Dr Gibbons Introduces America’s Cup Bill 2014

December 12, 2014

Minister of Economic Development Dr Grant Gibbons introduced the America’s Cup Bill 2014 today [Dec 12] in the House of Assembly which he said ”makes provision for the legislative amendments required for Bermuda to deliver its commitment to facilitate and assist in the conduct of the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda.”

Dr Gibbons said, “The Bill provides the America’s Cup Event Authority and the Teams, their designated commercial partners and the Regatta Officials with relief from certain taxes and fees in the areas of advertising, air navigation, broadcasting and electronic communications, customs duties, employment, vehicles permits and licensing, marine vessels port dues, registration and mooring fees, and pilotage.

“In addition the Bill will provide the necessary brand protection to the 35th America’s Cup.

“The America’s Cup Bill also makes provision for various permissions to be granted during the events on an expedited basis, while ensuring appropriate accountability and oversight to this Honourable House. The new legislation reflects some of the same principles used in the Hotel Concession Act 2000 to stimulate new hotel investment.”

The Minister’s full statement follows below:

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Member will recall that in a Statement to this Honourable House last week, I shared information about the America’s Cup 2017, the substantial economic and reputational benefits that will be generated from hosting the event in Bermuda as well as investment required to prepare the Dockyard site and underwrite operational requirements.

In return for hosting the America’s Cup events, it has been estimated that Bermuda will see additional on-island spending of some $250 million over the next three years.

Mr. Speaker, today [Dec 12], in keeping with Government’s Throne Speech commitment, I am pleased to introduce the America’s Cup Bill 2014.

In brief, the America’s Cup Bill 2014 makes provision for the legislative amendments required for Bermuda to deliver its commitment to facilitate and assist in the conduct of the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda.

The Bill provides the America’s Cup Event Authority and the Teams, their designated commercial partners and the Regatta Officials with relief from certain taxes and fees in the areas of advertising, air navigation, broadcasting and electronic communications, customs duties, employment, vehicles permits and licensing, marine vessels port dues, registration and mooring fees, and pilotage.

In addition the Bill will provide the necessary brand protection to the 35th America’s Cup.

The America’s Cup Bill also makes provision for various permissions to be granted during the events on an expedited basis, while ensuring appropriate accountability and oversight to this Honourable House. The new legislation reflects some of the same principles used in the Hotel Concession Act 2000 to stimulate new hotel investment.

More specific details about the content and workings of the Bill will be shared during the substantive debate in the next session of the House.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to facilitating the smooth operation of the America’s Cup events over the next three years, the provisions in the Bill should be viewed as part of Bermuda’s successful bid.

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to reiterate my closing remarks from last week, “the America’s Cup will provide an enormous opportunity to Bermuda to showcase our island to the world, to rejuvenate tourism and provide extensive economic benefits to Bermuda but in order to make the most out of it, we will need to deliver – and that will require the collaboration and active involvement of all of us”.

This Bill is simply one part of that delivery.

Thank You, Mr. Speaker.

-

americas cup click here 2

Read More About

Category: All, News, Politics

Comments (21)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. watching says:

    What is the value of concessions that we are giving in order to gain the America’s cup? Has a financial study been done?

    • Politricks says:

      Jesus, ‘watching’ why do you each and everyday attempt to denigrate any progress being made.

      Lets put it in perspective for you. If no concessions were given then the America’s Cup would not have selected Bermuda. Therefore, we would not have received any taxes, nor any investments for the Cup events (i.e. hospitality infrastructure etc.), nor any tourists to Bermuda to watch the Cup and so on and so forth.

      Does that make you happy? Of course it doesn’t.

      It appears from your daily tirades that you would rather see BDA sink then swim under this Government. It is quite apparent now that your concerns are solely for the well being for your Party as opposed for Bermuda.

      Funny how you don’t want to discuss the gifting of taxpayers monies to a PLP insider (re: Port Royal), but have no problem spouting your nonsense on a daily basis about the Cup, the airport and so on based on nothing but opinions and conjecture. But when an AG’s report, based solely on facts, highlights the PLP’s failure of the public purse you only want it to be discussed in the House and no one should express an opinion beforehand.

      Pull up your panties your partisianship is showing.

      • watching says:

        Nowhere did I mention that concessions should not be given…I simply asked what was the value of these concessions?

        • jt says:

          Beyond what is provided how would you propose calculating that at this stage?

          • Black Soil says:

            Watching…we can do NOTHING and get NOTHING. That’s what the PLP did. Or we can forgo a nickel to get one dollar. I know thinking about this hurts, but whether that nickel works out to be a dime or a quarter, we’re still ahead.

            • Raymond Ray says:

              As I’d been advised while I was growing up “Raymond, in order for you to get ahead in life you must give gently with one hand while simultaneously pulling hard with the other”.

              (Uncle David D.)

        • theothersidebda says:

          Not sure why the value of concessions matters. If you didn’t have the event, your net profit is $0. So even if you make $50m after a $200m concession for example, that’s still $50m more than $0.

        • Steve Davis says:

          Watching, Your asking all the right questions but all of them have been asked by Dr.Gibbons and the Bid team long before they went ahead with the Bid proposal process. They would have completed a feasibility study on the concessions and built an economic model to see what the cost benefit would be. In simpleton terms that you may understand: The OBA are not the PLP, they do their homework before they galavant into Financial decisions.

          • Valirie Marcia Akinstall says:

            @STEVE DAVIS… In simpleton terms that you may understand: The OBA are not the PLP, they do their homework before they galavant (SIC) into Financial decisions.

            As PLP supporters are obviously simpletons, in your words.

            May I point out that your answer still does NOT answer the question.

            Just be honest, you do NOT know, you are clueless and that simply states that you probably not the genius you think you are.

            Please post time under the correct person’s name: Steve Davis.

            London, England

  2. serengeti says:

    It was all over the news about three days ago. You’re not ‘watching’ very carefully, are you.

  3. Coffee says:

    Is this event to take place during hurricane season ?

    • Triangle Drifter says:

      Yes. Don’t you even know when hurricane season is?

  4. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL says:

    There goes a few million in revenue down the drain.

    • GTA says:

      A few million down for a couple hundred million up.

    • LiarLiar says:

      And if we didn’t give concessions they would have chosen another bidder who would have and thus we would have missed out completely on the revenue that will hit our shores with this event.

      What don’t you guys understand about such a simple fact?

      I mean even Marc Bean and the PLP noted that such concessions would have to be made to enjoy the benefits that this event will bring in terms of investments, tourist spending and overall exposure.

      No concessions = no America’s Cup = no economic stimulus that will be derived from this event

      It is almost if you sit and home and pray for BDA to completely collapse. It is absolutely sad how partisanship warped the thinking of some followers.

      • SMH says:

        What about the $20Million “consessions” we’ve all taken at Port Royal. However these were unofficially Government sponsored but had no return on investment. :)

  5. TSOL says:

    “No concessions = no America’s Cup = no economic stimulus that will be derived from this even”

    Liar Liar I don’t think you get it, they don’t want the Americas Cup here, its that simple.

  6. Cow Polly says:

    Watching – if you’re so concerned about performing a financial study then why don’t you do it? Grant Gibbons has given you the list of where the concessions are being made so there’s your starting point!

  7. Need Peace says:

    If there is already an overrun of the budget for the Dockyard project by $6m and all these tax concessions, we may very well see the same result as the Port Royal. If this is our last ditch effort for a turnaround, I would prefer a more extensive report rather than an “Oops!”

  8. Valirie Marcia Akinstall says:

    What is wrong with you people, you wail with so much sarcasm and hate towards your fellow Bermudians, then you wonder why there are serious divisions in the community.

    At the end of the day, how human beings are treated will make a bigger impact than how much money you throw at them.

    You cannot buy respect you can only earn it.

    London, England

  9. agatha christie says:

    Where can we get a copy of the Bill. It is not listed on the Govt legislation website. We need to see the detail.