Barry Aarons July

past eNewsletters	ATA eNewsletter July 2010 A Word from ATA Lobbyist Barry Aarons Like Bedouin tribesmen we wander the state every two years looking for non-incumbent candidates for the Arizona Legislature. So far this season we have interviewed literally dozens of office seekers. We do it for several reasons. First, it is important for us to sensitize them to issues that are not generally in the forefront of the voters' minds. When you ask candidates for their issue priorities, sad to say, the first thing they say is not, “What can we do to strengthen the tourism and visitor industries.” Shocking as that might be a briefing on how the Office of Tourism is funded frequently gets positive responses. Sensitizing them now makes them more likely to understand our needs and support our initiatives. Also important is to begin the process of relationship building. It is difficult to go into the office of a newly elected official in January and ask them to support your position on a particular legislative proposal if you've never met them, visited with them, gotten to know them and what their real interests are. At this year's Governor's Conference on Tourism held at Loews Ventana Resort in Tucson we will have several Pima County legislative candidates stopping by to visit. While these visits may interfere with some of the sessions we urge you to stop by and visit with these candidates. Here's the tentative schedule (all interviews will be in the lobby area of the hotel unless otherwise noted): July 13th, 2010 10:00 AM - Parralee Schneider Republican candidate for the House in District 30 (location TBD) 11:30 AM - Doug Sposito Republican candidate for the House in District 30 2:00 PM - Ted Vogt Republican candidate for the House in District 30 3:15 PM - Bruce Wheeler Democrat candidate for the House in District 28 July 14th 10:00 AM - Bob Gilby Democrat candidate for the House in District 27 There are still a few others that have yet to be confirmed so please keep in touch with me or my associate, Laura Tessier for up to the minute scheduling. A couple of years ago we decided that we wanted to keep a closer touch on federal congressional affairs and issues. Last month we participated in a coalition of Mayors, hotel chains, and state and local employees to derail an effort to, as stated in a letter to members by the US conference of Mayors, “. . . to manipulate the tax code to secure a competitive advantage over hoteliers while simultaneously shortchanging cities.” In a nutshell, as described by reporter Peter Cohn, “The crux of the issues is the discounted rates hotel chains offer online travel sites . . . (who) then mark up the price as sort of a finder's fee, but generally remit taxes on the original discounted price.” It creates an unfair competitive advantage and deprives communities of their appropriate tax revenue. The effort to legalize this was stopped before it could be attached to the small-business aid package under consideration in the Senate. A special thanks is due to federal lobbyists for the City of Scottsdale who were on top of this for us. Last there is a bit of good news in the implications of the budget to the industry. The Arizona Department of Transportation announced in a June 21 news release, “To aid summer travel, the Arizona Department of Transportation will reopen five of the state's highway rest areas by the end of July, helping to expand the opportunities for travelers to make rest stops along some of the busiest routes in Arizona. Another four rest areas will undergo repairs in an effort to open in the fall. When the nine closed rest areas reopen, bringing the total number of operational rest areas to 14, services will again be provided to more than 50,000 drivers and passengers each day.” So put away those comfort cans and ride easily.

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