2017 Senate Bill 703 ↩

House Roll Call 929: Passed

To amend and potentially expand a law that authorizes private convention and tourism bureaus in various regions to impose a hotel and motel room tax to support tourism marketing programs. The bill would require an existing state Travel Bureau and state Travel Commission, along with the director of the state agency that operates subsidy programs for business owners and developers (the Michigan Economic Development Corporation), to create a “comprehensive, long-range master plan” and annual marketing plans for this. <br>The bill also includes a legislative “finding” that “the expansion of the tourism industry is vital to the growth of this state's economy” and that the state “can best undertake effective tourism marketing through the coordinated efforts of existing state government agencies in tourism promotion and private convention and tourism promotional bureaus.”<br>This bill is part of package comprised of Senate Bills 703 to 707 that insert these same provisions into different laws that authorize private bureaus to impose a room tax on lodging facilities.