A state bill that would have restricted the ability of Orange County commissioners to cut Visit Orlando’s funding was written not by the senator who carried it, but by a lobbyist for the county, the Sentinel has learned.
Lobbyist Chris Carmody sought to hide his role in the legislation, which is now raising eyebrows and stirring anger among county commissioners who believe he was undermining the county’s interests when he is paid to defend them.
“Try not to mention my name on this one. :)” he texted the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, early in the process.
Stewart, shrugging off the criticism directed at her and Carmody, said her bill is now dead because it failed to get a sponsor in the Florida House of Representatives. But she added that it served a purpose as “a messaging bill” to highlight the value of Visit Orlando. Shortly after her bill surfaced, county commissioners agreed to a funding deal far more favorable to Visit Orlando than what they had been considering.
“They have a right to their opinions. I have a right to mine,” she said.
Text messages and emails obtained by the Orlando Sentinel through a public-records request show the early January consultation between Stewart and Carmody.
Stewart texted Carmody on Jan. 4, a day before filing the bill: “Get language for bill over so we can be ready.”
He replies: “I don’t have language, per se, just the idea. I think it’s as simple as adding a sentence to whatever line in that statute that deals with funding of marketing activities, making it clear it requires a super majority to reduce funding of a destination marketing company.” In other words, Carmody was proposing requiring a vote of five of the seven county commissioners to cut Visit Orlando’s county tourist-tax funding, which would have made it far harder to do.
Carmody adds, “And try not to mention my name on this one. :)”
That evening, he texted a word document with specific legislative language to Travis Flinn, the senator’s legislative aide.
Senate Bill 1994, filed by Stewart the next day, includes a passage nearly identical to language Carmody sent, requiring a super-majority board vote to reduce funding for a destination-marketing organization which gets less than 40% of a county’s total tourist-tax revenues.
In a statement in response to a query from the Sentinel, Carmody said he was not acting on behalf of any client, but responding to the Senator as a courtesy.
“It is common in the legislative process that members seek feedback from our attorneys on legislative concepts,” he said. “That is also why I preferred my name not be mentioned, as I was just acting as a sounding board for the Senator and nothing more.”
Stewart, herself a former Orange County commissioner, said she introduced the bill out of concern that Orange County commissioners wanted to make deep cuts to Visit Orlando’s 30% TDT share, which had netted the not-for-profit marketing agency about $107.7 million in fiscal year 2022-23.
“What I heard, I just thought was too much,” she said, citing an unfounded rumor of a 50% cut.
Stewart said she discussed her concerns with others, including Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, Carmody and Dana Young, a former lawmaker from the Tampa area appointed in 2019 to serve as president and CEO of Visit Florida by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Told of the text exchange between Carmody and Stewart, some commissioners were irritated with Carmody, an attorney with GrayRobinson, a law firm Orange County pays $72,000 annually to lobby on its behalf. The county’s contract with GrayRobinson, in place since at least 2018, will expire in April unless extended.
Commissioner Mayra Uribe, who had proposed shaving Visit Orlando’s share of tourist-tax revenue from 30% to 25%, questioned whom Carmody was representing when he offered language to usurp Orange County’s authority over its revenues.
” Where does the loyalty lie,” she said. “If he helped write that bill, he’s fighting against us.”
Florida Senate Bill would protect Visit Orlando’s $100-million budget
Commissioner Emily Bonilla scanned Carmody’s list of more than two dozen clients.
“Looking at all the organizations he represents, there’s just a lot of potential conflicts there,” Bonilla said, highlighting one in particular, the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association, which opposed a cut of Visit Orlando’s budget.
Commission Nicole Wilson said the county would be better off with an in-house lobbyist focused on the county as the lone client.
Through a spokesperson, Mayor Jerry Demings declined to comment.
Stewart introduced her bill in January as Orange County commissioners were preparing to change the spending plan for revenue raised by the Tourist Development Tax, the 6% surcharge on a hotel room or other short-term lodging rentals.
But the board ultimately voted 5-2 for a plan proposed by Demings to keep Visit Orlando at 30% while requiring the marketing agency to divert $15 million “off the top” annually, $10 million to a sports incentive fund and $5 million for arts venues.
Uribe and Bonilla voted no on the mayor’s plan.
Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond, whose office tracks TDT receipts and expenses, forecast collection numbers to be about 7.5% lower this fiscal year than last, which produced a record-shattering haul of $359 million.
Diamond estimated the tax would generate about $328.3 million in 2023-24.
Those numbers would give Visit Orlando a pay-out of about $98.5 million for its work.
The new funding formula does not take effect until Fiscal year 2024-25, which begins Oct. 1.
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