SRC-PNG H.B. 1802 76(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   H.B. 1802
76R6356 GJH-FBy: Eiland (Jackson)
Criminal Justice
5/13/1999
Engrossed


DIGEST 

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 provides that gambling devices aboard a cruise
ship should be disabled before entering Texas' territorial waters. 

PURPOSE

As proposed, H.B. 1802 provides that gambling devices aboard a cruise ship
should be disabled  before entering Texas' territorial waters. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 SECTION 1. Amends Section 47.09(b), Penal Code, to delete 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 that 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.