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WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2026 REGULAR SESSION
ENROLLED
Committee Substitute
for
House Bill 5063
BY DELEGATES D. CANNON AND MCGEEHAN
[Passed March 12, 2026; in effect 90 days from passage
(June 10, 2026)]
Enr CS for HB 5063
1 AN ACT to amend and reenact §7-18-13a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
2 relating to convention and visitor's bureau; and permitting the county commission to
3 appoint a county commissioner to a convention and visitor's bureau as a voting member.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 18. HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX.
§7-18-13a. Annual reports by convention and visitor’s bureaus; eligibility for hotel
occupancy tax proceeds.
1 (a) On or before 90 days after the end of its fiscal year, every convention and visitor’s
2 bureau which receives any appropriation of hotel occupancy tax from one or more counties or
3 municipalities shall file with each such county or municipality, the State Auditor, the Joint
4 Committee on Government and Finance, and the West Virginia Association of Convention and
5 Visitors Bureaus a report, including an income statement and balance sheet, showing all amounts
6 of hotel occupancy tax appropriated to the convention and visitor’s bureau and all expenditures
7 of hotel occupancy tax made by the convention and visitor’s bureau for the prior fiscal year, as
8 well as any such information required by subsection (b) of this section. A convention and visitor’s
9 bureau that has not filed a report in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be
10 ineligible to receive additional appropriations of hotel occupancy tax proceeds until such report
11 has been filed.
12 (b) In order to qualify for a distribution of net proceeds pursuant to §7-18-14 of this code,
13 a convention and visitor’s bureau shall satisfy the following requirements:
14 (1) The convention and visitor’s bureau shall have a minimum annual budget;
15 (2) The convention and visitor’s bureau shall establish a marketing plan targeting markets
16 outside of a 50-mile radius of the bureau’s municipality or county of operation;
17 (3) The annual operating budget for the convention and visitor’s bureau allocates
18 approximately 40 percent of annual revenues to advertising and marketing, approximately 40
19 percent to salaries and personnel, and approximately 20 percent to other operating expenses:
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Enr CS for HB 5063
20 Provided, That a convention and visitor’s bureau that allocates less than 40 percent of annual
21 revenues to salaries and personnel shall be considered to have satisfied the budget allocation
22 requirement;
23 (4) The convention and visitor’s bureau has a full-time executive director that maintains
24 the minimum number of continuing education hours recommended annually by industry
25 standards;
26 (5) The convention and visitor’s bureau has a physical office and/or visitor center that is
27 accessible at least 40 hours per week and has a dedicated phone line;
28 (6) The convention and visitor’s bureau maintains a website and appropriate marketing
29 materials;
30 (7) The convention and visitor’s bureau has received accreditation from an accrediting
31 body; and
32 (8) The convention and visitor’s bureau submits an annual report to all of its funding
33 entities, which shall include, but not be limited to, the information provided for in this subsection;
34 and .
35 Nothing in this section may be construed as to interfere with the ability of a county or
36 municipality to enter into any agreements or partnerships with convention and visitor’s bureaus in
37 neighboring counties or municipalities for the purposes of distributing net tax proceeds pursuant
38 to §7-18-14 of this code, so long as all other requirements of this section are met.
39 (c) At least once every three years, any bureau that receives any appropriation of hotel
40 occupancy tax from one or more counties or municipalities shall cause an audit or financial review,
41 in a form as is appropriate to the particular bureau, to be made by an independent certified public
42 accountant of all its books, accounts, and records relating to all receipts and expenditures of any
43 hotel occupancy tax appropriations for the three prior fiscal years of the bureau. A copy of the
44 audit or financial review shall be filed with each county or municipality from which the bureau
45 received an appropriation of hotel occupancy tax, the State Auditor, the Joint Committee on
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Enr CS for HB 5063
46 Government and Finance, and the West Virginia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.
47 After July 1, 2024, a bureau that has not caused such an audit or financial review to be made is
48 ineligible to receive an appropriation of hotel occupancy tax proceeds pursuant to §7-18-14 of this
49 code.
50 (d) In order to encourage counties and municipalities to work within the existing framework
51 of convention and visitor’s bureaus, there shall be a moratorium on the authorization of new
52 convention and visitor’s bureaus until June 30, 2026. A county or municipality may not appropriate
53 any net proceeds of hotel occupancy taxes, pursuant to §7-18-14 of this code, to any convention
54 or visitor’s bureau created on or after the amendments to this section enacted during the regular
55 session of the Legislature, 2021, and prior to the end of the moratorium imposed by this
56 subsection. On or after June 30, 2026, any new convention and visitor’s bureau which meets all
57 of the requirements of subsection (b) of this section shall qualify for a distribution of net proceeds
58 pursuant to §7-18-14 of this code.
59 (e) No county commission of a county in which a convention and visitor’s bureau is located
60 shall be prohibited from appointing one county commissioner as a voting member of the county
61 convention and visitor’s bureau. If there is a multi-county convention and visitor's bureau, each
62 county commission associated with that facility shall be allowed, in its discretion, to have a voting-
63 member seat on the multi-county convention and visitor's bureau board: Provided, That the
64 absence of any county commissioner member from any timely noticed and scheduled business
65 meeting of the county convention and visitor’s bureau shall not be considered for suggesting the
66 absence of a quorum for the conducting of the business to be considered on the county
67 convention and visitor’s bureau’s meeting agenda.
68 (f) Nothing in this section may prohibit either the State Auditor or the Legislative Auditor
69 from conducting regular reviews or audits of the operations or finances of a convention and
70 visitor’s bureau to ensure compliance with this code.
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Enr CS for HB 5063
The Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate hereby
certify that the foregoing bill is correctly enrolled.
...............................................................
Clerk of the House of Delegates
...............................................................
Clerk of the Senate
Originated in the House of Delegates.
In effect 90 days from passage.
...............................................................
Speaker of the House of Delegates
...............................................................
President of the Senate
__________
The within is ................................................ this the...........................................
Day of ..........................................................................................................., 2026.
.............................................................
Governor
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