State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Connecticut > Title10 > Chap184b > Sec10-397Sec. 10-397. Regional tourism districts. Established. Boards of directors. Accounting and reporting requirements. Solicitation and receipt of funds. (a) There are established five regional tourism districts, each of which shall promote and market districts as regional leisure and business traveler destinations to stimulate economic growth. The districts shall be as follows:
(1) The eastern regional district, which shall consist of Ashford, Bozrah, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Chaplin, Colchester, Columbia, Coventry, East Lyme, Eastford, Franklin, Griswold, Groton, Hampton, Killingly, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Lyme, Mansfield, Montville, New London, North Stonington, Norwich, Old Lyme, Plainfield, Pomfret, Preston, Putnam, Salem, Scotland, Sprague, Sterling, Stonington, Thompson, Union, Voluntown, Waterford, Willington, Windham and Woodstock;
(2) The central regional district, which shall consist of Andover, Avon, Berlin, Bloomfield, Bolton, Canton, Chester, Cromwell, Deep River, East Granby, East Haddam, East Hampton, East Hartford, East Windsor, Ellington, Enfield, Essex, Farmington, Glastonbury, Granby, Haddam, Hartford, Hebron, Manchester, Marlborough, Meriden, Middletown, New Britain, Newington, Old Saybrook, Plainville, Portland, Rocky Hill, Somers, South Windsor, Southington, Simsbury, Stafford, Suffield, Tolland, Vernon, Windsor Locks, West Hartford, Westbrook, Wethersfield and Windsor;
(3) The northwestern regional district, which shall consist of Ansonia, Barkhamsted, Beacon Falls, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Bristol, Brookfield, Burlington, Canaan, Colebrook, Cornwall, Danbury, Derby, Goshen, Hartland, Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, Middlebury, Morris, Naugatuck, New Fairfield, New Hartford, New Milford, Newtown, Norfolk, North Canaan, Oxford, Plymouth, Prospect, Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Salisbury, Seymour, Sharon, Sherman, Southbury, Thomaston, Torrington, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Watertown, Winchester, Wolcott and Woodbury;
(4) The south central regional district, which shall consist of Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Clinton, Durham, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Killingworth, Madison, Middlefield, Milford, Orange, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Wallingford, West Haven and Woodbridge;
(5) The southwestern regional district, which shall consist of Bridgeport, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Greenwich, New Canaan, Monroe, Norwalk, Shelton, Stamford, Stratford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport and Wilton.
(b) Each regional tourism district shall be overseen by a board of directors consisting of one representative from each municipality within the district, appointed by the legislative body of the municipality and, where the legislative body is a town meeting, by the board of selectmen. Any such member of a board of directors shall serve for a term of three years. In addition, the board of directors may appoint up to twenty-one persons representing tourism interests within the district to serve on the board. No board member shall be deemed a state employee for serving on said board. All appointments to the board of directors shall be reported to the executive director of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.
(c) The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, as defined in section 1-200, shall apply to each regional tourism district.
(d) Not later than October 1, 2003, the commission shall assist each regional tourism district in establishing a committee to draft a charter and bylaws for the regional tourism district and to organize the initial meeting of the board of directors of the district, to be held no later than October 15, 2003.
(e) Each regional tourism district shall (1) comply with uniform standards for accounting and reporting expenditures that are established by the commission in accordance with section 10-392 and are based on industry accounting standards developed by the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus or other national organizations related to tourism, and (2) on or before January first of each year, submit to the commission, the Office of Policy and Management and the Office of Fiscal Analysis an independent audit in accordance with the provisions of sections 4-230 to 4-236, inclusive.
(f) Each regional tourism district shall solicit and may accept private funds for the promotion of tourism within its towns and cities and shall coordinate its activities with any private nonprofit tourist association within the district and within this state, that promotes tourism industry businesses in this state, in order to foster cooperation in the promotion of such businesses. Any funds received by a regional tourism district may be deposited in the account established in section 10-395 or in an account established by such tourism district to receive such funds.
(June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 215; P.A. 04-20, S. 5; 04-205, S. 5; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 04-2, S. 30.)
History: June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 effective August 20, 2003; P.A. 04-20 made technical changes, effective April 16, 2004; P.A. 04-205, effective June 3, 2004, and May Sp. Sess. P.A. 04-2, effective May 12, 2004, both replaced Connecticut Commission on Arts, Tourism, Culture, History and Film with Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.
