Section 164. Applications for and approval of matching funds to tourist promotion agencies

(a) The commissioner is hereby authorized  to  match  funds  expended  by  recognized  tourist  promotion  agencies and to set
  reasonable deadlines for the submission of applications for each  fiscal
  year  covered  by appropriations in order to assist such agencies in the
  financing of their recognized  advertising  programs.  Before  any  such
  funds  may  be  expended,  the  tourist promotion agency shall have made
  application to the department for such funds, and shall have therein set
  forth the schedule, budget, scope, and theme of the proposed advertising
  program to be undertaken for the purpose of encouraging and  stimulating
  tourist  travel,  resort, vacation, culture and convention activities in
  the county or counties within its area. Said application  shall  further
  state,  under oath or affirmation, with evidence thereof satisfactory to
  the department, the amount of funds held by, or committed or  subscribed
  to,  the  tourist promotion agency for the purposes herein described and
  the amount of matching funds for which application is made, and provided
  that all advertising purchased with funds appropriated  under  this  act
  shall  follow  central  conceptual  themes used by the department in its
  advertising for state tourism promotion including using any logotype  or
  similar advertising construct in use by the department.
    (b)  In  reviewing such applications, the commissioner may select from
  among  competing  or  overlapping  applications   the   application   or
  applications that the commissioner considers to be of greater benefit to
  a  given  area  and the welfare of the people of the state. Further, the
  commissioner  shall  select  from   among   filed   applications   those
  applications  which the commissioner considers to be most in accord with
  the guidelines established for the fiscal year in which the funds are to
  be expended. If the commissioner determines that an application does not
  meet the guidelines, the tourist promotion agency submitting such  shall
  be notified of its rejection and the reasons therefor by certified mail.
  A  tourist  promotion  agency  whose  application  has been rejected may
  resubmit the application  to  meet  the  guidelines  determined  by  the
  commissioner. The resubmitted application shall be postmarked within two
  weeks  of  the  date  of  receipt  of  notice  of failure of its initial
  application. After review of a submitted or resubmitted application,  if
  satisfied that the program of the tourist promotion agency appears to be
  in  accord  with  the  purposes  of  this  act,  the  commissioner shall
  authorize in writing the payment of matching funds appropriated pursuant
  to this act to such tourist promotion agency equal to funds allocated by
  such agency to the  program  described  in  its  application,  provided,
  however,  that  such  matching grant shall not exceed an amount equal to
  five per centum of the matching  grant  appropriation  for  each  county
  represented  by  such  agency  for  the  purposes set forth in this act.
  Provided that sufficient funds are appropriated, no such grant shall  be
  less  than either twenty thousand dollars per county represented by such
  tourist promotion agency or the amount of funds held by, or committed or
  subscribed to such tourist promotion agency for the  purposes  described
  in  its  application, whichever sum is less. No such minimum grant shall
  allow the awarding of matching funds for applications other  than  those
  meeting the guidelines established by the department.
    (c)  No  application  submitted by a tourist promotion agency shall be
  approved unless the funds  of  such  agency  allocated  to  the  program
  described in its application are both:
    (1)  equal  to  or greater than eight thousand dollars for each county
  represented by such agency, and
    (2) equal to or less than five per centum of the total matching  funds
  appropriation  for  each  county  represented  by such tourist promotion
  agency.

    (d) No state funds granted to a tourist promotion agency  pursuant  to
  this   act  may  be  used  for  travel,  food,  lodging,  entertainment,
  transportation  or  expenses  unrelated  to  the  approved   advertising
  program. A regional advertising program as described in paragraph one of
  subdivision  (c)  of  section  one hundred sixty-two of this article may
  include  those  personal  service   administrative   expenses   actually
  attributable  to  such  program,  provided,  however, that such expenses
  shall not exceed twenty percent of the total  budget  of  such  regional
  advertising  program  and  provided  further that such expenses shall be
  approved by no less than one-half of the counties within such region.
    (e) Applications required by this section shall be submitted only upon
  forms provided by the department. Such forms shall contain  a  statement
  of  the  guidelines  which  the  commissioner  shall  use  to  establish
  priorities among applications. Such guidelines shall be  established  by
  the  commissioner on an annual basis and, once established, shall not be
  changed until the following year.
    (f) The department shall set aside no more than thirty percent of  the
  total  local  assistance  appropriation  for  tourism  matching funds to
  create regional advertising program bonuses payable to tourist promotion
  agencies. Such bonus shall be based on a formula to be developed by  the
  department,  which  shall  take  into  account  the  number  of counties
  participating in a regional advertising  program  with  respect  to  the
  number  of  counties  within the department tourism region in which that
  tourist promotion agency is located and the percentage of which  qualify
  for  a  match  pursuant  to  this  section to be expended by the tourist
  promotion agency for the purposes of the regional  advertising  program.
  Bonuses  paid  for  regional  advertising  shall  be subject to the same
  restrictions described in this article for  matching  funds,  and  shall
  further  be  dedicated  to the sole purposes of the regional advertising
  program. The bonus paid to  each  tourist  promotion  agency  shall  not
  exceed  twenty  percent  of  the amount budgeted by such agency for each
  regional advertising program. Nothing in this article shall  prohibit  a
  tourist  promotion  agency  from  receiving  regional  bonus funding for
  participation in regional advertising programs as described in paragraph
  two of subdivision (c) of section one hundred sixty-two of this  article
  in  addition  to  funding  for  participation  in a regional advertising
  program as described in paragraph one of subdivision (c) of section  one
  hundred sixty-two of this article.
    (g)  If  the  matching  funds requested in the applications exceed the
  appropriation, the commissioner shall  allocate  available  funds  on  a
  prorated  basis.  Such  proration  shall apply to originally approved as
  well as resubmitted and subsequently approved applications.