This bill amends the Tax Law provisions governing Suffolk County’s hotel and motel tax revenues. It extends and revises the county’s authorized distribution formula for those revenues, increasing several annual allocations for tourism promotion, hospitality-sector support, cultural programming, museums, historic sites, parks, film promotion, regional marketing, and east-end tourism activities. It also adds new dedicated funding for a not-for-profit organization that supports a historic lighthouse site, and it adjusts the annual growth rate for certain funding streams.
The bill also expands the uses of Suffolk County’s Infrastructure Fund. In addition to funding tourism-related convention center and infrastructure projects, the bill allows, for a limited period from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2029, spending on certain capital improvements tied to tourism, including historic structures, parks, marinas, museums, performance venues, bridge reconstruction projects, canal infrastructure, wastewater treatment, shoreline protection, and coastal resiliency projects. During that period, the fund must retain a minimum balance of $5 million.
If hotel and motel tax revenues are not enough to cover the required distributions, the county must use Infrastructure Fund money to make up the difference; if that still is not enough, the allocations are reduced proportionally. The bill also requires the county to provide schedules of funded historic and cultural activities to the tourism promotion agency and to submit annual reporting on film-friendly promotion efforts and revenue generated from that program. The act takes effect immediately.
The bill’s impact on state law is to revise the statutory framework in Tax Law section 1202-o for Suffolk County’s hotel and motel tax, increasing earmarked distributions and broadening the county’s authority to use tourism-related revenues for specified public and cultural purposes. It affects Suffolk County government, tourism and hospitality organizations, museums, historic preservation groups, parks and recreation programs, airport and regional marketing entities, and infrastructure projects tied to tourism and coastal resilience.
The available context shows no recorded committee transcript or vote breakdown, so there is no documented floor debate or roll-call sentiment in the materials provided. Based on the bill’s structure and sponsorship, the overall tone appears supportive of tourism, cultural institutions, and local infrastructure investment, with the main policy choice being how to allocate and prioritize the county’s hotel and motel tax revenues among competing tourism-related uses.
The bill amends New York Tax Law section 1202-o to increase and reallocate Suffolk County hotel and motel tax revenues, expanding earmarked distributions for tourism promotion, hospitality support, cultural programming, museums, historic preservation, parks, film promotion, regional marketing, and a new lighthouse-related grant. It also broadens the permissible uses of the Suffolk County Infrastructure Fund for tourism-related capital projects and certain coastal resiliency and wastewater improvements, while imposing reporting and minimum-balance requirements.
No committee transcript or vote record is available in the provided materials, so there is no direct evidence of debate or opposition. The bill’s design suggests generally favorable sentiment toward tourism development, cultural funding, and local infrastructure investment, with support likely centered on Suffolk County economic development and preservation priorities.
The main points of contention are likely to be the size and distribution of the earmarks, the creation of new dedicated recipients, and the expanded use of Infrastructure Fund money for nontraditional tourism-adjacent projects such as bridge reconstruction, wastewater treatment, and shoreline protection. Potentially affected stakeholders include county officials managing the fund, tourism and hospitality groups, museums and historic organizations, and taxpayers or budget watchdogs concerned about flexibility and prioritization of revenue uses.