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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
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| 11 | convention bureaus. The
The Department will develop and | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | implement a program
for the use of funds, as authorized under | |||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | this Act, by local tourism and
convention bureaus. For the | |||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | purposes of this Act,
bureaus eligible to receive funds are | |||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | those local tourism and
convention bureaus that are (i) either | |||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | units of local government or
incorporated as not-for-profit | |||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | organizations; (ii) in legal existence
for a minimum of 2 years | |||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | before July 1, 2001; (iii) operating with a
paid, full-time | |||||||||||||||||||
| 19 | staff whose sole purpose is to promote tourism in the
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| 20 | designated service area; and (iv) affiliated with one or more
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| 21 | municipalities or counties that support the bureau with local | |||||||||||||||||||
| 22 | hotel-motel
taxes. After July 1, 2001, bureaus requesting | |||||||||||||||||||
| 23 | certification in
order to receive funds for the first time must | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | be local tourism and
convention bureaus that are (i) either | ||||||
| 2 | units of local government or
incorporated as not-for-profit | ||||||
| 3 | organizations; (ii) in legal existence
for a minimum of 2 years | ||||||
| 4 | before the request for certification; (iii)
operating with a | ||||||
| 5 | paid, full-time staff whose sole purpose is to promote
tourism | ||||||
| 6 | in the designated service area; and (iv) affiliated with
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| 7 | multiple municipalities or counties that support the bureau | ||||||
| 8 | with local
hotel-motel taxes. Each bureau receiving funds under | ||||||
| 9 | this Act will be
certified by the Department as the designated | ||||||
| 10 | recipient to serve an area of
the State.
Notwithstanding the | ||||||
| 11 | criteria set forth in this subsection (a), or any rule
adopted | ||||||
| 12 | under this subsection (a), the Director of the Department may
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| 13 | provide for the award of grant funds to one or more entities if | ||||||
| 14 | in the
Department's judgment that action is necessary in order | ||||||
| 15 | to 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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