BILL NUMBER: SJR 14	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	ADOPTED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 9, 2011
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 9, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wright
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Hall)

                        SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

   Relative to Internet gambling.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 14, Wright. Internet gambling.
   This measure would respectfully urge the members of California's
congressional delegation to preserve the right of the State of
California to opt out of any federal Internet gambling system, and
retain the right to operate its own intrastate Internet gambling
system, or opt into any federal Internet gambling system.



   WHEREAS, Leading gaming consultants estimate that in 2005, United
States citizens illegally wagered $4 billion online at off-shore,
non-United States Internet gambling Web sites, and that every week
more than 1.5 million Californians participate in illegal online
gambling on the Internet; and
   WHEREAS, Currently hundreds of Internet gambling Web sites operate
outside the United States, unregulated by any United States
governmental entity and in violation of United States laws. Questions
often arise about the honesty and the fairness of the games played
on these Internet Web sites, and about the true purpose for, and use
of, proceeds generated by these unregulated Internet Web sites,
particularly since the United States Department of Justice has
indicted the owners and operators of several of the leading Internet
gaming Web sites for money laundering, bank fraud, and other federal
felony offenses; and
   WHEREAS, In October 2006, the United States Congress passed, and
the President signed, the SAFE Port Act to increase the security of
United States ports. Embedded within the language of that bill was a
section called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006
(UIGEA), which prohibits the use of banking instruments such as
credit cards, checks, or fund transfers for interstate Internet
gambling. The statute, however, has not eliminated illegal,
unregulated Internet gambling, nor has it provided any increased
protection for participants from game operators and others who would
impair the integrity of online gambling activity; and
   WHEREAS, Congress included specific provisions in UIGEA for
individual states to permit intrastate Internet gambling, provided
that state laws permitting and regulating that activity could impose
reasonable protections against participation by underage persons or
by persons located outside the boundaries of the states authorizing
that activity. While the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
balanced the interests of three sovereign governments, the state,
Indian tribes, and the federal government, UIGEA was designed to
balance the federal interest in secure financial transactions with
the state power to determine how online gambling should take place
within the states; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature has held numerous hearings and taken
hours of testimony over the past 18 months on the issues and
challenges surrounding intrastate Internet gaming, and those hearings
have been instrumental in identifying problems and solutions that
have narrowed the differences among various stakeholders. Witnesses
have testified that a state regulated Internet gaming framework will
ensure that the games Californians are authorized to play are honest,
that winners are paid when and in amounts due, and that the state
and its citizens, rather than illegal off-shore companies operating
outside the reach of, and contrary to, state and federal laws, will
benefit from economic activity in this state; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature has made a significant amount of progress
on intrastate Internet gaming to the point where, absent unforeseen
circumstances, a sound and objective proposal is fully expected to be
developed for consideration by the Legislature during the 2012
portion of the 2011-12 Regular Session; and
   WHEREAS, Congress currently has pending before it several bills
that would authorize and regulate certain forms of online gaming that
could be a disservice to all Californians and place the state at a
severe regulatory, competitive, and financial disadvantage; now,
therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges the
members of California's congressional delegation to preserve the
right of the State of California to opt out of any federal Internet
gambling system, and retain the right to operate its own intrastate
Internet gambling system as currently permissible under UIGEA, or opt
into any federal Internet gambling system; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to each Senator and Representative from California in the
Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate
distribution.