HB 1602: Create Airport Opportunity Fund (language only)

Item 435 #1h

Language

Page 427, after line 48, insert:

"C.1 There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund that is a subfund of the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, known as the Airport Opportunity Fund, referred to in this section as "the Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All funds appropriated for such purpose and any gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds received on its behalf shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the Fund. Expenditures and disbursements from the Fund shall be made by the State Treasurer on warrants issued by the Comptroller upon written request signed by the Secretary of Transportation and transferred to the Virginia Tourism Authority for distribution to approved airline projects. Interest earned on moneys in the Fund shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it. Moneys in the Fund shall be used solely for the purposes enumerated in subparagraph 3.

2. If the Department ends a fiscal year with a cash balance of at least five percent of the year's total appropriation, the Department shall request that the Treasurer transfer to the Airport Opportunity Fund an amount not to exceed $2 million, unless the Secretary of Transportation determines that such a transfer is not in the long-term interest of the Department. Such determination shall be made in writing by the Secretary of Transportation to the Department. Requests to transfer such revenues shall be made by August 30 of the ensuing fiscal year.

3. Moneys in the Fund shall be used to fund the development and implementation of a national and international marketing program and to provide incentives, as prescribed by the Board of Commissioners, for expanding the use of Virginia's airports.

4. The Department shall develop, and the Board shall approve, guidelines governing the use of incentives that comply with applicable Virginia laws.

5. In addition to the amounts authorized for appropriation in this item, an amount not to exceed $2,000,000 the first year and $2,000,000 the second year from the general fund may be transferred from Item 112 A. for projects identified for funding under this program."