Bill Text: NJ S1987 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes maximum fees for licensing and administration of raffles by Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission and certain municipalities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-05-24 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee [S1987 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S1987-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JEFF VAN DREW
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes maximum fees for licensing and administration of raffles by Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission and certain municipalities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing maximum fees for the licensing and administration of raffles and amending P.L.1954, c.5 and P.L.1954, c.7.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 21 of P.L.1954, c.7 (C.5:8-21) is amended to read as follows:
21. The commission is authorized to incur such necessary expenses, and engage and appoint an executive officer and such competent and expert advisors, and clerical and stenographic assistants and investigators, as it may deem necessary to the proper performance of the purpose of this act, and may fix their compensation and that of its secretary, if he is not a member of the commission, within the limits of any sums appropriated or made available to it for such purposes.
Fees shall be established, prescribed or changed by regulation promulgated by the commission to the extent necessary to defray all proper expenses incurred by the commission and any staff employed to administer the Bingo Licensing Law or the Raffles Licensing Law, except that no fee shall be set at a level that will raise funds in excess of the amount necessary for these purposes. All fees payable to the commission and the proceeds of any civil penalties imposed by the commission or any court shall be deposited in the Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission Fund created pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1994, c.63 (C.5:8-21.1).
In addition to the fees to be paid to the commission, licensed organizations shall pay a licensing fee, as established by the commission, to the municipality in which any game or games of chance are conducted. No investigator employed by the commission need be employed in accordance with the provisions of, or shall be in any manner subject to, the provisions of Title 11A, Civil Service, of the New Jersey Statutes.
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a fee that is to be paid to the commission and a licensing fee that is to be paid to the municipality in which a raffle is conducted in accordance with the Raffles Licensing Law, P.L.1954, c.5 (C.5:8-50 et seq.), shall be prescribed in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of P.L.1954, c.5 (C.5:8-53).
(cf: P.L.1994, c.63, s.2)
2. Section 4 of P.L.1954, c.5 (C.5:8-53) is amended to read as follows:
4. The governing body of the municipality shall make an investigation of the qualifications of each applicant and the merits of the application, with due expedition after the filing of the application, and if it shall determine that the applicant is duly qualified to be licensed under this act to hold, operate and conduct games of chance under the provisions of this act and the rules and regulations governing the holding, operation and conduct thereof in the municipality; that the member or members of the applicant designated in the application to hold, operate or conduct the game or games of chance which the license is applied for are bona fide active members of the applicant and persons of good moral character and have never been convicted of crime; that such game or games of chance are to be held, operated and conducted in accordance with the provisions of this act and in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the holding, operation and conduct thereof and that the proceeds thereof are to be disposed of as provided by this act, and if the governing body is satisfied that no commission, salary, compensation, reward or recompense whatever will be paid or given to any person holding, operating or conducting or assisting in the holding, operation or conduct of any such game of chance except as in this act otherwise provided; that any rental to be paid for any equipment to be used in or in connection with the holding, operation and conduct of such game or games of chance conforms to the schedule of authorized rentals prescribed by rules of the Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission and that such lessor or lessors have been approved as to good moral character and freedom from conviction of crime by said commission; that no prize will be offered or given in cash except as authorized by regulation promulgated by the control commission or of greater value than is provided in this act in any game or games of chance held, operated and conducted under the license, it shall issue a license to the applicant for the holding, operation and conduct of the specific kind, or one or more of the specific kinds, of games of chance applied for accordingly, upon the payment of a license fee as prescribed by regulation promulgated by the control commission.
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a fee that is to be paid to the commission and a licensing fee that is to be paid to the municipality in which a raffle is conducted in accordance with the Raffles Licensing Law shall not be more than $20.00 when the total cash and combined retail value of the prize or prizes do not exceed $5,000.00, nor more than $100.00 when the total cash and combined retail value of the prize or prizes exceed $5,000.00.
(cf: P.L.1994, c.63, s.12)
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes by statute the maximum fee that may be imposed upon a licensee for the conduct of a raffle by the Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission for the administration of the Raffles Licensing Law, N.J.S.A.5:8-50 et seq., and that may be imposed as a license fee by the municipality in which the raffle is held. Currently, bona fide veterans, charitable, educational, religious or fraternal organizations, civic and service clubs, senior citizens associations or clubs, volunteer fire companies and first-aid or rescue squads may be licensed by a municipality to conduct raffles when the entire net proceeds are devoted to educational, charitable, patriotic, religious or public-spirited uses, and in the case of senior citizen associations or clubs to the support of such organizations. It is the duty of the commission to supervise the administration of the Raffles Licensing Law and the commission may impose a fee for the services provided. Additionally, the licensed organization must pay a licensing fee, as established by the commission, to the municipality where the raffle is conducted.
Currently, the specific fees payable by a licensee for a raffle license are prescribed by the commission by regulation and are based on the different kinds of raffles that may be conducted. For example, N.J.A.C.13:47-4.9 provides that the commission's administration fee for supervision of the conduct of an off-premises draw raffle awarding merchandise as a prize is $20 for each $1,000 or part thereof of the retail value of the prize(s) to be awarded. For an off-premises cash (50/50) raffle, a $20.00 fee is paid at the filing of the application, with an additional fee of $20.00 imposed for each $1,000 or part thereof in value of the awarded prize in excess of $1,000.
The bill amends current law to provide that the fee payable to the commission and the licensing fee payable to the municipality, respectively, in which a raffle is conducted will not be more than $20.00 when the total cash and total combined retail value of the prize or prizes does not exceed $5,000.00 nor more than $100.00 when the total cash and combined retail value of the prize or prizes exceed $5,000.00.
Currently, N.J.A.C.13:47-4.9 exempts from the payment of a license fee to the commission a senior citizen association or club registered with the commission which will hold, operate or conduct the games solely for its bona fide active members. The bill does not change this exemption.
The bill becomes effective upon the first day of the fourth month following its enactment.
