Read the full stored bill text
Florida Senate
-
2026
SB 446
By
Senator Smith
17-00069-26 2026446__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to large-scale county destination
3 marketing organizations; creating s. 288.12267, F.S.;
4 defining the term “large-scale county destination
5 marketing organization”; requiring large-scale county
6 destination marketing organizations to register with
7 the Department of State; requiring the department to
8 maintain a list of large-scale county destination
9 marketing organizations on its website; requiring a
10 one-to-one match of private to public contributions to
11 fund large-scale county destination marketing
12 organizations; providing sources and exclusions of
13 public and private contribution funding; requiring a
14 large-scale county destination marketing organization
15 to revert all unmatched public contributions to the
16 corresponding counties or municipalities with which
17 the large-scale county destination marketing
18 organization is contracted by a certain date each
19 year; providing an effective date.
20
21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
22
23 Section 1. Section 288.12267, Florida Statutes, is created
24 to read:
25
288.12267
Large-scale
county destination
marketing
26
organizations.—
27
(1) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section,
the term
28
“large-scale county destination
marketing organization”
has the
29
same meaning as the term “county destination marketing
30
organization” as defined in s. 288.005, but refers only to such
31
organizations or agencies with an annual operating budget of $5
32
million or more.
33
(2) REGISTRATION.—A large-scale county destination
34
marketing organization must register with the Department of
35
State, and the department shall maintain a directory on its
36
website of all large-scale county destination marketing
37
organizations operating in this state.
38
(
3
) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.—
A
one-to-one match is required
39
of private to public contributions
to a large-scale county
40
destination marketing organization
. Public contributions include
41
all state
and local
appropriations to a
large-scale county
42
destination marketing organization.
43
(
a
) For purposes of calculating the required one-to-one
44
match,
a large-scale county destination marketing organization
45
shall receive matching private contributions in one of four
46
private match categories.
The large-scale county destination
47
marketing organization
shall maintain documentation of such
48
categorized contributions on file and make such documentation
49
available for inspection upon reasonable notice during its
50
regular business hours. The private match categories are:
51
1. Direct cash contributions from private sources, which
52
include, but are not limited to, cash derived from strategic
53
alliances, contributions of stocks and bonds, and partnership
54
contributions.
55
2. Fees for services, which include, but are not limited
56
to, event participation, research, and brochure placement.
57
3. Cooperative advertising, which is limited to partner
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expenditures for paid media placement, partner expenditures for
59
collateral material distribution, and the actual market value of
60
contributed productions,
broadcast
air time, and print space.
61
4. In-kind contributions, which
are
limited to the actual
62
market value of promotional contributions of partner-supplied
63
benefits to target audiences and the actual market value of
64
nonpartner-supplied air time or print space contributed for the
65
broadcasting or printing of such promotions
that
would otherwise
66
require tourist promotion expenditures by
a large-scale county
67
destination marketing organization
for advertising, air travel,
68
rental car fees, hotel rooms, RV or campsite space rental,
69
onsite guest services, and admission tickets. The net value of
70
air time or print space, if any,
is
deemed to be the actual
71
market value of the air time or print space, based on an average
72
of actual unit prices paid contemporaneously for comparable
73
times or spaces, less the value of increased ratings or other
74
benefits realized by the media outlet as a result of the
75
promotion.
76
77
Contributions from a government
al
entity or from an entity that
78
received more than 50 percent of its revenue in the previous
79
fiscal year from public sources, including revenue derived from
80
taxes, from fees, or from other government revenues
,
are not
81
considered private contributions for purposes of calculating the
82
required one-to-one match.
83
(
b
) If
a
large-scale county destination marketing
84
organization
fails to meet the one-to-one match requirements of
85
this subsection, the
large-scale county destination marketing
86
organization
must, by June 30 of each fiscal year,
revert all
87
unmatched public contributions to the treasuries of the
88
corresponding counties or municipalities
with
which the
large
89
scale county destination marketing organization
is contracted.
90 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.