Final
BILL SUMMARY for
SB05-199
HOUSE
COMMITTEE ON
STATE, VETERANS, & MILITARY AFFAIRS
Votes:
Action Taken:
Refer Senate Bill 05-199, unamended, to the Commit
PASS
08:47 PM -- Senate Bill 05-199
Representative Coleman, prime sponsor, introduced Senate Bill 05-199 which makes changes tot he laws governing the Secretary of State's (SOS) regulation of the games of chance, including bingo and raffles. The bill requires the SOS to accept electronic filings of documents, without the need to furnish a physical, original document, after July 1, 2006. She responded to committee questions.
The following people testified:
08:54 PM --
Marc Rosen, representing the Helping Hands for the Homeless (HHH), testified in opposition to the bill. He explained what he signed up to do as a games manager when he first volunteered his services and took his oath. He explained that this bill would endorse the games managers so that they would have liability. Mr. Rosen stated that he is a volunteer, not an employee of HHH. He, and Representative Coleman, responded to committee questions.
09:10 PM --
James Nichol, representing the Empire Elks Lodge, testified in opposition to the bill. He asked that this bill be reconsidered, and brought back next year, with a less adversarial tone. He also stated that he believes bingo should be under the guidance of the Department of Revenue, and not the Secretary of State's Office. He responded to committee questions. Representative Coleman indicated that this bill has been on the calendar for some time, so, she believes that the issues related to the bill have been out there to discuss. Mr. Nichol stated that he believes there has been a lack of communication on the issues related to this bill.
09:25 PM --
Angie Wood, representing a bingo hall, Winners Bingo, testified in opposition to the bill. She noted that she has volunteered for nonprofits for 14 years, and now manages a bingo hall. She had several issues with the bill, including the fact that advertising for bingo is proposed to come out of the hall's general fund. She indicated that she would like to see more detail in the bill, and continued to comment on various provisions in the bill.
09:35 PM --
Michael Shea, representing the SOS's office, Director of Licensing and Enforcement, provided clarification on previous testimony for the committee. He also responded to committee questions and commented on various provisions of the bill.
09:54 PM
Representative Coleman stated that she shared Rep. Cadman's concern over the letter from the SOS to the games manager or bingo hall which requests their records for an audit, which does not appear to provide enough time for the games of chance to provide such records.
09:59 PM
Representative Weissmann discussed potential issues and amendments that had been raised by the testimony. Representative Coleman said that she has shared concerns about the bill and about the process before this evening.
She said that there were a lot involved in the regulation of bingo and games of chance.
10:04 PM
Representative Coleman described some of the background work that Representative Crane had done before she and Senator Takis had introduced the bill. Representative Crane made further comments about the addressing the issues in the bingo industry.
BILL:
SB05-199
TIME:
10:08:09 PM
MOVED:
Coleman
MOTION:
Refer Senate Bill 05-199, unamended, to the Committee on Appropriations with favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a 6-5 roll call vote.
SECONDED:
Crane
VOTE
Cadman
No
Carroll T.
No
Coleman
Yes
Crane
Yes
Gallegos
No
Liston
No
Lundberg
Yes
Schultheis
Yes
Todd
No
Ragsdale
Yes
Weissmann
Yes
Final
YES:
6
NO:
5
EXC:
0
ABS:
0
FINAL ACTION:
PASS