H*3280 Session 109 (1991-1992)
H*3280(Rat #0218, Act #0147 of 1991) General Bill, By J.G. McAbee, Bailey,
Boan, Elliott, J.V. Gregory, Haskins, H.H. Keyserling, J.G. Mattos, Sharpe,
J.R. Shirley and J.M. White
A Bill to amend Chapter 4, Title 6, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
relating to the allocation of accommodations tax revenues, so as to define
terms, revise the procedures for allocation, distribution, and use of the
funds, provide additional requirements for advisory committees, and provide
for an Accommodations Tax Oversight Committee.
01/22/91 House Introduced and read first time HJ-14
01/22/91 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means HJ-14
03/19/91 House Committee report: Favorable with amendment Ways
and Means HJ-21
03/21/91 House Objection by Rep. Cork, Fulmer, Hallman, Rama &
A. Young HJ-14
03/21/91 House Amended HJ-26
03/21/91 House Debate interrupted HJ-26
03/28/91 House Objection withdrawn by Rep. Hallman, Fulmer, Rama
& A. Young HJ-23
03/28/91 House Objection by Rep. Kirsh HJ-23
03/28/91 House Read second time HJ-24
04/02/91 House Read third time and sent to Senate HJ-7
04/03/91 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-9
04/03/91 Senate Referred to Committee on Finance SJ-9
05/14/91 Senate Committee report: Favorable with amendment
Finance SJ-11
05/22/91 Senate Read second time SJ-22
05/22/91 Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of
amendments SJ-23
05/29/91 Senate Amended SJ-59
05/30/91 Senate Amended SJ-42
05/30/91 Senate Read third time and returned to House with
amendments SJ-42
06/04/91 House Concurred in Senate amendment and enrolled HJ-3
06/06/91 Ratified R 218
07/01/91 Signed By Governor
07/01/91 Effective date 07/01/91
07/01/91 Act No. 147
07/18/91 Copies available
(A147, R218, H3280)
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 4, TITLE 6, CODE OF LAWS OF
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE ALLOCATION OF
ACCOMMODATIONS TAX REVENUES, SO AS TO DEFINE TERMS,
REVISE THE PROCEDURES FOR ALLOCATION, DISTRIBUTION,
AND USE OF THE FUNDS, PROVIDE ADDITIONAL
REQUIREMENTS FOR ADVISORY COMMITTEES, AND PROVIDE
FOR AN ACCOMMODATIONS TAX OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Allocation, distribution, and use of accommodations tax revenues;
advisory committees; oversight committee
SECTION 1. Chapter 4, Title 6 of the 1976 Code, as added by Section
74, Part II, Act 612 of 1990, is amended to read:
"CHAPTER 4
Allocation of Accommodations Tax Revenues
Section 6-4-5. As used in this chapter:
(1) `County area' means a county and municipalities within the
geographical boundaries of the county.
(2) `Cultural', as it applies to members of advisory committees in
Section 6-4-25 and the South Carolina Accommodations Tax Oversight
Committee in Section 6-4-30, means persons actively involved and familiar
with the cultural community of the area including, but not limited to, the
arts, historical preservation, museums, and festivals.
(3) `Hospitality', as it applies to members of the committees in item
(2), means persons directly involved in the service segment of the travel
and tourism industry including, but not limited to, businesses that primarily
serve visitors such as lodging facilities, restaurants, attractions, recreational
amenities, transportation facilities and services, and travel information and
promotion entities.
(4) `Travel' and `tourism' mean the action and activities of people
taking trips outside their home communities for any purpose, except daily
commuting to and from work.
Section 6-4-10. The funds received by a municipality or a county in
county areas collecting more than fifty thousand dollars from the local
accommodations tax provided in Section 12-36-2630(3) must be allocated
in the following manner:
(1) The first twenty-five thousand dollars must be allocated to the
general fund of the municipality or county and is exempt from all other
requirements of this chapter.
(2) Five percent of the balance must be allocated to the general fund of
the municipality or county and is exempt from all other requirements of this
chapter.
(3) Thirty percent of the balance must be allocated to a special fund
and used for advertising and promotion of tourism to develop and increase
tourist attendance through the generation of publicity. To manage and
direct the expenditure of these tourism promotion funds, the municipality or
county shall select one or more organizations, such as a chamber of
commerce, visitor and convention bureau, or regional tourism commission,
which has an existing, ongoing tourist promotion program. If no
organization exists the municipality or county shall create an organization
with the same membership standard in Section 6-4-25. To be eligible for
selection the organization must be organized as a nonprofit organization
and shall demonstrate to the municipality or county that it has an existing,
ongoing tourism promotion program or that it can develop an effective
tourism promotion program. Immediately upon an allocation to the special
fund, a municipality or county shall distribute the tourism promotion funds
to the organizations selected or created to receive them. Before the
beginning of each fiscal year, an organization receiving funds from the
accommodations tax from a municipality or county shall submit for
approval a budget of planned expenditures. At the end of each fiscal year,
an organization receiving funds shall render an accounting of the
expenditure to the municipality or county which distributed them.
(4)(a) The remaining balance plus earned interest received by a
municipality or county must be allocated to a special fund and used for
tourism-related expenditures. This section does not prohibit a municipality
or county from using accommodations tax general fund revenues for
tourism-related expenditures.
(b) The funds received by a county or municipality which has a
high concentration of tourism activity may be used to provide additional
county and municipal services including, but not limited to, law
enforcement, traffic control, public facilities, and highway and street
maintenance, as well as the continual promotion of tourism. The funds
must not be used as an additional source of revenue to provide services
normally provided by the county or municipality but to promote tourism
and enlarge its economic benefits through advertising, promotion, and
providing those facilities and services which enhance the ability of the
county or municipality to attract and provide for tourists.
`Tourism-related expenditures' include:
1. advertising and promotion of tourism so as to develop and
increase tourist attendance through the generation of publicity;
2. promotion of the arts and cultural events;
3. construction, maintenance, and operation of facilities for civic
and cultural activities including construction and maintenance of access
and other nearby roads and utilities for the facilities;
4. the criminal justice system, law enforcement, fire protection,
solid waste collection, and health facilities when required to serve tourists
and tourist facilities. This is based on the estimated percentage of costs
directly attributed to tourists;
5. public facilities such as restrooms, dressing rooms, parks, and
parking lots;
6. tourist shuttle transportation;
7. control and repair of waterfront erosion;
8. operating visitor information centers.
(c) Allocations to the special fund must be spent by the
municipality or county within two years of receipt. If the allocations are
not spent within two years, the municipality or county is subject to the
provisions of Section 6-4-30(6). However, the time limit may be extended
upon the recommendation of the county or municipality and approval of the
South Carolina Accommodations Tax Oversight Committee in Section
6-4-30. An extension must include provisions that funds be committed for
a specific project or program.
(d) In the expenditure of these funds, counties and municipalities
are required to promote tourism and make tourism-related expenditures
primarily in the geographical areas of the county or municipality in which
the proceeds of the tax are collected where it is practical.
Section 6-4-15. A municipality or county may issue bonds, enter into
other financial obligations, or create reserves to secure obligations to
finance all or a portion of the cost of constructing facilities for civic
activities, the arts, and cultural events which fulfill the purpose of this
chapter. The annual debt service of indebtedness incurred to finance the
facilities or lease payments for the use of the facilities may be provided
from the funds received by a municipality or county from the
accommodations tax in an amount not to exceed the amount received by the
municipality or county after deduction of the accommodations tax funds
dedicated to the general fund and the advertising and promotion fund.
However, none of the revenue received by a municipality or county from
the accommodations tax may be used to retire outstanding bonded
indebtedness unless accommodations tax revenue was obligated for that
purpose when the debt was incurred.
Section 6-4-20. (A) An accommodations tax account is created to be
administered by the State Treasurer.
(B) At the end of each fiscal year and before August first a percentage,
to be determined by the State Treasurer, must be withheld from those
county areas collecting four hundred thousand dollars or more from that
amount which exceeds four hundred thousand dollars from the tax
authorized by Section 12-36-2630(3), and that amount must be distributed
to assure that each county area receives a minimum of fifty thousand
dollars. The amount withheld from those county areas collecting four
hundred thousand dollars or more must be apportioned among the
municipalities and the county in the same proportion as those units received
quarterly remittances in Section 12-36-2630(3). If the total statewide
collections from the local accommodations tax exceeds the statewide
collections for the preceding fiscal year then this fifty thousand dollar
figure must be increased by a percentage equal to seventy-five percent of
the statewide percentage increase in statewide collections for the preceding
fiscal year. The difference between the fifty thousand dollars minimum and
the actual collections within a county area must be distributed to the
eligible units within the county area based on population as determined by
the most recent United States census.
(C) At the end of each fiscal year and before August first, the State
Treasurer shall distribute to each county area collecting more than fifty
thousand dollars but less than four hundred thousand dollars an additional
fifteen thousand dollars. If the total statewide collections from the local
accommodations tax exceed the statewide collections for the preceding
fiscal year, this fifteen thousand dollar figure must be increased by a
percentage equal to seventy-five percent of the statewide percentage
increase in statewide collections for the preceding fiscal year. This amount
must be distributed in the same manner as the fifty thousand dollars in
subsection (B). The amount paid those qualified county areas under this
subsection must be paid from the account created under this section.
(D) The amount withheld in excess must be distributed to the county
areas whose collections exceed four hundred thousand dollars based on the
ratio of the funds available to the collections by each county area.
(E) The accommodations tax funds received by a municipality or
county in county areas collecting fifty thousand dollars or less are not
subject to the tourism-related provisions of this chapter.
(F) Two percent of the local accommodations tax levied pursuant to
Section 12-36-2630(3) must be remitted quarterly and equally to the eleven
agencies designated by law and regional organizations to administer
multi-county tourism programs in the state tourism regions as identified in
the promotional publications of the South Carolina Department of Parks,
Recreation and Tourism. This remittance is in addition to other funds that
may be allocated to the agencies by local governments.
Section 6-4-25. (A) A municipality or county receiving more than
twenty-five thousand dollars in revenue from the accommodations tax in
county areas collecting more than fifty thousand dollars shall appoint an
advisory committee to make recommendations on the expenditure of
revenue generated from the accommodations tax. The advisory committee
consists of seven members with a majority being selected from the
hospitality industry of the municipality or county receiving the revenue. At
least two of the hospitality industry members must be from the lodging
industry where applicable. One member shall represent the cultural
organizations of the municipality or county receiving the revenue. For
county advisory committees, members shall represent the geographic area
where the majority of the revenue is derived. However, if a county which
receives more in distributions of accommodations taxes than it collects in
accommodations taxes, the membership of its advisory committee must be
representative of all areas of the county with a majority of the membership
coming from no one area.
(B) A municipality or county and its advisory committee shall adopt
guidelines to fit the needs and time schedules of the area. The guidelines
must include the requirements for applications for funds from the special
fund used for tourism-related expenditures. A recipient's application must
be reviewed by an advisory committee before it receives funds from a
county or municipality.
(C) Advisory committees shall submit written recommendations to a
municipality or county at least once annually. The recommendations must
be considered by the municipality or county in conjunction with the
requirements of this chapter.
(D) Municipalities and counties annually shall submit to the South
Carolina Accommodations Tax Oversight Committee:
(1) end-of-the-year report detailing advisory committee
accommodations tax recommendations;
(2) municipality's or county's action following the
recommendations;
(3) list of how funds from the accommodations tax are spent,
except for the first twenty-five thousand dollars and five percent of the
balance in Section 6-4-10(2) allocated to the general fund. The list is due
before October first and must include funds received and dispersed during
the previous fiscal year;
(4) list of advisory committee members noting the chairman,
business address if applicable, and representation of the hospitality industry
including the lodging industry and cultural interests.
(E) The regional tourism agencies in Section 6-4-20 annually shall
submit reports on their budgets and annual expenditure of accommodations
tax funds pursuant to this chapter to the Accommodations Tax Oversight
Committee.
Section 6-4-30. A South Carolina Accommodations Tax Oversight
Committee is created and consists of the members of the Joint Committee
on Tourism and Trade and the Chairman of the Joint Committee on
Cultural Affairs. The committee must be funded with existing state
resources available to the Joint Committee on Tourism and Trade. Local
governments covered by this chapter may expend accommodations tax
revenues pursuant to this chapter, and the committee shall:
(1) serve as a resource to, answer questions of, and assist advisory
committees and local governments in the implementation of the
accommodations tax;
(2) arrange continuing education programs or workshops for local
governmental officials and advisory committee members;
(3) serve as the oversight authority on questionable expenditures;
(4) require that complaints relating to the accommodations tax be
submitted in writing;
(5) investigate and research facts on submitted complaints;
(6) publish an annual report on information submitted by the local
governments and regional tourism agencies in Section 6-4-20 covered by
the tourism provisions of this chapter.
Time effective
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 1991.
Approved the 1st day of July, 1991. |