HBA-ALS H.B. 1802 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1802
By: Eiland
Licensing & Administrative Procedures
4/21/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a cruise ship with gambling equipment on board must take
certain steps to disable its gambling devices before entering Texas'
territorial waters, which includes covering the devices, disabling the
devices, and barring access to the rooms where the devices are located.
Barring access to rooms that contain the devices can create safety hazards
for some vessels. H.B. 1802 deletes the provision requiring that the
locations within the vessel where the devices are located must be locked
when entering waters of this state. This providing that such devices need
only be disabled.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
 
SECTION 1.  Amends Section 47.09(b), Penal Code, as follows:

(b) Deletes text providing that it is an affirmative defense to prosecution
under Section 47.04 (Keeping a Gambling Place), 47.06(a) (Possession of
Gambling Device, Equipment, or Paraphernalia), and 47.06(c), if the portion
of the vessel in which the gambling device, equipment, or paraphernalia
aboard an ocean-going vessel entering the territorial waters of this state
is at all times, while the vessel is in the territorial waters of this
state, locked, physically secured, or covered in a manner than prevents its
accessibility, use, or viewing and that no person other than the master or
crew of the vessel is permitted to enter, view, or uncover the device,
equipment, or paraphernalia. The effect of the deletions in the text is to
provide that it is an affirmative defense to prosecution under Section
47.04, 47.06(a), and 47.06(c), that the gambling device, equipment, or
paraphernalia aboard an ocean-going vessel entering the territorial waters
of this state, if at all times while the vessel is in the territorial
waters of this state all devices, equipment, or paraphernalia are disabled
from a remote and secured area in a way that allows only the master or crew
to remove any disabling device and at all times while the vessel is in the
territorial waters of this state any disabling device is not removed,
except for the purposes of inspecting or repairing the device, equipment,
or paraphernalia. 

SECTION 2.Effective date: September 1, 1999.
  Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.Emergency clause.