Removes the requirement that 5% of the hotel tax generated from regional tourism districts be paid to the Greater Providence-Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau, and adds that 5% of the hotel tax to the existing tax paid to the RI commerce corporation.

Plain-English Summary

Rhode Island currently collects a hotel tax from businesses in regional tourism districts — areas designated to promote local tourism. Under existing law, 5% of that hotel tax revenue is required to go to the Greater Providence-Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau, an organization that promotes tourism in the Providence and Warwick area. This bill would eliminate that requirement.

Instead of sending that 5% to the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the bill would redirect that money to the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, a state agency that handles economic development and business promotion across the entire state. In effect, the Commerce Corporation would receive a larger share of hotel tax revenue than it currently does.

This change would most directly affect the Greater Providence-Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau, which would lose a dedicated funding stream it currently relies on. Hotels and visitors themselves would not pay any more or less in taxes — only how the existing tax dollars are divided up would change. The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, on the other hand, would gain additional funding for its statewide economic development activities.

The bill has been referred to the House Finance Committee, which will review it before deciding whether to advance it further. No vote has taken place yet.