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Mount Vernon chamber president urges passage of
Bailey bill
Measure would allow chambers of commerce continued
use of 'hotel-motel' tax
Mount Vernon Chamber of
Commerce President and CEO Kristen Whitener urged lawmakers Thursday to
adopt a bill by
Rep. Barbara Bailey that would allow chambers of commerce to
continue the practice of using "hotel-motel" taxes for tourism
promotion.
During a hearing of the
House Community, Economic Development and Trade Committee, Whitener said
an attorney general's opinion puts in doubt whether chambers of commerce
across the state could receive a portion of the 2 percent tax from
cities and counties for tourism efforts.
"This bill came to light
as a result of the attorney general's opinion and confusion afterward.
It is directly affecting some of our chambers of commerce as we do act
as a front door to most communities," said Whitener. "The North Cascades
Chamber is funded by our county lodging tax. When the opinion came out,
the county pulled back and decided until this law is clarified that it
will not fund any of the operational costs. In effect, it closed the
doors to that very important North Cascades Highway visitor information
center."
"The attorney general's
opinion has affected our chambers of commerce in Island County,
including Oak Harbor, Langley, South Whidbey, and Camano Island," said
Bailey, R-Oak Harbor. "The municipalities now have concerns as to how
they can distribute the 2 percent monies. The law has been interpreted
in the past that this revenue can be distributed to our local chambers
for tourism efforts. My bill would not change the definition of how the
monies could be spent."
House Bill 1254 would authorize local lodging tax revenues to be
used for tourism-related facilities owned by a public entity or a
nonprofit 501 (c)(3) or 501 (c)(6) organization. In addition, it
authorizes municipalities using local lodging tax revenues for tourism
promotion to contract with nonprofit organizations for tourism promotion
activities.
"Representative Bailey's
bill just clarifies the law to say that the municipality does not have
to have ownership of visitor centers to provide operational expenses
which keep those front doors to the communities open," noted Whitener.
Bailey, who also serves as
a member of the committee hearing the bill, said the measure was written
very narrowly to ensure the use of such funds would not be expanded to
other entities.
"Having spent 20 years in
the hospitality and hotel industry, I'm very familiar with and
supportive of tourism events, festivals and activities, and how we
promote those around our state. I'm also very supportive of all of those
entities being viable pseudo-businesses. If a festival cannot stand on
its own, investing public dollars is probably not the right thing to
do," said Bailey. "However, once the festival is going, then definitely
it is appropriate to use those monies for promotion.
"Right now, however, the
law is not clear. Our chambers of commerce staff most of the tourism
efforts in a lot of the local, rural communities where visitors and
convention bureaus (VCBs) do not exist. This would not interfere with
the VCBs, but it would also permit the chambers to promote tourism,"
concluded Bailey.
The committee could take
action on the bill as early as next week.
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For more information, contact: John
Sattgast, Information Officer: (360) 786-7257
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