2010 General Assembly Wrap - Up
2010 Virginia General Assembly Wrap-Up
By Katie Hellebush, VHTA Government Relations Director
Budget
VHTA is pleased to see $7.2 million in funding for the Virginia Tourism Corporation for the next two years which is great news for Virginia’s travel community. The budget also includes funding to promote Virginia wineries and increase the film industry’s competitiveness. In other good news, an increased boiler inspection fee was not included in the budget nor was a new weights & measures fee included. Unfortunately the good news ends here. All restaurateurs and hoteliers need to contact Governor Bob McDonnell in opposition to tripling the health permit fee from $70 to $285 annually. Encourage the Governor to reconsider this innate tax increase on businesses large and small. In addition, the accelerated sales tax was included in the budget. However the budget does include language to begin to phase out the accelerated sales tax in June 2015. Moreover the dealer discount was eliminated completely for those who remit sales taxes electronically and reduced by 60% for businesses who do not remit sales taxes electronically.
I encourage you to contact Governor McDonnell as well as your Delegate and Senator. Let them all know the specific effect the increased fees and costs will have on your day-to-day operations. Hearing from you is most effective.
Industry Taxes
VHTA defeated Senator Quayle’s proposed legislation to give counties the ability to levy a meals tax in addition to removing the current cap of 4%. If this bill had passed, counties would have gained an unlimited ability to impose new and increase current meals taxes. Delegate Morgan had a similar bill that would have allowed counties to levy a meals tax. It was defeated as well.
VHTA also defeated a proposal by Delegate Onzlee Ware to allow community development authorities to request localities to levy and collect a special tax on transient occupancy, food and beverages, and sales.
Two other pieces of legislation regarding transient occupancy taxes did pass this Session. With the support of the local tourism community, Delegate Shuler successfully added Alleghany County to those localities authorized to impose a transient occupancy tax (with a five percent cap). Any excess over two percent will be dedicated to tourism. Finally Senator Howell and Delegate Rust passed legislation stating that any new transient occupancy tax or increase in the current County of Fairfax’s transient occupancy tax would not apply to towns located within the county.
On-line Travel Company Tax
Senator Whipple and Delegates Barlow and Brink all proposed legislation to collect sales tax from online travel companies (OTCs). This legislation would have required online companies such as Orbitz and Expedia to remit sales tax according to the price that the consumer pays for hotel rooms rather than the wholesale price on which Orbitz and Expedia are currently paying. VHTA participated in workgroups this Session and will continue to participate in the study to be completed by the Tax Department on Senator Whipple’s proposal. Senator Whipple, Delegate Barlow and Delegate Brink’s bills were defeated this Session.
Rest Areas
Governor McDonnell announced on January 20 that the Commonwealth Transportation Board voted to reopen the all 19 rest areas that had been previously closed. All rest areas will be open by April 15th. In addition, both Delegate Nutter and Senator Herring’s resolutions to study the rest areas were passed this Session. These direct the Virginia Transportation Research Council to study how the Commonwealth’s rest areas operate compared to those in other states and to investigate innovative approaches.
School Calendar
This year VHTA staved off 10 proposals to rid Virginia of its current “Post-Labor Day” school start date and give schools the authority to set their calendar to start before the Labor Day holiday if they so wish.
Guns
VHTA fought a slew of bills dealing with gun rights this Session, successfully defeating a measure to allow employees to keep guns in their cars while at work (thus stripping employers of the right to their own policy). Otherwise Senator Hanger and Delegate Gilbert’s bills to repeal the prohibition against bringing concealed weapons into a restaurant that serves alcoholic beverages were successful in passing the House and Senate and await the Governor’s signature.
Other specific legislation of interest to the hospitality and travel industry included Delegate Athey’s legislation to make illegal free spin machines. The Virginia Hospitality & Travel Association worked to ensure that this action would not affect sweepstakes or similar programs. Moreover legislation to ban the use of plastic bags was defeated this year as well as legislation to require any retail establishment with a toilet facility to allow a customer to use it. For a complete listing of legislation that VHTA tracked this Session, please review the 2010 bill tracking list. Do not hesitate to contact Katie Hellebush with questions or comments. She is available by phone, 804-288-3065, or email, katie@vhta.org.
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