US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

§5B-2-12. Tourism promotion fund continued; use of funds.
There is hereby continued in the state treasury the special revenue fund known as the "tourism promotion fund" created under prior enactment of section nine, article one of this chapter.
(a) A minimum of five percent of the moneys deposited in the fund each year shall be used solely for direct advertising for West Virginia travel and tourism: Provided, That no less than twenty percent of these funds be expended with the approval of the director of the division of natural resources to effectively promote and market the state's parks, state forests, state recreation areas and wildlife recreational resources. Direct advertising means advertising which is limited to television, radio, mailings, newspaper, magazines and outdoor billboards, or any combination thereof.
(b) The balance of the moneys deposited in the fund shall be used for direct advertising within the state's travel regions as defined by the commission. The funds shall be made available to these districts beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, according to legislative rules authorized for promulgation by the tourism commission.
(c) All advertising expenditures over twenty-five thousand dollars from the tourism promotion fund require prior approval by recorded vote of the commission. No member of the commission or of any committee created by the commission to evaluate applications for advertising or other grants may participate in the discussion of, or action upon, an application for or an award of any grant in which the member has a direct financial interest.