II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 539 

To address ongoing economic injury in Gulf Coast States impacted by 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by reviving tourist travel to the region. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2007 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself, Mr. LOTT, and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To address ongoing economic injury in Gulf Coast States 

impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by reviving 

tourist travel to the region. 

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 ‘‘Helping Our States 

5 Through Tourism Act of 2007’’ or the ‘‘HOST Act of 

6 2007’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) in the 12-month period ending on June 30, 

2 2005— 

3 (A) tourism was the second largest indus4 try in Louisiana, employing 175,000 workers; 

5 (B) tourism was the fifth largest industry 

6 in Mississippi, employing 126,500 workers; 

7 (C) tourism generated $600,000,000 in 

8 State and local taxes in Louisiana; 

9 (D) tourism generated $634,000,000 in 

10 State and local taxes in Mississippi; 

11 (E) tourism had a $9,900,000,000 eco12 nomic impact in the State of Louisiana; 

13 (F) tourism had a $6,350,000,000 eco14 nomic impact in the State of Mississippi; 

15 (G) the State of Louisiana generated $14 

16 in revenue for every dollar the State spent on 

17 tourism; 

18 (H) the State of Mississippi generated $12 

19 in revenue for every dollar the State spent on 

20 tourism; 

21 (2) Hurricanes Katrina and Rita severely im22 pacted Louisiana’s travel and tourism industry, re23 ducing— 


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1 (A) direct traveler expenditures by more 

2 than 18 percent between 2004 and 2005, from 

3 $9,900,000,000 to $8,100,000,000; and 

4 (B) travel-generated employment by 9 per5 cent between 2004 and 2005; 

6 (3) Hurricane Katrina severely impacted Mis7 sissippi’s travel and tourism industry, reducing— 

8 (A) direct traveler expenditures by more 

9 than 18 percent between 2004 and 2005, from 

10 $6,350,000,000 to $5,200,000,000; and 

11 (B) travel-generated employment by nearly 

12 18 percent between 2004 and 2005, from 

13 126,500 jobs to 103,885 jobs; and 

14 (4) the Gulf Coast economy cannot fully recover 

15 without the revitalization of the tourism industries 

16 in Louisiana and Mississippi. 

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

18 In this Act: 

19 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis20 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Small Busi21 ness Administration. 

22 (2) DISASTER AREA.—The term ‘‘disaster area’’ 

23 means the areas in Louisiana and Mississippi in 

24 which the President has declared a major disaster in 

25 response to Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita. 


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1 (3) HURRICANE KATRINA AND RITA DISASTER

2 AREAS.—The term ‘‘Hurricane Katrina and Rita 

3 disaster areas’’ means the geographic areas des4 ignated as major disaster areas by the President be5 tween August 27, 2005, and September 25, 2005, in 

6 Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas 

7 pursuant to title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Dis8 aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 

10 (4) MAJOR DISASTER.—The term ‘‘major dis11 aster’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

12 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

13 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 

14 (5) RELEVANT TOURISM ENTITIES.—The term 

15 ‘‘relevant tourism entity’’ means any convention and 

16 visitors bureau, nonprofit organization, or other 

17 tourism organization that the governor of Louisiana 

18 or the governor of Mississippi, as the case may be, 

19 after consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, 

20 determines to be eligible for a grant under section 

21 3. 

22 (6) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The term 

23 ‘‘small business concern’’ has the meaning given 

24 that term in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 

25 U.S.C. 632). 


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1 SEC. 4. TOURISM RECOVERY GRANTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce, act3 ing through the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Eco4 nomic Development, shall establish a grant program to as5 sist relevant tourism entities to promote travel and tour6 ism in Louisiana and Mississippi in accordance with this 

7 section. 

8 (b) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—From the amounts ap9 propriated pursuant to subsection (f), the Secretary shall 

10 allocate, as expeditiously as possible— 

11 (1) $130,000,000 to the State of Louisiana; 

12 and 

13 (2) $45,000,000 to the State of Mississippi. 

14 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts allocated to a State 

15 under subsection (b) shall be used by the State to provide 

16 grants to any relevant tourism entity to— 

17 (1) promote travel and tourism in the State; 

18 and 

19 (2) carry out other economic development ac20 tivities that have been approved by the Secretary of 

21 Commerce, in consultation with the State. 

22 (d) CRITERIA.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

23 of law, a State, in awarding grants under subsection (c)— 

24 (1) may use such criteria as the State deter25 mines appropriate; and 


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1 (2) shall not be required to apply eligibility cri2 teria for programs administered by the Federal Gov3 ernment, including the Department of Commerce. 

4 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Not more than 1 

5 percent of the funds allocated to States under subsection 

6 (b) may be used for administrative expenses. 

7 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated $175,000,000 to carry 

9 out this section. 

10 SEC. 5. ECONOMIC INJURY DISASTER LOANS. 

11 (a) LOAN AUTHORIZATION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may 

13 make a loan under section 7(b)(2) of the Small 

14 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(2)) to a small busi15 ness concern located in the disaster area that can 

16 demonstrate that— 

17 (A) more than 51 percent of the revenue of 

18 that small business concern comes from tour19 ism; and 

20 (B) such small business concern suffered 

21 direct economic injury from the slowdown in 

22 travel and tourism in the disaster area following 

23 Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita. 


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1 (2) APPLICATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

2 provision of law, an application for a loan described 

3 in paragraph (1) shall be submitted not later than— 

4 (A) 18 months after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act; or 

6 (B) such later date as the Administrator 

7 may establish. 

8 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

9 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec10 essary to carry out this section. 

11 SEC. 6. FEDERAL GULF COAST TRAVEL AND MEETINGS 

12 FUND. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

14 Treasury of the United States a trust fund, to be known 

15 as the Federal Gulf Coast Travel and Meetings Fund (re16 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Trust Fund’’), consisting 

17 of such amounts as are appropriated to the Trust Fund 

18 pursuant to subsection (f) and any interest earned on in19 vestment of amounts in the Trust Fund pursuant to sub20 section (b). 

21 (b) INVESTMENT OF TRUST FUND.—It shall be the 

22 duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to invest such por23 tion of the Trust Fund that is not required to meet cur24 rent withdrawals. Such investments may only be made in 

25 interest-bearing obligations of the United States or in obliVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:14 Feb 13, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S539.IS S539

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1 gations, whose principal and interest is guaranteed by the 

2 United States. 

3 (c) OBLIGATIONS FROM TRUST FUND.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas5 ury may obligate such sums as are available in the 

6 Trust Fund for the purposes described in paragraph 

7 (2). 

8 (2) ELIGIBLE USES OF TRUST FUND.— 

9 Amounts obligated under this subsection may be 

10 transferred to Federal agencies to pay for— 

11 (A) lodging, meals, travel, and other ex12 penditures associated with conventions, con13 ferences, meetings or other large gatherings at14 tended by not less than 100 Federal employees 

15 and occurring within the Hurricane Katrina 

16 and Rita disaster areas; and 

17 (B) other expenditures in the Hurricane 

18 Katrina and Rita disaster areas, in accordance 

19 with paragraph (3). 

20 (3) PROHIBITED USES OF TRUST FUND.— 

21 Amounts obligated under this subsection may not be 

22 transferred to Federal agencies to pay for— 

23 (A) Federal investigations; 

24 (B) court cases; or 


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1 (C) events attended by less than 100 Fed2 eral employees. 

3 (4) OTHER EXPENDITURES.—Amounts may not 

4 be obligated under paragraph (2)(B) before the date 

5 that is 30 days after the Secretary of the Treasury 

6 submits a report to the Committee on Appropria7 tions of the Senate and the Committee on Appro8 priations of the House of Representatives that sets 

9 forth the intended uses for such amounts. 

10 (d) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2007, 

11 the Secretary of Treasury shall submit a report to the 

12 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Com13 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 

14 that sets forth— 

15 (1) the balance remaining in the Trust Fund; 

16 (2) the expenditures made from the Trust Fund 

17 since its inception; 

18 (3) information on the applications of the Fed19 eral agencies whose requests from the Trust Fund 

20 have been denied; 

21 (4) information on the applications that have 

22 been approved, including the amount transferred to 

23 each Federal agency and the uses for which such 

24 amounts were approved; and 


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1 (5) such additional information as the Com2 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate and the 

3 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep4 resentatives shall reasonably require. 

5 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated $2,500,000 for fiscal 

7 year 2007 to be deposited in the Trust Fund. 

Æ 


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