The Honorable Ken Paxton
AGO RQ-199-KP
No. RQ-0199-KP
Texas Attorney General Opinion
December 7, 2017
The
Honorable Ken Paxton
Office
of the Attorney General
P.O.
Box 12548
Austin,
Texas 78711 -2548
Dear
General Paxton:
Pursuant
to Texas Government Code section 402.042, Texas Lottery
Commission (Commission) Chairman Winston Krause respectfully
requests an official opinion on whether the rights that a
"grandfathered" bingo commercial lessor
(Grandfathered Lessor) holds under a commercial lessor
license that was in effect on June 10, 1989, can be
transferred to another entity pursuant to the license
transfer provisions of the Bingo Enabling Act (BEA).[1] The
undersigned Commissioners voted in open meeting on December
7, 2017, to request an opinion concerning the five questions
set forth below which affect the public interest and the
official duties of the Commission.
Background.
The
concept of Grandfathered Lessors originated with H.B. 2260,
enacted during the regular session of the 71st
Texas Legislature in 1989. At that time, the Texas
Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA) administered the
charitable bingo regulatory program. H.B. 2260 transferred
the bingo program to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
(TABC), effective January 1, 1990; and, among other things,
amended the BEA to provide that newly-licensed commercial
lessors may directly lease to only one bingo conductor
organization. According to the CPA, H.B. 2260 mandated
"An end to licensing new for-profit commercial
lessors." See Attachment A, Notice to Bingo
Licensees, issued by the CPA in June 1989 (hereinafter,
"CPA Notice"), at page 1. "As a result of the
Bingo Reform Bill no new for-profit commercial lessors will
be licensed after June 10,1989." CPA Notice at 2.
However, the CPA noted, "Grandfathered lessors licensed
on or before June 10, 1989, who keep their licenses in
continuous effect, may ... Keep the same number of
organizations at their location that were licensed to conduct
bingo there on June 10, 1989." CPA Notice at page
2.[2]
In
1993, in the legislation that transferred the bingo program
from the TABC to the Commission, the Legislature further
amended the BEA commercial lessor provisions to repeal the
language that prevented Grandfathered Lessors from leasing to
more organizations than they were leasing to on June 10,
1989.[3] In 1995, the Legislature again
amended the BEA, this time to provide that "No more than
seven licensed authorized organizations may conduct bingo at
any bingo premises."[4] The current version of this
provision appears at BEA § 2001.402(c)...
