BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






                                                       Bill No:  AB  
          2792
          
                 SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
                       Senator Roderick D. Wright, Chair
                           2009-2010 Regular Session
                                 Staff Analysis



          AB 2792  Author:  Committee on Governmental Organization
          As Introduced:  March 17, 2010
          Hearing Date:  June 29, 2010 
          Consultant:  Art Terzakis


                                     SUBJECT  
                            Horse Racing Law: intent

                                   DESCRIPTION
           
          AB 2792 provides technical clean-up to Horse Racing Law to  
          ensure the law reflects changes made through the enactment  
          of SB 16 XX (Ashburn, Chapter 12, Statutes of 2009).

                                   EXISTING LAW

           Article IV, Section 19(b) of the Constitution of the State  
          of California provides that the Legislature may provide for  
          the regulation of horse races and horse race meetings and  
          wagering on the results.

          Existing law provides that the intent of California's Horse  
          Racing Law is to allow parimutuel wagering on horse racing  
          while:

                 Assuring protection of the public.

                 Encouraging agriculture and the breeding of horses  
               in this state.

                 Supporting the network of California fairs.

                 Providing for maximum expansion of horse racing  
               opportunities in the public interest.





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                 Providing uniformity of regulation for each type of  
               horse racing.

          Existing law requires all licenses granted under the Horse  
          Racing Law to, among other things, contain such conditions  
          as are deemed necessary or desirable by the California  
          Horse Racing Board (CHRB) for the purposes of the Horse  
          Racing Law.

                                         
                                   BACKGROUND
           
          In 1933, California voters passed a constitutional  
          amendment authorizing parimutuel wagering on horse racing.   
          The commitment to use a percentage of the wagers to  
          establish a continuous funding source for the fairs, while  
          at the same time, relieving the state's General Fund of the  
          funding burden became socially and politically palatable in  
          1933 as the country began to pull itself up by the  
          bootstraps from the Great Depression. 

          For more than 75 years, this relationship existed between  
          horse racing and the fairs until the enactment of SB 16xx.   
          SB 16xx authorizes the appropriation of $32 million a year  
          from the state's General Fund in support of the fairs and  
          relieves the horse racing industry of its obligation to  
          fund the fairs from license fees assessed on horse racing  
          wagers.  As such, AB 2792 would modify the stated policy  
          purpose of the Horse Racing Law to reflect the changes  
          brought about by SB 16xx.  

                            PRIOR/RELATED LEGISLATION
           
           SB 16xx (Ashburn) Chapter 12, Statutes of 2009 Second  
          Extraordinary Session  .  Among other things, provided that  
          beginning on July 1, 2009, and annually thereafter,  
          thirty-two million ($32,000,000) shall be appropriated from  
          the state's General Fund and paid into the Fair and  
          Exposition Fund for the financial support of the network of  
          California fairs.  

           SB 830 (Committee on Governmental Organization) 2009-10  
          Session.   Nearly identical to AB 2792 of 2009-10 Session.   
          (Gutted in Assembly Appropriations Committee)
          
           SUPPORT:   None on file as of June 25, 2010.




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           OPPOSE:   None on file as of June 25, 2010.

           FISCAL COMMITTEE:   Senate Appropriations Committee

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