BILL NUMBER: AB 2592 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Leno
FEBRUARY 24, 2006
An act to amend Sections 13995.20, 13995.40, 13995.49, and
13995.54 of the Government Code, relating to California tourism.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2592, as introduced, Leno California Travel and Tourism
Commission.
Existing law, the California Tourism Marketing Act, provides for
the California Travel and Tourism Commission, a nonprofit mutual
benefit corporation, and provides for a 37-member board of the
commission, including 12 members appointed by the Governor and 24
elected Members. The 12 appointed members are required to represent
the 12 officially designated tourism regions.
This bill would specify that each appointed member of the
commission shall represent only one of those designated tourism
regions. The bill would also specify that appointed members are not
limited to persons who are employed by or represent assessed
businesses. The bill would provide that elected commissioners shall
serve 4-year terms and that an appointed or elected commissioner
would cease to be a commissioner 90 days following the date on which
he or she ceases to meet the criteria for appointment or election as
a commissioner, except as specified.
Existing law authorizes the commission to accept voluntary
assessments from any person in a travel and tourism related business,
except persons whose primary business is gaming.
This bill would delete that exception.
Existing law restricts the disclosure of information obtained
pursuant to the act by the Secretary of Business, Transportation and
Housing.
This bill would make that restriction applicable to the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 13995.20 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
13995.20. Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions
in this section govern the construction of this chapter.
(a) "Appointed commissioner" means a commissioner appointed by the
Governor pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of
Section 13995.40 .
(b) "Assessed business" means a person required to pay an
assessment pursuant to this chapter, and until the first assessment
is levied, any person authorized to vote for the initial referendum.
An assessed business shall not include a public entity or a
corporation when a majority of the corporation's board of directors
is appointed by a public official or public entity, or serves on the
corporation's board of directors by virtue of being elected to public
office, or both.
(c) "Commission" means the California Travel and Tourism
Commission.
(d) "Elected commissioner" means a commissioner elected pursuant
to subdivision (d) of Section 13995.40.
(e) "Industry category" means the following classifications within
the tourism industry:
(1) Accommodations.
(2) Restaurants and retail.
(3) Attractions and recreation.
(4) Transportation and travel services.
(f) "Industry segment" means a portion of an industry category.
For example, rental cars are an industry segment of the
transportation and travel services industry category.
(g) "Office" means the Office of Tourism, also popularly referred
to as the Division of Tourism, within the Business, Transportation
and Housing Agency.
(h) "Person" means an individual, public entity, firm,
corporation, association, or any other business unit, whether
operating on a for-profit or nonprofit basis.
(i) "Referendum" means any vote by mailed ballot of measures
recommended by the commission and approved by the secretary pursuant
to Section 13995.60, except for the initial referendum, which shall
consist of measures contained in the selection committee report,
discussed in Section 13995.30.
(j) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Business, Transportation
and Housing.
(k) "Selection Committee" means the Tourism Selection Committee
described in Article 3 (commencing with Section 13995.30).
SEC. 2. Section 13995.40 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
13995.40. (a) Upon approval of the initial referendum, the office
shall establish a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation named the
California Travel and Tourism Commission. The commission shall be
under the direction of a board of commissioners, which shall function
as the board of directors for purposes of the Nonprofit Corporation
Law.
(b) The board of commissioners shall consist of 37 commissioners
comprising the following:
(1) The secretary, who shall serve as chairperson.
(2) Twelve members, who are professionally active in the
tourism industry, representing each of the 12 officially designated
tourism regions and diverse elements of the industry, shall be
appointed by the Governor. Appointed commissioners are not limited
to assessed businesses. (A)
Twelve members, who are professionally active in the tourism
industry, and whose primary business, trade, or profession is
directly related to the tourism industry, shall be appointed by the
Governor. Each appointed commissioner shall represent only one of the
12 tourism regions designated by the office, and the appointed
commissioners shall be selected so as to represent, to the greatest
extent possible, the diverse elements of the tourism industry.
Appointed commissioners are not limited to individuals who are
employed by or represent assessed businesses.
(B ) If an appointed commissioner
ceases to be professionally active in the tourism industry or his or
her pri mary business, trade, or profession ceases to be
directly related to the tourism industry, he or she shall
automatically cease to be an appointed commissioner 90
days following the date on which he or she ceases to meet both of the
eligibility criteria specified in subparagraph (A), unless the
commissioner becomes eligible again within that 90-day period.
(3) Twenty-four elected commissioners, including at least one
representative of a travel agency or tour operator that is an
assessed business.
(c) The commission established pursuant to Section 15364.52 shall
be inoperative so long as the commission established pursuant to this
section is in existence.
(d) Elected commissioners shall be elected by industry category in
a referendum. Regardless of the number of ballots received for a
referendum, the nominee for each commissioner slot with the most
weighted votes from assessed businesses within that industry category
shall be elected commissioner. In the event that an elected
commissioner resigns, dies, or is removed from office during his or
her term, the commission shall appoint a replacement from the same
industry category that the commissioner in question represented, and
that commissioner shall fill the remaining term of the commissioner
in question. The number of commissioners elected from each industry
category shall be determined by the weighted percentage of
assessments from that category.
(e) The secretary may remove any elected commissioner following a
hearing at which the commissioner is found guilty of abuse of office
or moral turpitude.
(f) The term of each elected commissioner shall commence
January 1 of the year next following his or her election, and shall
expire on December 31 of the fourth year following his or
her election. If an elected commissioner ceases to be
employed by or with an assessed business in the category and segment
which he or she was representing, his or her term as an elected
commissioner shall automatically terminate 90 days following the date
on which he or she ceases to be so employed, unless, within that
90-day period, the commissioner again is employed by or with an
assessed business in the same category and segment.
(g) With the exception of the secretary, no
commissioner shall serve for more than two consecutive terms.
For purposes of this subdivision, the phrase "two consecutive terms"
shall not include partial terms.
(g)
(h) Except for the original commissioners, all
commissioners shall serve four-year terms. One-half of the
commissioners originally appointed or elected shall serve a two-year
term, while the remainder shall serve a four-year term. Every two
years thereafter, one-half of the commissioners shall be appointed or
elected by referendum.
(h)
(i) The selection committee shall determine the initial
slate of candidates for elected commissioners. Thereafter the
commissioners, by adopted resolution, shall nominate a slate of
candidates, and shall include any additional candidates complying
with the procedure described in Section 13995.62.
(i)
(j) The commissioners shall elect a vice chairperson
from the elected commissioners.
(j)
(k) The commission may lease space from the office.
(k)
(l) The commission and the office shall be the official
state representatives of California tourism.
(l)
(m) All commission meetings shall be held in
California.
(m)
(n) No person shall receive compensation for serving as
a commissioner, but each commissioner shall receive reimbursement
for reasonable expenses incurred while on authorized commission
business.
(n)
(o) Assessed businesses shall vote only for
commissioners representing their industry category.
(o)
(p) Commissioners shall comply with the requirements of
the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Title 9 (commencing with Section
81000)). The Legislature finds and declares that commissioners
appointed or elected on the basis of membership in a particular
tourism segment are appointed or elected to represent and serve the
economic interests of those tourism segments and that the economic
interests of these members are the same as those of the public
generally.
(p)
(q) Commission meetings shall be subject to the
requirements of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9
(commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1).
(q)
(r) The executive director of the commission shall
serve as secretary to the commission, a nonvoting position, and shall
keep the minutes and records of all commission meetings.
SEC. 3. Section 13995.49 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
13995.49. The commission may by written contract accept a
voluntary assessment from any person in a travel and tourism related
business who is not an assessed business. The contract shall apply
solely to the person in question and not to any other person in a
travel and tourism related business who is not an assessed business.
The contract shall provide that the voluntary assessment be
equivalent to the assessment that would be levied if the person were
an assessed business under this chapter, shall permit that business
to vote on any referendum conducted under this chapter as if that
person were an assessed business, and shall have a term concurrent
with the effective period of any referendum on which the person
votes. Individual voluntary assessments under this section shall be
enforceable only under the terms of the respective contracts to which
they pertain. This section shall not be construed to preclude
donations to, or cooperative marketing activities of any kind with,
the commission . Notwithstanding the foregoing, the
commission shall not enter into any contract for a voluntary
assessment with a person whose primary business is gaming, as defined
in Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 330) of Title 9, Part 1 of
the Penal Code. on the part of any person.
SEC. 4. Section 13995.54 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
13995.54. Information pertaining to assessed businesses obtained
by the secretary or the Business, Transportation, and Housing
Agency pursuant to this chapter is confidential and shall not
be disclosed except to a person with the right to obtain the
information, any attorney hired by the secretary who is employed to
give legal advice upon it, or by court order. Information obtained by
the secretary in order to determine the assessment level for an
assessed business is exempt from the California Public Records Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title
1).