Bingo Advisory Committee Minutes Bingo Advisory Committee Meeting May 9, 2001 Austin, Texas I. THE BINGO ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIR WILL CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER. William Neinast called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. Committee members present: William Neinast, Suzanne Taylor, Saleem Tawil, Robert Rinehart, Lexford Speed, Louie George, and Vir-ginia Brackett. Committee members absent: David Castillo and Fabian Hoffner. II. CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE ACTION, INCLUDING APPROVAL, OF THE MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 14, 2001, BINGO ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING. Minutes approved as read. III. CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE ACTION, INCLUDING APPROVAL, OF THE MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 10, 2000, BINGO ADVISORY COMMITTEE SUBCOM-MITTEE MEETING. MOTION by Louie G. to approve minutes as read, seconded by Robert R. VOTE: 6 approve 0 oppose IV. REPORT, POSSIBLE DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION ON THE BINGO ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIR'S FEBRUARY 15, 2001, REPORT TO THE TEXAS LOTTERY COMMISSION RELATING TO THE ISSUES DISCUSSED AT THE FEBRUARY 14, 2001 BINGO ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING. William N. reviewed the memo included in the booklet provided to committee members that he pre-sented to the Commissioners at the February 15th meeting. V. REPORT, POSSIBLE DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION, ON THE 77TH LEGISLATURE'S ACTIVITIES RELATING TO BINGO. Nelda Trevino (Director, Governmental Affairs) reviewed the tracking report, dated May 3, 2001, included in the BAC notebooks with the committee. She told committee members that HB 3361 was filed in March, there has been no committee hearing and no action taken so it is dead. HB 2578 has been on the House calendar since last week and was taken up yesterday evening and passed to the third reading. All bills have to have passed and been reported out of committee by the Senate no later than Friday the 11th. HB 2119 dealing with progressive bingo was voted out of the House yes-terday on the third reading with a vote of 92 to 52. HB 3234 dealing with the clean-up language, eliminating the 40% rule on electronics, and eliminating the 5% prize fees on prizes of less than $5.00 was heard by the House Licensing committee and voted favorably out of committee. HB 3360 extending time and location to sell pull-tabs was filed but has not received a committee hearing. HB 1720 eliminating the 40% limit on card minding devices has been voted out of the Senate and re-ferred to the House Licensing Committee. House bills must be heard for the second reading no later than May 10th. Progressive bingo HB 2119 and 2578 have both had a second reading. Nelda also reviewed a handout (Handout #1) entitled "77th Legislature, Regular Session Deadlines for Action Under House and Senate Rules" with the committee. Bill N. asked if there was anything the com-mittee or the Texas Lottery Commission could do to ensure a favorable recommendation on bills. Nelda responded that it was too late to do anything this session but there would be a Sunset Review in which issues that were considered but not acted on are laid out and reviewed. Billy A. told the committee that the Sunset Committee contacts individuals in the industry for public comment. Also, Nelda and her staff contact key legislatures to update them on what is going on with bingo. Bill N. introduced Commissioner Tom Clowe to the committee and requested those present to address any topic on the agenda. If the topic they were interested in did not appear on this agenda, Bill asked that they request it to be added to the next meeting agenda. VI. STATUS REPORT, POSSIBLE DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION ON THE SECURITY DI-VISION'S ACTIVITES. Mike Pitcock (Commander Security Division) reviewed the statistics from December 1, 2000 through February 28, 2001 that were provided to committee members in their booklets. He told BAC members Region 1 and 2 have the most complaints because they have the largest number of bingo halls. He noted that forty-five complaints were received and forty-four complaints were closed. There are no hot spots or anything out of the normal. Billy A. told BAC members that when an or-ganization applies for a bingo license, the TLC has extensive interview with the applicants. Then, after they have been running bingo games for three to six months, the TLC conducts a books and re-cords inspection with them. VII. REPORT ON THE POSSIBILITY OF TESTING AND EXEMPTING PERSONS FROM ATTENDING THE BINGO OPERATOR TRAINING PROGRAM. Billy A. told BAC members that he would prefer to pass on this issue because of possible upcoming changes in laws and rules. This discussion would be more appropriate at a time when there are not so many changes. We are currently in phase four or five of the training and either 84 or 89% of the organizations have had their operator attend a training class. Classes are scheduled throughout the next four months. Virginia B. asked how often the training was required. Billy responded that the Operator training must be completed every two years. VIII. CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION ON CHANGING THE DATE QUARERLY REPORTS ARE DUE. Virginia B. told BAC members that some bookkeepers had approached her about extending the time that Quarterly Reports are due from the 15th of the month following the end of the quarter to a later date. Some problems currently being experienced are getting all the report material together, quar-terly and payroll tax deposits are due the same day, bank statements are not always received prior to the 15th, and report preparation therefore can cost overtime charges due to the delay in gathering the necessary items for the report. Robert R. told the committee that he felt extending the deadline was an excellent idea since bank statements and holidays can cause problems with getting the reports in on the 15th. Suzanne T. said that even a five-day extension would be a big help. Billy A. told the committee that this could require legislative changes. Louis G. requested that a sub-committee be appointed to give the full committee a report with recommendations for action. Virginia B., Louie G, Robert, R. Suzanne T. and Bill N. will comprise the committee (Bill will only vote in case of a tie). The sub-committee is to have a written report for the July 11th meeting. Robert R. suggested that the sub-committee meet after the BAC meeting today. IX. CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHARITABLE BINGO IN TEXAS. Billy A. told BAC members the agenda should have read "consideration and discussion" only, no action will be taken today. Billy said he has formed a task force here at the commission to develop a master plan. The printout contained in the member's notebooks is talking points that have been dis-cussed. 2002 is the 20th anniversary of bingo in Texas; his staff is creating a comprehensive over-view of the last twenty years of bingo in Texas. Over nine billion has been spent on bingo and over six billion has been given in prizes. The bingo staff is considering sending the overview to licen-sees, legislators, and other interested parties. The TLC will provide information to organizations that can be used in individual localities for local media and press releases. The TLC sends out quarterly allocations to local jurisdictions. This project will be included in the next issue of the Bingo Bulletin and suggestions will be requested. Billy told members that the TLC can provide a shell press release to organizations and will be considering public service announcements that would be put together by the communications department. Saleem T. said that if all the organizations would work together on this they can get into the pipeline and on television. IX. REPORT, POSSIBLE DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION ON THE USE OF DEBIT CARDS IN BINGO HALLS. Suzanne T. asked that this item be passed over at this time. Stephen Fenoglio was going to find out what documentation is given to customers and was going to make information available to the com-mittee but he is not present today. XI. CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION ON EXTENDING THE LENGTH OF TIME A BINGO OCCASION CAN BE CONDUCTED AND THE NUMBER OF BINGO OCCASSIONS THAT CAN BE CONDUCTED DURING A WEEK. Saleem T. told the BAC that these issues need grass-root support since they would require a legisla-tive change. He said that smaller and middle size charities are dwindling in the state. Robert R. and Saleem T. both said they felt this would help by allowing organizations the opportunity to generate more income. Robert said that it would help a lot of halls to have more and longer sessions and more temporary licenses would also help. Saleem said the majority of organizations would prefer extended playing times. MOTION by Saleem T. for the BAC to recommend to Commissioners to extend the hours and allow for additional sessions, seconded by Louie G. VOTE: 6 approve 0 oppose PUBLIC COMMENT: Tom Clowe told committee members that the committee needs to have additional information, such as surveys, before going to the Commissioners. It is a big task to change legislation, the committee needs to know who is for and against this change, then there will be greater opportunity to achieve success. Billy A. suggested that the previously appointed sub-committee develop a survey with the bingo staff to go to all licensees. Items that could be included on the survey would be extending hours, not lim-iting hours, expanding the days, and increasing the number of temporary licenses for each organiza-tion. Billy said the TLC has received very little response from surveys placed in the Bingo Bulletin; an actual survey would receive more response. The staff has done both written and telephone surveys in the past. The report would also include a review of what other states do. Bill N. told the commit-tee that until the additional work has been done on this item, he will not include it in his report to the Commissioners. XII. CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION ON THE USE OF GIFT CERTIFICATES OR BINGO BUCKS IN CONNECTION WITH THE CONDUCT OF BINGO. Suzanne T. asked if the staff has completed the proposed rule for the use of gift certificates and if not, if there was a time frame in which it would be completed. Billy A. said the proposed rule had not been completed and there is no time frame. Suzanne asked that since there was no rule, if or-ganizations that currently use gift certificates would be in violation of any rules. Billy responded that individual locations that utilize gift certificates will be looked at and determined on a on a case-by-case basis to see if there are any violations. XIII. CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON FUTURE BINGO ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING DATES AND/OR ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR FUTURE MEETINGS. Saleem T. told the committee the committee should review all the bingo rules. Bill N. said that should be an ongoing process for all the members, if the members find any needing change, they should be brought to the attention of the committee. Bill asked each member to read and review the rules for the next meeting. Billy A. said the staff is going to review the existing and potential rules and bring recommendations before the committee. PUBLIC COMMENT: Tom Clowe told BAC members that the BAC should do a self-evaluation in which the BAC looks for ways to be more effective. He told the Bad the bingo division is the best it has ever been at this time. A closer communication, so all three Commissioners know what the committee is doing, would be helpful. It would also help to have all three Commissioners present at a BAC meeting in which a bingo history is presented. The next BAC meeting will be held Wednesday, July 11, 2001 the following meeting will be in Oc-tober. Items for the next agenda will include: 1. Gift certificates/bingo bucks 2. Self review evaluation 3. BAC meetings outside of Austin 4. Separate agency to oversee bingo 5. Presentation on bingo training programs 6. Lower license costs 7. Debit cards 8. Increasing the length of time and number of occasions 9. Changing the due date of quarterly reports 10. Expanded definition for pull tabs XIV. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 11:50 p.m. by William N. Minutes as prepared by Suzanne Taylor, BAC Recorder.