BILL NUMBER: SB 263 CHAPTERED 07/28/99 CHAPTER 219 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 28, 1999 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 28, 1999 PASSED THE SENATE JULY 15, 1999 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JULY 12, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 29, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 16, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Senator Perata FEBRUARY 1, 1999 An act to amend Section 19596.2 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to horse racing, and making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 263, Perata. Horse racing: imported races. (1) Existing law provides that, during the calendar period of its racing meeting, a thoroughbred racing association or fair may distribute the audiovisual signal and accept wagers on out-of-state and out-of-country thoroughbred races without regard to the amount of purses and without the consent of the horsemen's organization, provided that the total number of races imported statewide in any given year does not exceed the total number of races imported in 1998. Existing law also provides that no more than 20 races may be imported on any given day when live thoroughbred racing is being conducted, except in the case of races commencing after specified times that are imported with the permission of specified associations or fairs that are then conducting live racing. This bill would increase that 20 race limitation to no more than 23 imported races, but would except from that limitation races commencing after specified times that are imported with the permission of specified associations; races imported that are part of the race card of certain prominent races; races imported into the northern zone when there is no live racing being conducted in that zone; and races imported into the combined central and southern zones when there is no live racing being conducted in those combined zones. (2) Under existing law, all revenues distributed to the state as license fees from horse racing are required to be deposited in the Fair and Exposition Fund and are continuously appropriated to the Department of Food and Agriculture for various regulatory and general governmental purposes. This bill would authorize additional wagering, and would increase the amount of continuously appropriated license fees, thereby making an appropriation. (3) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Appropriation: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 19596.2 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 19596.2. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a thoroughbred racing association or fair may distribute the audiovisual signal and accept wagers on the results of out-of-state and out-of-country thoroughbred races during the calendar period the association or fair is conducting a race meeting, including days on which there is no live racing being conducted by the association or fair, without the consent of the organization that represents horsemen participating in the race meeting and without regard to the amount of purses, provided that the total number of thoroughbred races on which wagers are accepted statewide in any given year does not exceed the total number of thoroughbred races on which wagers were accepted in 1998. Further, the total number of thoroughbred races imported by associations or fairs on a statewide basis under this section shall not exceed 23 per day on days when live thoroughbred or fair racing is being conducted in the state. The limitation of 23 imported races per day does not apply to any of the following: (1) Races imported for wagering purposes pursuant to subdivision (d). (2) Races imported that are part of the race card of the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks, the Preakness Stakes, the Belmont Stakes, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Breeders' Cup, or the Haskell Invitational. (3) Races imported into the northern zone when there is no live thoroughbred or fair racing being conducted in the northern zone. (4) Races imported into the combined central and southern zones when there is no live thoroughbred or fair racing being conducted in the combined central and southern zones. (b) Any thoroughbred racing association described in subdivision (a) may execute an agreement with any other association that conducts thoroughbred races in the southern zone to allow the other association to distribute the signal and accept wagers on out-of-country thoroughbred races. (c) Any thoroughbred association or fair accepting wagers pursuant to subdivision (a) shall conduct the wagering in accordance with the applicable provisions of Sections 19601, 19616, 19616.1, and 19616.2. (d) No thoroughbred association or fair shall accept wagers pursuant to this section on out-of-state or out-of-country races commencing after 7:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, without the consent of the harness or quarter horse racing association that is then conducting a live racing meeting in Orange or Sacramento Counties, and no quarter horse or harness racing association shall accept wagers on out-of-state or out-of-country quarter horse or harness races commencing before 5:30 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, without the consent of any thoroughbred association or fair that is then conducting a live racing meeting in this state. SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order for racing associations and fairs to generate additional purses and state license fee revenues from wagering on imported stakes racing programs that will be conducted during the remainder of calendar year 1999, it is necessary that this act take immediate effect.