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.
AB 2792 (Committee on Governmental Organization)
continuedPage 2
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.
AB 2792 (Committee on Governmental Organization)
continuedPage 3
OPPOSE: None on file as of June 25, 2010.
FISCAL COMMITTEE: Senate Appropriations Committee
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