year, and which shall not require that the advertising
be targeted to any particular geographic area.
(c) All advertising expenditures over twenty-five thousand
dollars 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for a small
grants program for the Tourism Promotion Fund while providing
flexibility for direct advertising projects costing under ten
thousand dollars.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.