SB 245 received a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee last Thursday. The committee “held” the bill as stakeholders collaborate on an amendment to be introduced at next week’s hearing.
The intent of the bill is to establish a fund that will increase Indiana’s odds of winning bids for sporting events, trade shows, conventions and other similar events.
This bill only establishes the structure of the fund and how it will be managed. There is no appropriation contained in the bill, which gives stakeholders until next budget session to determine the amount necessary to ensure Indiana’s competitiveness.
More specifically, the fund will be financed with a state appropriation, as well as grants, gifts and donations. The Indiana Sports Corporation, led by Ryan Vaughn, will manage the fund and field grant requests from local nonprofit sports commissions, destination management organizations, colleges and universities and other organizing committees.
In recent years and months, Indiana and its communities have lost bids to competitors due, in large part, because they had access to a bid fund like the one contemplated by SB 245, according to Chris Gahl, executive director of Visit Indy – including a high school STEM competition, Paralympics qualifiers and the Olympic swimming national trials.
I testified on behalf of the Chamber and argued that this bill will serve as a catalyst to increase tourism in the state, which could be a precursor to Indiana attracting new residents – a key factor in the future of Indiana’s economic development strategy. For example, some of the over 2,500 high school students competing in the national STEM competition could be lured to Indiana for college and end up staying here after graduation. This is a key demographic the state needs to attract to satisfy the current and future workforce needs of our employers.
