By:  D. Jones                                         H.B. No. 1352
       73R5514 LJD-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of the Texas Racing Commission regarding
    1-3  racetrack licenses.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 6.12, Texas Racing Act (Article 179e,
    1-6  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 6.12.  Not transferable.   (a)  A racetrack license is
    1-8  not transferable unless the commission authorizes the association,
    1-9  for the sole purpose of obtaining financing, to:
   1-10              (1)  pledge the license as security;
   1-11              (2)  transfer a beneficial interest in the license to a
   1-12  governmental entity; or
   1-13              (3)  merge with another entity.
   1-14        (b)  In the event of the death of any person whose death
   1-15  causes a violation of the licensing provisions of this Act or of a
   1-16  default on financing by an association, the commission may issue a
   1-17  temporary license for a period not to exceed one year under rules
   1-18  adopted by the commission.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Section 6.14, Texas Racing Act (Article 179e,
   1-20  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (d)
   1-21  to read as follows:
   1-22        (d)  On request of an association, the commission shall amend
   1-23  a racetrack license to change the location of the racetrack if the
   1-24  commission finds that:
    2-1              (1)  the conduct of race meetings at the proposed track
    2-2  at the new location will be in the public interest;
    2-3              (2)  there was not a competing applicant for the
    2-4  original license; and
    2-5              (3)  the association's desire to change location is not
    2-6  the result of a subterfuge in the original licensing proceeding.
    2-7        SECTION 3.  Section 6.19(e), Texas Racing Act (Article 179e,
    2-8  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    2-9        (e)  A license reinstated under this section expires on the
   2-10  second anniversary of the date that it is reinstated.  The
   2-11  commission shall convert a reinstated license to a perpetual
   2-12  license if the commission finds that, on the date the reinstated
   2-13  license will expire, construction or renovation of the racetrack
   2-14  proposed by the association has been financed.
   2-15        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-20  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-21  passage, and it is so enacted.