S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
8896
I N A S S E M B L Y
(PREFILED)
January 4, 2012
___________
Introduced by M. of A. QUART -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development
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:
Section 1. Subdivisions (b) and (c) of section 161 of the economic
development law, as amended by chapter 465 of the laws of 1981, are
amended to read as follows:
(b) [Establish and publish on an annual basis guidelines] PROMULGATE
REGULATIONS relative to the use of funds to be granted hereunder. Such
[guidelines] REGULATIONS shall [authorize] SPECIFY CRITERIA FOR the use
of funds for the promotion of year round tourist travel, resort, vaca-
tion, culture and convention activities;
(c) Accept or reject applications for matching funds for recognized
advertising programs by tourist promotion agencies on the basis of
[annually published guidelines] CRITERIA SPECIFIED IN REGULATIONS
PROMULGATED BY THE COMMISSIONER;
S 2. Subdivisions (b) and (e) of section 164 of the economic develop-
ment law, as amended by chapter 563 of the laws of 1985, are amended to
read as follows:
(b) In reviewing such applications, the commissioner may select from
among competing or overlapping applications the application or applica-
tions that the commissioner considers to be of greater benefit to a
given area and the welfare of the people of the state. Further, the
commissioner shall select from among filed applications those applica-
tions which the commissioner considers to be most in accord with the
[guidelines established for the fiscal year in which the funds are to be
expended] CRITERIA SPECIFIED IN THE REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO THE USE OF
TOURISM MATCHING FUNDS. If the commissioner determines that an applica-
tion does not meet [the guidelines] SUCH CRITERIA, the tourist promotion
agency submitting such shall be notified of its rejection and the
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01710-01-1
A. 8896 2
reasons therefor by certified mail. A tourist promotion agency whose
application has been rejected may resubmit the application to meet [the
guidelines determined by the commissioner] CRITERIA SPECIFIED IN THE
REGULATIONS. The resubmitted application shall be postmarked within two
weeks of the date of receipt of notice of failure of its initial appli-
cation. After review of a submitted or resubmitted application, if
satisfied that the program of the tourist promotion agency appears to be
in accord with the purposes of this [act] ARTICLE, the commissioner
shall authorize in writing the payment of matching funds appropriated
pursuant to this [act] ARTICLE to such tourist promotion agency equal to
funds allocated by such agency to the program described in its applica-
tion, provided, however, that such matching grant shall not exceed an
amount equal to five per centum of the matching grant appropriation for
each county represented by such agency for the purposes set forth in
this [act] ARTICLE. Provided that sufficient funds are appropriated, no
such grant shall be less than either twenty thousand dollars per county
represented by such tourist promotion agency or the amount of funds held
by, or committed or subscribed to such tourist promotion agency for the
purposes described in its application, whichever sum is less. No such
minimum grant shall allow the awarding of matching funds for applica-
tions other than those meeting [the guidelines established by the
department] CRITERIA SPECIFIED IN REGULATIONS PROMULGATED BY THE COMMIS-
SIONER.
(e) Applications required by this section shall be submitted only
upon forms provided by the department. [Such forms shall contain a
statement of the guidelines which the commissioner shall use to estab-
lish priorities among applications. Such guidelines shall be established
by the commissioner on an annual basis and, once established, shall not
be changed until the following year.]
S 3. Subdivision (b) of section 166 of the economic development law,
as added by chapter 465 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as
follows:
(b) The department shall annually, on or before March first, submit
to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker
of the assembly, a report on the activities of the matching funds
program. Such report shall include [a statement of the guidelines
promulgated by the department pursuant to section one hundred sixty-one
of this article,] a summary of the financial statements received by the
department from tourist promotion agencies, a summary of activities
conducted by the tourist promotion agencies and analyses of the effec-
tiveness of the matching funds program in stimulating tourist promotion
and recommendations concerning the future organization, implementation
and improvement of the matching funds program.
S 4. This act shall take effect on the first of May next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.