§ 168. Inter-agency tourism task force. (a) There is hereby established an inter-agency tourism task force consisting of the following members:(1) the commissioner or his or her designated representative from the department and the departments of transportation, parks, recreation and historic preservation, environmental conservation, agriculture and markets, and health;
(2) the chairman or his or her designated representative of the New York state thruway authority, the New York power authority, and the tourism advisory council, the New York state council on the arts, the canal corporation, the canal recreationway commission, the Olympic regional development authority, and the Hudson River park trust;
(3) the chairpersons or their designated representatives of the senate standing committee on tourism, recreation and sports development, and the assembly standing committee on tourism, arts and sports development, who shall serve as ex-officio, non-voting members; and
(4) upon designation by the governor, the chief executive officer or his or her designated representative of any department, board, bureau, commission, office, agency, or other instrumentality of the state providing services or programs for travelers, travel-related businesses or other public bodies which operate a travel-related program.
(b) The chairman of the task force shall be the commissioner. The members of the task force may elect such other officers as they may deem necessary.
(c) The task force shall meet at least four times each year at the call of the chairman.
(d) Members of the task force shall receive no compensation for their services as members, but shall be compensated for their actual and necessary expenses by warrant of the comptroller and voucher of their department, agency, authority or council.
(e) The task force shall:
(1) receive the report of each member on programs and services provided to the traveling public, travel-related businesses and other public bodies providing services or programs for travelers, and evaluate such reports to determine opportunities for coordination of efforts, prevention of duplication of services, and sharing of resources;
(2) evaluate and recommend to the governor and the legislature initiatives to enhance or facilitate the effectiveness of current or planned state traveler services or tourism marketing programs;
(3) evaluate and make recommendations to prevent overlapping of promotion efforts and programs;
(4) submit not more than two weeks after each meeting copies of the meeting minutes to each member of the inter-agency tourism task force including ex-officio, non-voting members; and
(5) report on or before January first of each year to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, and the chairman of the appropriate legislative committees on the activities of the task force with respect to its functions, powers and duties.
