Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Green Fee Dashboard topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House committees advance bill to create public "green fee" dashboard with amendments
Summary
Joint committees passed HB 1949 with amendments to require a public dashboard tracking green-fee revenues and spending; lawmakers removed one PR provision, changed "assessments" language to "reporting," and did not finalize statutory dollar amounts. Supporters urged BNF or the climate commission to ensure fiscal transparency.
A pair of House committees voted to advance House Bill 1949, which would create a public transparency dashboard to show how revenues from the state's visitor green fee are allocated and spent.
The joint hearing opened with testimony from state agencies and community groups in strong support. Leah Laird of the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission and Danielle Basti, sustainability coordinator at the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, both stood on written testimony backing the dashboard. Basti recommended an amendment to colocate the dashboard at the Department of Budget and Finance to leverage fiscal-accountability expertise.
Community organizations told lawmakers the dashboard could help the public and future legislatures see how green-fee dollars are being used. Carissa Cabrera of the Care for Bridal Now Coalition urged the committee to preserve the governor's recommended project list, which she said reflects more than 600 community proposals vetted by expert advisers. Aaron McGee of the Global Preservation Initiative described his nonprofit's existing public dashboard and said state agencies should adopt similar accountability practices.
Committee members questioned witnesses about procurement, hosting and who would administer grant funds funded by the fee. Witnesses said DLNR (the Department of Land and Natural Resources) would administer grants, working in partnership with the commission and other agencies, and that the commission and agency staff would consult BNF on fiscal tracking. Witnesses also confirmed prior experience working with state IT and procurement shops and agreed to consult Enterprise Technology Services early on to gauge hosting and recurring costs.
For the amendments adopted in committee, lawmakers removed a subsection on administrative public relations and revised language so the commission would "report on" rather than "assess" effectiveness, gaps and opportunities — a change intended to clarify that grant-awarding agencies would provide the substantive assessments. The committee also left statutory dollar fields blank for later decisions and delayed effective dates to a placeholder year used for committee drafting.
The committee's chair moved the bill forward with amendments; both the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection and the House Committee on Tourism adopted the chair's recommendation. The clerks recorded a roll call with multiple representatives voting "Aye" and several members noted as excused. With the committee vote complete, HB 1949 advances for further consideration with the adopted amendments.
The measure now proceeds to additional review stages and will be amended further in the committee report before final floor consideration.
