NY Econ Dev L § 164 (2021)
2021 New York Laws COM - Economic Development Law Article 5-A - New York State Tourist Promotion Act 164 - Applications for and Approval of Matching Funds to Tourist Promotion Agencies.

§  164.  Applications  for  and  approval of matching funds to tourist promotion agencies. (a) The commissioner is hereby authorized  to  match funds  expended  by  recognized  tourist  promotion  agencies and to set reasonable deadlines for the submission of applications for each  fiscal year  covered  by appropriations in order to assist such agencies in the financing of their recognized  advertising  programs.  Before  any  such funds  may  be  expended,  the  tourist promotion agency shall have made application to the department for such funds, and shall have therein set forth the schedule, budget, scope, and theme of the proposed advertising program to be undertaken for the purpose of encouraging and  stimulating tourist  travel,  resort, vacation, culture and convention activities in the county or counties within its area. Said application  shall  further state,  under oath or affirmation, with evidence thereof satisfactory to the department, the amount of funds held by, or committed or  subscribed to,  the  tourist promotion agency for the purposes herein described and the amount of matching funds for which application is made, and provided that all advertising purchased with funds appropriated  under  this  act shall  follow  central  conceptual  themes used by the department in its advertising for state tourism promotion including using any logotype  or similar advertising construct in use by the department.  (b)  In  reviewing such applications, the commissioner may select from among  competing  or  overlapping  applications   the   application   or applications that the commissioner considers to be of greater benefit to a  given  area  and the welfare of the people of the state. Further, the commissioner  shall  select  from   among   filed   applications   those applications  which the commissioner considers to be most in accord with the guidelines established for the fiscal year in which the funds are to be expended. If the commissioner determines that an application does not meet the guidelines, the tourist promotion agency submitting such  shall be notified of its rejection and the reasons therefor by certified mail. A  tourist  promotion  agency  whose  application  has been rejected may resubmit the application  to  meet  the  guidelines  determined  by  the commissioner. The resubmitted application shall be postmarked within two weeks  of  the  date  of  receipt  of  notice  of failure of its initial application. After review of a submitted or resubmitted application,  if satisfied that the program of the tourist promotion agency appears to be in  accord  with  the  purposes  of  this  act,  the  commissioner shall authorize in writing the payment of matching funds appropriated pursuant to this act to such tourist promotion agency equal to funds allocated by such agency to the  program  described  in  its  application,  provided, however,  that  such  matching grant shall not exceed an amount equal to five per centum of the matching  grant  appropriation  for  each  county represented  by  such  agency  for  the  purposes set forth in this act. Provided that sufficient funds are appropriated, no such grant shall  be less  than either twenty thousand dollars per county represented by such tourist promotion agency or the amount of funds held by, or committed or subscribed to such tourist promotion agency for the  purposes  described in  its  application, whichever sum is less. No such minimum grant shall allow the awarding of matching funds for applications other  than  those meeting the guidelines established by the department.  (c)  No  application  submitted by a tourist promotion agency shall be approved unless the funds  of  such  agency  allocated  to  the  program described in its application are both:  (1)  equal  to  or greater than eight thousand dollars for each county represented by such agency, and  (2) equal to or less than five per centum of the total matching  funds appropriation  for  each  county  represented  by such tourist promotion agency.  (d) No state funds granted to a tourist promotion agency  pursuant  to this   act  may  be  used  for  travel,  food,  lodging,  entertainment, transportation  or  expenses  unrelated  to  the  approved   advertising program. A regional advertising program as described in paragraph one of subdivision  (c)  of  section  one hundred sixty-two of this article may include  those  personal  service   administrative   expenses   actually attributable  to  such  program,  provided,  however, that such expenses shall not exceed twenty percent of the total  budget  of  such  regional advertising  program  and  provided  further that such expenses shall be approved by no less than one-half of the counties within such region.  (e) Applications required by this section shall be submitted only upon forms provided by the department. Such forms shall contain  a  statement of  the  guidelines  which  the  commissioner  shall  use  to  establish priorities among applications. Such guidelines shall be  established  by the  commissioner on an annual basis and, once established, shall not be changed until the following year.  (f) The department shall set aside no more than thirty percent of  the total  local  assistance  appropriation  for  tourism  matching funds to create regional advertising program bonuses payable to tourist promotion agencies. Such bonus shall be based on a formula to be developed by  the department,  which  shall  take  into  account  the  number  of counties participating in a regional advertising  program  with  respect  to  the number  of  counties  within the department tourism region in which that tourist promotion agency is located and the percentage of which  qualify for  a  match  pursuant  to  this  section to be expended by the tourist promotion agency for the purposes of the regional  advertising  program. Bonuses  paid  for  regional  advertising  shall  be subject to the same restrictions described in this article for  matching  funds,  and  shall further  be  dedicated  to the sole purposes of the regional advertising program. The bonus paid to  each  tourist  promotion  agency  shall  not exceed  twenty  percent  of  the amount budgeted by such agency for each regional advertising program. Nothing in this article shall  prohibit  a tourist  promotion  agency  from  receiving  regional  bonus funding for participation in regional advertising programs as described in paragraph two of subdivision (c) of section one hundred sixty-two of this  article in  addition  to  funding  for  participation  in a regional advertising program as described in paragraph one of subdivision (c) of section  one hundred sixty-two of this article.  (g)  If  the  matching  funds requested in the applications exceed the appropriation, the commissioner shall  allocate  available  funds  on  a prorated  basis.  Such  proration  shall apply to originally approved as well as resubmitted and subsequently approved applications.