LRBs0258/3
MES:wlj:ch
2005 - 2006 LEGISLATURE
ASSEMBLY SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT 1,
TO 2005 ASSEMBLY BILL 298
October 26, 2005 - Offered by Joint Committee on Finance.
AB298-ASA1,1,3 1An Act to amend 66.0615 (1m) (d) 3.; and to create 66.0615 (1) (fm) and 66.0615
2(1m) (d) 6. of the statutes; relating to: tourism promotion and development
3under room tax law.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law a city, village, or town (municipality) and a local exposition
district may impose a room tax. The room tax is a tax on the privilege of furnishing,
at retail, rooms or lodging to transients by hotelkeepers, motel operators, and other
persons who furnish accommodations that are available to the public, irrespective
of whether membership is required for use of the accommodations.
Generally, the maximum room tax that a municipality may impose is 8 percent.
A single municipality that imposes a room tax may create a commission, which is
defined as an entity to coordinate tourism promotion and development. If two or
more municipalities in a zone impose a room tax, they must create a commission.
Current law defines a zone as an area made up or two or more municipalities that,
those municipalities agree, is a single destination as perceived by the traveling
public. Current law requires a commission to contract with an organization to
provide staff, development, or promotional services for the tourism industry in a
municipality if a tourism entity does not exist in that municipality. A tourism entity
is defined as a nonprofit organization that existed before January 1, 1992, and
provides staff, development, or promotional services for the tourism industry in a

municipality. Currently, a commission must report annually to each municipality
from which it receives room tax revenues the purposes for which the revenues were
spent.
A municipality that first imposes a room tax after May 13, 1994, must spend
at least 70 percent of the amount collected on tourism promotion and development;
the expenditure may be spent directly by the municipality or forwarded to the
commission for its municipality or zone.
This substitute amendment creates a definition of tourism promotion and
development. The definition describes tourism promotion and development that is
extremely likely to generate overnight stays at a hotel, motel, or other lodging
establishment on which a room tax may be imposed, and includes marketing
projects, transient tourist informational services, and tangible municipal
development, such as a convention center.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB298-ASA1, s. 1 1Section 1. 66.0615 (1) (fm) of the statutes is created to read:
AB298-ASA1,2,72 66.0615 (1) (fm) "Tourism promotion and development" means any of the
3following that are significantly used by transient tourists and extremely likely to
4generate paid overnight stays at more than one establishment on which a tax under
5sub. (1m) (a) may be imposed, that are owned by different persons and located within
6a municipality in which a tax under this section is in effect, or, if the municipality has
7only one such establishment, generates paid overnight stays in that establishment:
AB298-ASA1,2,108 1. Marketing projects, including advertising media buys, creation and
9distribution of printed or electronic promotional tourist materials, or efforts to
10recruit conventions, sporting events, or motorcoach groups.
AB298-ASA1,2,1111 2. Transient tourist informational services.
AB298-ASA1,2,1212 3. Tangible municipal development, including a convention center.
AB298-ASA1, s. 2 13Section 2. 66.0615 (1m) (d) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB298-ASA1,3,214 66.0615 (1m) (d) 3. A commission shall use the room tax revenue that it
15receives from a municipality to promote and develop for tourism, including the

1support of a convention center,
promotion and development in the zone or in the
2municipality.
AB298-ASA1, s. 3 3Section 3. 66.0615 (1m) (d) 6. of the statutes is created to read:
AB298-ASA1,3,74 66.0615 (1m) (d) 6. If a municipality issued debt before January 1, 2005, to
5finance the construction of a municipally owned convention center or conference
6center, nothing in this section may prevent the municipality from meeting all of the
7original terms of its obligation.
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