Brief ⁽¹⁾

HB 2216 contains amendments to the Tribal Gaming Oversight Act in five areas. The specific policy changes are summarized below.

• Current law is amended to clarify that State Gaming Agency (SGA) employees are not subject to the Parimutuel Racing Act prohibitions that apply to employees. Among other things, those prohibitions cover gambling at regulated tracks by Commission employees.
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• The requirement in current law that the SGA use the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) for background checks of potential enforcement officers is repealed. The change would allow the Director to use either the KBI or existing agency staff to conduct these checks.
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• The SGA would be authorized to obtain individual and corporate taxpayer information from the Kansas Department of Revenue in the course of background investigations for prospective SGA employees and tribal gaming license applicants.
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• The bill would allow the SGA to share information it has obtained through the license application process with gambling regulatory agencies in other states.
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• The bill provides that any appropriation or transfer of moneys from the State General Fund to the SGA for expenses incurred for tribal-state gaming compact oversight would be reimbursed in accordance with the Tribal-State Gaming Compacts.
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Background

Introduction of HB 2216 was requested by the Executive Director of the State Gaming Agency, who testified in favor of the bill at the House Committee hearing. There was no testimony presented in opposition to the bill.

According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of the Budget, both the Department of Revenue and the State Gaming Agency have indicated that implementation of HB 2216 can be accomplished without additional personnel or budget authority.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi