Effective 28 Aug 2016

620.1620. Major conventions — definitions — fund created — issuance of grants, procedure — report — refunds — sunset provision. — 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Meet in Missouri Act".

2. As used in this section, the following terms shall mean:

(1) "Director", the director of the department of economic development;

(2) "Eligible commission", any regional convention and visitors commission created under section 67.601; any body designated by the division of tourism official destination marketing organization for a Missouri county which is designated as the single representative organization for the county to solicit and service tourism;

(3) "Eligible major convention event costs", all operational costs of the venue of a major convention event including, but not limited to, costs related to the following: security, venue utilities, cleaning, production of the event, installation and dismantling, facility rental charges, personnel, construction to prepare the venue, and other temporary facility construction;

(4) "Fund", the major economic convention event in Missouri fund established in this section;

(5) "Grant", an amount of money equal to the total amount of eligible major convention event costs listed in an approved major convention plan to be disbursed at the requested date from the fund to an eligible commission by the state treasurer at the direction of the director which shall not exceed the amount of estimated total sales taxes to be received by the state generated by sleeping rooms paid by guests of hotels and motels reasonably believed to be occupied due to the major convention event;

(6) "Major convention event", any convention if more than fifty percent of attendees travel to the convention from outside of Missouri and require overnight hotel accommodations;

(7) "Major convention plan", a written plan for the administration of a major convention event, containing such information as shall be requested by the director to establish that the event covered by the application is a major convention event including, but not limited to, the start and end dates of the major convention event, an identification of the organization planning the event, the location of the event, projected total and out-of-state attendance, projected contracted and actual hotel room nights, projected costs and revenues anticipated to be received by the eligible commission in connection with the event, the eligible major convention event costs, and evidence of satisfaction of the conditions of subsection 5 of this section.

3. (1) There is hereby created in the state treasury the "Major Economic Convention Event in Missouri Fund", which shall consist of moneys appropriated from the general revenue fund as prescribed in subsection 6 of this section and any gifts, contributions, grants, or bequests received from federal, private, or other sources. The state treasurer shall be custodian of the fund. In accordance with sections 30.170 and 30.180, the state treasurer may approve disbursements. The fund shall be a dedicated fund and, upon appropriation, moneys in the fund shall be used solely for the administration of this section.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 33.080 to the contrary, any moneys remaining in the fund at the end of the biennium shall not revert to the credit of the general revenue fund.

(3) The state treasurer shall invest moneys in the fund in the same manner as other funds are invested. Any interest and moneys earned on such investments shall be credited to the fund.

4. For major convention plans which have complied with subsection 5 of this section, in addition to funds otherwise made available under Missouri law, a grant shall be paid from the fund by the department of economic development to the eligible commission at the requested date. Any transfer of a grant from the fund to the treasurer or other designated financial officer of an eligible commission with an approved major convention plan shall be deposited in a separate, segregated account of such commission. The eligible commission shall agree to hold such funds until the major convention event has occurred and not disburse the funds until such time as the report in subsection 7 has been submitted.

5. The director shall not disburse a grant until the director or his or her designee has approved a written major convention plan submitted to the department of economic development by an eligible commission requesting a grant. The director or his or her designee shall not approve any submitted major convention plan unless he or she finds that the following conditions have been met:

(1) The applicant submitting the major convention plan is an eligible commission;

(2) The projected start and end dates of the planned major convention event and the requested date of disbursement of the grant are no later than five years from the date of the application; and

(3) There is sufficient evidence that:

(a) The event shall qualify as a major convention event under this section including, but not limited to, evidence of the actual number of contracted advance hotel reservations or projected out-of-state attendance numbers and actual hotel room usage from comparable past events;

(b) A request for proposal or similar documentation demonstrates the applicant eligible commission is competing for the event against non-Missouri cities;

(c) Without the grant, the major convention event would not be reasonably anticipated to occur in Missouri; and

(d) The positive net fiscal impact to general revenue of the state through any and all taxes attributable to the major convention event exceeds the amount of the major convention grant.

­­In reviewing such evidence, the director shall take into account any expenditures by an attendee for sleeping rooms paid by guests of the hotels and motels typically constitutes less than fifty percent of the expenditures by such attendees at a major convention event.

6. (1) Upon verification that the major convention plan complies with the terms of subsection 5 of this section, the director or his or her designee shall issue a certificate of approval to the eligible commission stating the date on which such grant shall be disbursed and the total amount of the grant, which shall be equal to the eligible major convention event costs listed in the approved major convention plan. The amount of any grant shall not exceed more than fifty percent of the cost of hosting the major convention event, positive net fiscal impact to general revenue, or one million dollars, whichever is less.

(2) All approved grants scheduled for disbursement each year shall be disbursed from the general revenue fund subject to appropriation by the general assembly. Any such appropriation shall not exceed three million dollars in any year.

(3) Upon such annual appropriation and transfer into the fund from the general revenue fund, the director shall disburse all grants pursuant to certificates of approval.

7. (1) Within one hundred eighty days of the conclusion of any major convention event for which a grant was disbursed under this section, the eligible commission that received such grant shall provide a written report to the director detailing the final amount of eligible major convention event costs incurred and actual attendance figures which certify compliance with this section. If the final amount of total eligible major convention event costs is less than the amount of the grant disbursed to the eligible commission under an approved major convention plan, such commission shall refund to the state treasurer the excess greater than fifty percent of the actual cost for deposit into the fund.

(2) An eligible commission shall refund the following amounts to the state treasurer based on the actual attendance figures in relation to the projected total attendance for the event as provided in the major convention plan:

(a) If the actual attendance figure is less than twenty-five percent of the projected total attendance, the commission shall refund an amount equal to the full amount of the grant;

(b) If the actual attendance figure is equal to or less than eighty-five percent and greater than or equal to twenty-five percent of the projected total attendance, the commission shall keep a portion of the grant received under this section equal to the proportion of the actual attendance figure to the projected attendance figure rounded to the nearest dollar and refund the remaining amount;

(c) If the actual attendance figure is greater than eighty-five percent of the projected total attendance, the commission shall keep the entire grant amount received under this section unless otherwise provided by this section.

(3) The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply where attendance at the convention is adversely affected by a man-made disaster including, but not limited to, an uprising or other civil unrest or where attendance at the convention is adversely affected by a substantial inclement weather-related event.

8. Any amounts that are refunded from a grant under this section shall be returned to the major economic convention event in Missouri fund to be used for future grants.

9. In accordance with the provisions of sections 23.250 to 23.298 and unless otherwise authorized pursuant to section 23.253:

(1) The program authorized under the provisions of this section shall automatically sunset six years after August 28, 2016; and

(2) This section shall terminate on September first of the year following the year in which any new program authorized under this section is sunset, and the revisor of statutes shall designate such sections and this section in a revision bill for repeal.

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(L. 2016 H.B. 1698)

Sunset date 8-28-22

Termination date 9-01-23