A key House panel voted unanimously Tuesday to advance legislation that would crack down on Florida's tourism development councils, requiring them to make most of their contracts public and to obtain approval from local elected officials for deals exceeding $250,000.
- Bill that cracks down on tourism developent councils advances
- Councils would be required make contracts public
- Legislature recently slapped new transparency rules on Visit Florida
The swift passage of HB 3 by the House Commerce Committee came despite opposition from tourism industry advocates who warn the proposed restrictions could expose trade secrets and inject heavy-handed bureaucracy into the creative processes the councils employ to attract visitors to each of the state's regions.
"They also have concerns regarding, I wouldn't just say nimble or their ability to operate quickly but also to not necessarily, to micromanage certain aspects of it and to take the marketing ability away from the marketing professionals and to put it into a vote of seven or a vote of five," Mat Forrest, a lobbyist for the Florida Association of Destination Marketing Organizations, told the committee.
Forrest was referring to the legislation's empowerment of county commissions to reject the large contracts. Because the regional councils are funded by local hotel taxes, supporters say elected officials should have the final say on how the dollars are spent.
"We need to make sure that when we're doing these operations within government that we're fully transparent and we spend the money properly and correctly, because it's not our money. It's taxpayer money," said Rep. Mike Miller (R-Orlando).
The legislative focus on the councils comes six months after the legislature slapped new transparency rules on Visit Florida, the statewide tourism marketing agency. That effort was led by House Speaker Richard Corcoran (R-Land O'Lakes) in the wake of revelations of questionable spending, including a $1 million promotional contract with the rapper Pitbull that was initially shielded from public view.
"(When) a government agency is engaged in questionable behavior and contracts and secrecy, that's unacceptable for us," Corcoran told reporters earlier this year.
On the heels of the Visit Florida crackdown, the tourism development councils found themselves making less-than-admirable headlines. Visit Orlando, in particular, has attracted lawmakers' ire over a $7 million contract it struck with the U.S. Tennis Association. The council also paid more than $75,000 for a branding deal with a television station that employs a Visit Orlando board member.
Such arrangements could soon face a vetting gauntlet involving not just the councils themselves, but county commissions and the public at large. And that, lawmakers predict, would prevent questionable contracts from even being proposed.