II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1623

To establish a National Tourism Board and a National Tourism Organization,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 15, 1996

Mr. WARNER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To establish a National Tourism Board and a National

Tourism Organization, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Travel and Tourism

5 Partnership Act of 1996’’.
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1 TITLE I—NATIONAL TOURISM

2 BOARD

3 SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL TOURISM BOARD.

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Na5 tional Tourism Board (hereafter in this title referred to

6 as the ‘‘Board’’).

7 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—

8 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall be com9 posed of 36 members, appointed by the President, in

10 consultation with the appropriate representatives of

11 the travel and tourism industry. The members ap12 pointed under this subsection shall include—

13 (A) 1 member appointed to serve as the

14 Chairperson of the Board, by and with the ad15 vice and consent of the Senate;

16 (B) 1 member appointed from nominations

17 submitted by the Speaker of the House of Rep18 resentatives;

19 (C) 1 member appointed from nominations

20 submitted by the President pro tempore of the

21 Senate;

22 (D) 6 members appointed from among em23 ployees of Federal and State agencies related to

24 travel and tourism; and
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1 (E) 27 members representing the private

2 sector and a wide range of travel and tourism

3 industries.

4 (2) ACCOUNTABILITY OF CHAIRPERSON.—The

5 Chairperson shall be accountable to the President

6 and the Congress for the operations of the Board.

7 (c) TERMS.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the Board

9 (including the Chairperson) shall be appointed for a

10 term of 3 years, except as provided in paragraph

11 (2).

12 (2) TERMS OF INITIAL MEMBERS.—As deter13 mined by the President as of the date of the first

14 appointments, of the members first appointed—

15 (A) 12 members shall be appointed for a

16 term of 1 year;

17 (B) 12 members shall be appointed for a

18 term of 2 years; and

19 (C) 12 members (including the Chair20 person) shall be appointed for a term of 3

21 years.

22 (3) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Board

23 shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled in the

24 same manner as the original appointment.
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1 (d) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days after

2 the date on which all members of the Board have been

3 appointed, the Board shall hold its first meeting.

4 (e) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet at the call of

5 the Chairperson, but not less frequently than semiannu6 ally. The Board shall provide appropriate notice of each

7 meeting to the general public. The meetings of the Board

8 shall be open to the general public.

9 (f) TREATMENT OF BOARD.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

11 provision of law, the Board shall not be considered

12 to be a Federal agency for purposes of the civil serv13 ice laws and any other provision of Federal law gov14 erning the operation of Federal agencies, including

15 personnel or budgetary matters relating to Federal

16 agencies.

17 (2) EXEMPTION FROM THE FEDERAL ADVISORY

18 COMMITTEE ACT.—The Federal Advisory Committee

19 Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Board.

20 SEC. 102. DUTIES OF THE BOARD.

21 (a) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP.—The Board

22 shall—

23 (1) facilitate the development and use of a pub24 lic-private partnership for travel and tourism policy25 making;
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1 (2) develop a national travel and tourism strat2 egy for increasing tourism to and within the United

3 States;

4 (3) advise the President, the Congress, and

5 members of the travel and tourism industry concern6 ing—

7 (A) the implementation of the national

8 strategy referred to in paragraph (2); and

9 (B) other matters that affect travel and

10 tourism; and

11 (4) provide guidance to the National Tourism

12 Organization established under section 201.

13 (b) RECOMMENDATIONS; TESTIMONY.—The Board—

14 (1) shall develop such recommendations on the

15 issues referred to in subsection (a)(3) as the Board

16 considers to be appropriate; and

17 (2) may present testimony concerning those is18 sues to the Congress and to State legislatures.

19 (c) REPORTS.—To carry out its duties, the Board

20 may submit to the President and the Congress such re21 ports concerning the findings and determinations of the

22 Board as the Board determines to be appropriate.

23 SEC. 103. POWERS OF THE BOARD.

24 (a) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The

25 Board may secure directly from any Federal department
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1 or agency such information as the Board considers nec2 essary to carry out the duties of the Board. Upon request

3 of the Chairperson of the Board, the head of a Federal

4 department or agency shall furnish that information to the

5 Board.

6 (b) CONTRIBUTIONS.—The Board may accept, use,

7 and dispose of gifts or donations of funds, services, or

8 property necessary to carry out its duties. The Board may

9 not accept any Federal financial assistance or financial as10 sistance from any other government.

11 SEC. 104. BOARD PERSONNEL MATTERS.

12 (a) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Each member of

13 the Board who is not an officer or employee of the Federal

14 Government shall serve without compensation, except for

15 travel expenses, as described in subsection (b). Each mem16 ber of the Board who is an officer or employee of the Fed17 eral Government shall not receive any compensation in ad18 dition to that received for that member’s services as an

19 officer or employee of the United States.

20 (b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Subject to the availability

21 of funds from financial contributions under section

22 103(b), the members of the Board may be allowed travel

23 expenses, while away from their homes or regular places

24 of business in the performance of services for the Board.

25 (c) STAFF.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the

2 Board may appoint and terminate an executive di3 rector and such other additional personnel as may be

4 necessary to enable the Board to perform its duties.

5 (2) COMPENSATION.—The Chairperson of the

6 Board may fix the compensation of the executive di7 rector and other personnel.

8 (3) SUPPORT SERVICES.—At the request of the

9 Chairperson of the Board, the Chairperson of the

10 Board of the National Tourism Organization estab11 lished under section 201 may provide clerical and

12 support services to the National Tourism Board es13 tablished under this title.

14 TITLE II—NATIONAL TOURISM

15 ORGANIZATION

16 SEC. 201. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL TOURISM ORGA17 NIZATION.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—

19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall, in

20 accordance with this section, provide for the estab21 lishment of a nonprofit corporation, to be known as

22 the National Tourism Organization (hereafter in this

23 title referred to as the ‘‘Organization’’). The Organi24 zation shall not be an agency or establishment of the

25 United States Government, but shall be operated in
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1 a manner consistent with the provisions of this sec2 tion and any other applicable laws.

3 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Organiza4 tion are—

5 (A) to work toward increasing the market

6 share of the United States in global tourism;

7 (B) to implement the strategy developed

8 under section 102(a)(2);

9 (C) to operate travel and tourism pro10 motion programs overseas in partnership with

11 the travel and tourism industry of the United

12 States;

13 (D) to establish a travel-tourism data bank

14 and, through that data bank, collect and dis15 seminate international market data;

16 (E) to conduct market research necessary

17 for the effective promotion of the travel and

18 tourism market; and

19 (F) to promote United States travel and

20 tourism at international trade shows.

21 (b) ORGANIZATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—The Or22 ganization shall have a Board of Directors (hereafter in

23 this title referred to as the ‘‘Organization Board’’). The

24 Organization Board shall consist of 45 members, ap25 pointed by the President. The Organization Board shall
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1 be accountable to the National Tourism Board established

2 under title I for the operations of the Organization.

3 (c) INCORPORATORS.—The members of the initial Or4 ganization Board shall—

5 (1) serve as incorporators; and

6 (2) take any action that is necessary to estab7 lish the Organization as a corporation under applica8 ble law.

9 (d) TERM OF OFFICE.—The term of office of each

10 member of the Organization Board who is appointed by

11 the President shall be 3 years, except that any member

12 appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expira13 tion of the term for which the predecessor of that member

14 was appointed shall be appointed for the remainder of that

15 term.

16 (e) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Organization

17 Board shall not affect its power, but shall be filled in the

18 same manner as the original appointment.

19 (f) CHAIRPERSON.—The Organization Board shall be

20 headed by a chairperson, who shall be selected by the Or21 ganization Board, from among the members of the Orga22 nization Board.

23 (g) STATUS OF MEMBERS.—Members of the Organi24 zation Board shall not, by reason of membership in the
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1 Organization Board, be considered to be officers or em2 ployees of the United States.

3 (h) OFFICERS; STAFF.—

4 (1) OFFICERS.—The Organization shall have a

5 president, and such other officers as may be named

6 and appointed by the Organization Board for terms

7 and at rates of compensation fixed by the Organiza8 tion Board. The president shall serve as a member

9 of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee es10 tablished under section 2312 of the Export En11 hancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4727). The Or12 ganization Board may prescribe the duties of the of13 ficers. All officers of the Organization shall serve at

14 the pleasure of the Organization Board.

15 (2) STAFF.—The Organization Board shall hire

16 the staff necessary to carry out the purposes of the

17 Organization and fix the compensation of that staff.

18 (i) FINANCING.—Not later than 1 year after the date

19 of incorporation of the Organization, the appropriate offi20 cers of the Organization shall cooperate with the Organi21 zation Board to develop a recommendation for the long22 term financing of the Organization.

23 SEC. 202. COOPERATION BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

24 (a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Upon request of the

25 appropriate officer of the Organization or the Organiza-
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1 tion Board, the head of a Federal agency shall provide

2 technical assistance to assist the Organization in carrying

3 out its purposes, as specified in section 201(a)(2).

4 (b) OVERSEAS POSTS.—The head of each Federal

5 agency that maintains offices in a foreign country shall,

6 as appropriate, incorporate in the programs and activities

7 carried out by those offices, programs and activities that

8 implement the recommendations of the National Tourism

9 Board established under section 101 and the Organiza10 tion.

11 SEC. 203. TRADE PROMOTION COORDINATING COMMITTEE.

12 Section 2312 of the Export Enhancement Act of

13 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4727) is amended—

14 (1) in subsection (c)—

15 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para16 graph (4);

17 (B) by striking the period at the end of

18 paragraph (5) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

19 (C) by adding at the end the following new

20 paragraph:

21 ‘‘(6) reflect recommendations made by the Na22 tional Tourism Board established under the Travel

23 and Tourism Partnership Act of 1996.’’; and

24 (2) in subsection (d)(1)—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub2 paragraph (L);

3 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (M) as

4 subparagraph (N); and

5 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (L)

6 the following:

7 ‘‘(M) the president of the National Tour8 ism Organization established under the Travel

9 and Tourism Partnership Act of 1996; and’’.

Æ