BILL ANALYSIS
Bill No: SB
126
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Roderick D. Wright, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
Staff Analysis
SB 126 Author: Cedillo
As Proposed to be Amended in Committee: April 14, 2009
Hearing Date: April 14, 2009
Consultant: Chris Lindstrom
SUBJECT
Bingo: remote caller bingo.
DESCRIPTION
SB 126, an urgency measure, makes several technical changes
to the remote caller bingo law enacted last year.
Specifically, the bill:
1)Deletes reference to "school districts" in the provisions
specifying the organizations that may conduct bingo games
and instead authorizes "charitable organizations
affiliated with a school district" to conduct bingo
games.
2)Deletes reference to organizations "registered" to
conduct those bingo games.
3)Makes other technical and conforming changes, including
the proposed author's amendments found on pages 4 and 5
of the analysis.
4)Becomes effective immediately upon enactment.
EXISTING LAW
Article IV, Section 19(c) of the Constitution of the State
of California states that, "the Legislature by statute may
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authorize cities and counties to provide for bingo games,
but only for charitable purposes."
Existing law permits cities, counties, and cities and
counties to allow remote caller bingo games to be conducted
by specified tax exempt and nonprofit organizations for
charitable purposes, subject to provisions of law which, if
violated, constitute a crime.
Existing law authorizes specified tax exempt and nonprofit
organizations that have been incorporated or in existence
for three years or more and that are not organized for the
primary purpose of operating bingo to conduct remote caller
bingo games no more than one day per week.
Existing law defines a "remote caller bingo game" as a game
of bingo in which numbers or symbols on randomly drawn
plastic balls are announced by a person present at the site
at which the live game is conducted, and audio and video
technology links in-state facilities for the purpose of
transmitting the remote calling of a live bingo game from a
single location to multiple locations.
Existing law requires remote caller bingo games to be
played using traditional paper or other tangible bingo
cards and daubers, and shall not be played by using
electronic devises, except card-minding devices.
Existing law requires an authorized organization to provide
the California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC) with at
least 30 days advanced written notice of its intent to
conduct remote caller bingo games, and submit specified
information about the organizations, locations, vendors,
and licensees involved in the operation of the games, as
well as, a copy of the local ordinance for the counties in
which the games will be played.
Existing law allows affiliated organizations to cosponsor
remote caller bingo games or 10 unaffiliated organizations
to cosponsor remote caller bingo games provided the games
do not occur at more than 10 locations. Cosponsoring
organizations must enter into and provide CGCC with a copy
of written agreements setting forth specified information,
such as, how the expenses and proceeds of the game are to
be allocated among the participating organizations, the
bank accounts into which all receipts are to be deposited
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and from which all prizes are to be paid, and how game
records are to be maintained and subjected to annual audit.
Existing law limits an organization's overhead costs, as
defined, to not exceed 20 percent of gross sales, except
for one-time, nonrecurring capital acquisitions.
Existing law limits the value of prizes awarded during the
conduct of any remote caller bingo game to not exceed 37
percent of the gross receipts for that game.
Existing law requires CGCC to regulate remote caller bingo,
including, but not limited to, licensure and operations.
The CGCC shall license and register any person that
conducts remote caller bingo or any person that provides
supplies or equipment designed for the play of remote
caller bingo.
Existing law requires all equipment used for remote caller
bingo to be approved in advance by CGCC.
Current law directs the CGCC to adopt appropriate emergency
regulations as soon as possible, but no later than May 1,
2009, in order to avoid delays in implementing regulations
governing remote caller bingo and to avoid disruption of
fundraising efforts by nonprofit organizations.
BACKGROUND
Purpose of the bill. According to the author's office, SB
126 was introduced to correct technical, non-controversial
errors, clarifications, and/or omissions in the statute
created by SB 1369 (Cedillo) of 2008.
Remote caller bingo. SB 1369 (Chapter 748, Statutes of
2008) created a new section of law authorizing local
governments to adopt ordinances for the play of remote
caller bingo. Remote caller bingo is based on the
traditional game of bingo. The major differences between
remote caller bingo and traditional bingo is that remote
caller bingo allows for the transmission of an audio and
video signal of a live bingo game from one organization (a
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Rotary Club, for example) located in a local jurisdiction
that has adopted a remote caller bingo ordinance to sister
or affiliated organizations (other Rotary Clubs) located in
other local jurisdictions across the state that have also
adopted remote caller bingo ordinances.
Technical and clarifying changes. SB 126 makes a number of
technical and clarifying changes to the remote caller bingo
law enacted last year. As CGCC began to develop the
regulations to govern remote caller bingo, a number of
minor drafting errors were discovered in the law. SB 126
is intended to correct those drafting errors to alleviate
ambiguity in the law as CGCC moves forward to adopt
regulations prior to May 1, 2009. The most significant
technical changes are as follows:
1)Charitable organizations affiliated with a school
district . The Penal Code authorizes remote caller bingo
to be operated, in part, by "charitable organizations
affiliated with a school district" and it also authorizes
traditional bingo to be conducted, in part, by "school
districts". Both of the changes to the Penal Code were
enacted by SB 1369 of 2008. When the initial language
relating to bingo was amended into SB 1369, the language
would have allowed school districts to operate remote
caller and traditional bingo games. This was not the
intent of the author. The author wanted to allow
"charitable organizations affiliated with a school
district" to operate remote caller or traditional bingo
games, not the school districts themselves. Subsequent
amendments, however, did not make the corresponding
changes to both references in the bill. SB 126 would
make the correction as intended by the author to allow
charitable organizations affiliated with a school
district to operate remote caller or traditional bingo
games.
2)Organizations registered to conduct remote caller bingo .
There is ambiguity with regard to the term "registered"
as set forth in the remote caller bingo law. The term
"registered" is a vestige of an initial draft of the
bingo language amended into the enabling legislation, SB
1369 of 2008. The initial draft bingo language was
modeled after another law that set up a registration
program for nonprofits that wanted to conduct poker night
fundraisers. Later iterations of SB 1369 established
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more rigorous standards for remote caller bingo - a
licensing program instead of a registration program. The
licensing program requires specified persons involved in
the operation of remote caller bingo games to undergo
background investigations to determine if they are
suitable for licensure. In addition, CGCC's draft
emergency regulations require the applicant charitable
organizations to submit specified documents demonstrating
that they are a qualified tax exempt or nonprofit
organization that has been in existence for three or more
years and are not organized for the primary purpose of
operating charitable bingo.
Status of Emergency Regulations. On April 7, 2009, CGCC
sent out notice of intent to adopt emergency regulations
that will establish the processes for: (1) recognizing
organizations authorized to conduct remote caller bingo,
(2) issuing interim remote caller bingo licenses and work
permits for individuals engaged in the conduct of remote
caller bingo, and, (3) issuing interim licenses for
manufacturers and distributors of remote caller bingo
equipment, supplies and bingo card-minding devices.
CGCC expects that the emergency regulations will be filed
with the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) by April 14,
2009. CGCC anticipates that the proposed emergency
regulations may become effective as early as April 24,
2009, upon approval by OAL.
Author's amendments . The author would like to have
author's amendments adopted that would make the following
technical and clarifying amendments.
1)On page 4, lines 26 - 28, strike "provided that the
operation of bingo games may not be a primary purpose for
which the organization is organized". This language is
duplicative of language on page 3, lines 39-40, that
reads, "(5) The operation of bingo may not be the
primary purpose for which the organization is organized."
2)On page 5, line 26, replace "counties" with "city,
county, or city and county" to ensure that the proper
ordinance is provided to CGCC and posted on CGCC's Web
site. The new language would read:
"(H) A copy of the local ordinance for the counties city,
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county, or city and county in which the game will be
played. The commission shall post the ordinance on its
Internet Web site"
3)On page 8, line 8, strike "and registration". The remote
caller bingo law provides for a licensing program, not a
registration program. No persons are registered pursuant
to this law.
4)On page 8, line 11, strike "owners". This is a vestige
of the Gambling Control Act, which was used as the model
for establishing the licensing and audit programs for
remote caller bingo. There are no owners under the
remote caller bingo law.
5)On page 8, line 22, strike "registration or". The remote
caller bingo law provides for a licensing program, not a
registration program. No persons are registered pursuant
to this law.
6)On page 17, line 25, strike "or registration". The
remote caller bingo law provides for a licensing program,
not a registration program. No persons are registered
pursuant to this law.
7)Global changes. In a number of instances, the word game
should be made plural to reflect that the charitable
organizations are operating more than one remote caller
bingo game.
PRIOR/RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 1036 (Niello), 2009-2010 Legislative Session . W ould
allow a maximum of 100 unaffiliated organizations to enter
into an agreement to cosponsor a remote caller bingo game
if the game does not have more than 100 locations. Pending
in Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.
SB 1369 (Cedillo), Chapter 748, Statutes of 2008 .
Authorizes nonprofit organizations, mobile-home park
associations, senior citizens organizations, and
organizations affiliated with school districts that have
been incorporated or in existence for three years or more
to conduct "remote caller bingo".
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Page 7
SB 1328 (Cedillo), 2007-2008 Legislative Session . Would
have permitted local jurisdictions to adopt an ordinance to
allow specified not for profit organizations to play remote
caller bingo, as defined. Never heard in the Senate.
SUPPORT: As of April 10, 2009:
California Association of Nonprofits
OPPOSE: None on file as of April 10, 2009
FISCAL COMMITTEE: Senate Appropriations Committee
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