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| 1 | AN ACT concerning State government.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | |||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 5. The Department of Commerce and Economic | |||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Opportunity Law of the
Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is | |||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | amended by changing Section 605-705 as follows:
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| 7 | (20 ILCS 605/605-705) (was 20 ILCS 605/46.6a)
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| 8 | Sec. 605-705. Grants to local tourism and convention | |||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | bureaus.
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| 10 | (a) To establish a grant program for local tourism and
and
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| 11 | convention bureaus. The Department will develop and implement a | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | program
for the use of funds, as authorized under this Act, by | |||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | local tourism and
convention bureaus. For the purposes of this | |||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | Act,
bureaus eligible to receive funds are those local tourism | |||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | and
convention bureaus that are (i) either units of local | |||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | government or
incorporated as not-for-profit organizations; | |||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | (ii) in legal existence
for a minimum of 2 years before July 1, | |||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | 2001; (iii) operating with a
paid, full-time staff whose sole | |||||||||||||||||||
| 19 | purpose is to promote tourism in the
designated service area; | |||||||||||||||||||
| 20 | and (iv) affiliated with one or more
municipalities or counties | |||||||||||||||||||
| 21 | that support the bureau with local hotel-motel
taxes. After | |||||||||||||||||||
| 22 | July 1, 2001, bureaus requesting certification in
order to | |||||||||||||||||||
| 23 | receive funds for the first time must be local tourism and
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| 1 | convention bureaus that are (i) either units of local | ||||||
| 2 | government or
incorporated as not-for-profit organizations; | ||||||
| 3 | (ii) in legal existence
for a minimum of 2 years before the | ||||||
| 4 | request for certification; (iii)
operating with a paid, | ||||||
| 5 | full-time staff whose sole purpose is to promote
tourism in the | ||||||
| 6 | designated service area; and (iv) affiliated with
multiple | ||||||
| 7 | municipalities or counties that support the bureau with local
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| 8 | hotel-motel taxes. Each bureau receiving funds under this Act | ||||||
| 9 | will be
certified by the Department as the designated recipient | ||||||
| 10 | to serve an area of
the State.
Notwithstanding the criteria set | ||||||
| 11 | forth in this subsection (a), or any rule
adopted under this | ||||||
| 12 | subsection (a), the Director of the Department may
provide for | ||||||
| 13 | the award of grant funds to one or more entities if in the
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| 14 | Department's judgment that action is necessary in order to | ||||||
| 15 | prevent a loss of
funding critical to promoting tourism in a | ||||||
| 16 | designated geographic area of the
State. | ||||||
| 17 | (b) To distribute grants to local tourism and convention | ||||||
| 18 | bureaus from
appropriations made from the Local Tourism Fund | ||||||
| 19 | for that purpose. Of the
amounts appropriated annually to the | ||||||
| 20 | Department for expenditure under this
Section, one-third of | ||||||
| 21 | those monies shall be used for grants to convention and
tourism | ||||||
| 22 | bureaus in cities with a population greater than 500,000. The
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| 23 | remaining two-thirds of the annual appropriation shall be used | ||||||
| 24 | for grants to
convention and tourism bureaus in the
remainder | ||||||
| 25 | of the State, in accordance with a formula based upon the
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| 26 | population served. The Department may reserve up to 10% of | ||||||
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| 1 | total
local tourism funds available for costs of administering | ||||||
| 2 | the program to conduct audits of grants, to provide incentive | ||||||
| 3 | funds to
those
bureaus that will conduct promotional activities | ||||||
| 4 | designed to further the
Department's statewide advertising | ||||||
| 5 | campaign, to fund special statewide
promotional activities, | ||||||
| 6 | and to fund promotional activities that support an
increased | ||||||
| 7 | use of the State's parks or historic sites.
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| 8 | (Source: P.A. 92-16, eff. 6-28-01;
92-38, eff. 6-28-01; 92-524, | ||||||
| 9 | eff. 2-8-02; 93-25, eff. 6-20-03.)
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