California Travel and Tourism Commission

“The executive committee is empowered to act on the commission's behalf without having to obtain the ultimate approval of the full commission. The executive committee consists of the director, such appointed commissioners and elected commissioners as elected by the commission, as well as the ceo who sits ex-officio, without vote. The executive committee has the authority of the commission with respect to matters within their area of assigned responsibility, and is restricted from certain actions outlined by the bylaws.”

“Pursuant to the governing documents, the state governor and certain assessed businesses within specific tourism industry categories have the right to limited participation in the organization's governance through the appointment and election of board commissioners.”

“The director of the governor's office of business and economic development serves as ex-officio commissioner and chairperson ("director"). The governor appoints twelve commissioners who are professionally active in the tourism industry to represent each of the twelve officially designated tourism regions. Twenty-four elected commissioners, who are limited to and required to represent assessed businesses or a trade association representing such businesses, are elected in a referendum. Assessed businesses vote only for elected commissioners representing their respective industry categories. Regardless of the number of ballots received for a referendum, the nominee for each elected commissioner position with the most weighted votes from assessed businesses within that industry category is elected commissioner. The number of elected commissioners elected from each industry category is determined by the weighted percentage of assessments from that industry category.”

“Information is gathered by management and provided to an external cpa to prepare the return. The draft is reviewed by management then provided via email to all voting members of the commission prior to filing.”

“Conflict of interest (coi) is obviously a concern with visit california staff and commissioners. In addition to the form 700 filing requirements which requires they disclose any personal financial interest they may have there is also a provision in the employee handbook that requires employees to disclose any potential coi. We also provide coi training for commissioners and actually require them to complete this training every two years. Contract thresholds are also set that form rfp committees so that employees are not the sole decision makers when choosing vendors. If a commissioner has a coi, they are required to recuse themselves and the decision would be made by the rest of the voting members of the governing body. If a staff member has a coi, the executive team would determine whether they would be required to sit out depending on the decision to be made.”

“The visit california commission is responsible for designating the personnel committee which is responsible for the written employment contract, gathering data regularly from compensation surveys or studies, etc. The personnel committee is made up of independent commission committee members. The commission has designated authority to the personnel committee to determine the above and enter into contract with the ceo. The ceo's compensation is reevaluated upon expiration of the most recent compensation contract. The personnel committee then informs the executive committee, through public meetings and meeting minutes of the new language, but does not need further approval. The ceo's compensation is determined by the personnel committee as outlined above and was most recently completed in 2021. Other officers and key employees' compensation contracts are determined by the ceo after an outside firm provides compensation analysis and recommendations. Employment contracts are written by legal counsel and are executed by all officers of visit california.”

“The organization's governing documents and financial statements are available upon request. The conflict of interest policy is available on our website (industry.visitcalifornia.com).”