Committee clarifies SB 63 restores travel-and-tourism calculation, not direct meals-and-rooms transfers

House committee members and state tax staff clarified how Senate Bill 63 would affect funding for the Division of Travel and Tourism and the underlying meals-and-rooms calculations.

Jennifer Ramsey, tax policy counsel with the Department of Revenue Administration, told the Ways and Means Committee that the amendment in SB 63 restores the statutory calculation used to determine the appropriation floor for travel and tourism. She said the change does not redirect or reduce municipal distributions directly; instead it changes the calculation by adding back the municipal fund transfer when computing “net revenue” for the travel-and-tourism appropriation, so the 3.15 percent floor is applied to that net meals-and-rooms base.

Ramsey explained the practical reason for the amendment: a prior change in statutory language had inadvertently reduced the travel-and-tourism appropriation when the municipal ("muni") fund transfer was subtracted before applying the floor. That effect became apparent in 2023 when the appropriation floor had not been suspended and the calculation produced a lower travel-and-tourism appropriation than many expected.

Committee members asked whether the municipal distribution itself was still governed by statute or by the annual budget. Ramsey replied that statute currently sets a 30 percent municipal share of meals-and-rooms net revenue (after administrative costs and the Education Trust Fund transfer), but HB 2 (the state budget/trailer) for fiscal 2026 and 2027 had suspended the formula and set a flat appropriation of $137,000,000 for each fiscal year instead of the 30 percent formula.

Chris Shea (identified in the record as from OBA) told the committee he had nothing substantive to add to Ramsey’s explanation. Several representatives suggested the committee form a small subcommittee to review and clean up the meals-and-rooms statutory provisions — a multi-year cleanup, one member said — and Representative Olmi volunteered to help. The committee asked Shea and Ramsey to work with Administrative Services and provide a list of statutory topics that the subcommittee should address.

Ending: The committee voted later in executive session to recommend SB 63 ought to pass (see "Votes at a glance"). At the work session, members said the amendment’s intent is restoration of a calculation that determines the travel-and-tourism appropriation and not to change municipal entitlement; staff were asked to provide a package of statutory issues for the subcommittee to consider.