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Committee advances bill allowing mayor or judge executive to specify city- or county-based tourism commissioners
Summary
The House Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Interim Committee voted to advance House Bill 552, which replaces the word “jurisdiction” with explicit references to “county” or “city” for tourism commission appointments and updates chair terminology; the bill drew support from local officials and statewide municipal groups.
The House Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Interim Committee voted to advance House Bill 552, a measure to let local executives specify whether tourism commission seats must be filled by residents of a city or of the surrounding county, members said at the committee's first meeting of the 2025 interim session.
Proponents said the change is designed to preserve representation for smaller communities on local tourism commissions. "This is really a measure to make sure that our smaller communities still have representation and able to have a voice on their local tourist commissions," said John Sims, Fleming County judge/executive and a former member of the committee, who presented the bill.
The bill makes limited technical edits to current language: it removes the word "jurisdiction" and substitutes "county or city" in three places, and replaces "chairman" with "chair," according to Sims. He gave an example to illustrate the practical effect: under current text a restaurant owner who resides outside the taxing city could be ineligible to sit on a tourism board for that city; the bill would allow the mayor or judge/executive to appoint either a city or a county resident for the seat, depending on which the appointing official selects.
Committee members asked no substantive questions during the presentation. Representative Mitch Whitaker spoke briefly before the vote: "Tourism is a team sport in these counties. So I'm very happy to see this, and I'm a proud yes," he said.
Chairwoman King said the proposal drew broad support. "Overwhelming support for your good proposal. House Bill 552 has now passed out of this committee and is eligible for consideration on the House floor," King said.
The transcript records multiple members registering "yes" during the roll call; members who were explicitly recorded voting yes include Representative Mark Fugate, Representative Gordon, Representative McPherson, Representative Adam Moore, Representative Pollack, Representative Wesley, Representative Whitaker, Representative White, Representative Wilson, Vice Chair Susan Tyler Whitten, Representative Tackett Lafferty and Representative Thompson. The committee’s complete numerical tally was not specified in the meeting text provided.
House Bill 552 was presented with stated support from the Kentucky League of Cities and the judge/executives association, according to Sims. The bill will next be scheduled for consideration on the House floor.
