By:  Goodman                                           H.B. No. 572
       73R3084 LJD-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to city and county fees on racetrack admissions.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 6.17(a), Texas Racing Act (Article 179e,
    1-5  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (a)  A commissioners court may collect a fee not to exceed 15
    1-7  cents as an admission fee to a licensed racetrack located within
    1-8  the county.  If the racetrack is located within an incorporated
    1-9  city or town, the governing body of the city or town may collect a
   1-10  fee not to exceed 15 cents as an admission fee to a licensed
   1-11  racetrack located within the city or town.  If the racetrack is not
   1-12  located within an incorporated city or town, the court may collect
   1-13  an additional fee not to exceed 15 cents as an admission fee to a
   1-14  licensed racetrack located within the county for allocation among
   1-15  the incorporated cities or towns in the county.  If the racetrack
   1-16  is not located in an incorporated city or town, the court shall
   1-17  collect the additional fee if requested to do so by the governing
   1-18  bodies of a majority of the incorporated cities and towns in the
   1-19  county.  Allocation of the fees shall be based on the population
   1-20  within the county of the cities or towns.  A commissioners court,
   1-21  city, or town may not impose an admission fee on a person younger
   1-22  than 21 years of age.
   1-23        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-1  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-2  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-3  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-4  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-5  passage, and it is so enacted.