Over the past decade, THLA has expanded its legislative program from being primarily defensive to being a strong and proactive agenda of legislation that our trade association initiates. The proactive legislation has resulted in THLA passing the following state initiatives:

• Record Levels of state tourism funding to promote Texas for tourism and hotel activity.
• Over 30 percent increase to the state per diem rates.
• A cap on total hotel tax rates assessed by cities & counties.
• A limit on the number of years a city can audit a hotel for hotel occupancy taxes.
• Provided contract protections for hotel tax rate increases.
• A 51% Reduction in the mixed beverage gross receipts tax paid by Hotels, saving hotels millions of dollars annually in operating costs for serving mixed beverages.
• A 25% reduction in the state franchise tax.
• Authority to create tourism public improvement districts (TPIDs) in five Texas cities.
• Substantial state funding for beach restoration and preservation (rebate of 1/3 of the state hotel tax to coastal cities: South Padre, Galveston, Port Aransas, and Corpus Christi).
• Partnered with the Texas Travel Industry Association on a “Uniform School Start Date” law, ensuring a full summer travel.
• New uses for local hotel tax revenue with return-on-investment requirements, and protection of a percentage of hotel occupancy tax funds allocated for marketing hotel activity.
• Passed legislation to prevent state government entities from posting individual property hotel tax information on a public website.

THLA successfully opposed bills that are adverse to our industry. Examples include:

• Every state hotel tax increase that was opposed by the industry.
• Detrimental surcharges and fees against hotel nights.
• Burdensome facility, personnel & operational requirements.
• Non-tourism uses of the local hotel tax (education, pollution, daycare, city infrastructure).
• Union and “living wage” mandate bills.
• Preemption of local short-term rental ordinances.