AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
In 2009, the Veterans Cash scratch-off game was created as the primary source of revenue for the Texas Veterans Commission's (TVC) Fund for Veterans Assistance (FVA). To date, nearly $20.5 million in grants has been awarded from the FVA. This money is used to provide direct services to Texas veterans and their families for a broad range of needs that include housing assistance, counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, and family and child services. Among the $2 scratch-off lottery tickets available, Veterans Cash is unique because it is the only lottery game in Texas that directly benefits veterans.
C.S.S.B. 871 requires that the Texas Lottery Commission spend an equal amount of its marketing and advertising budget for the promotion of the Veterans Cash scratch-off game as it does for any other instant-ticket lottery game under its operation.
C.S.S.B. 871 amends current law relating to the marketing and advertising of the veterans' assistance lottery game.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 466.027(c), Government Code, to require that the amount the Texas Lottery Commission (commission) spends on its marketing and advertising budget to promote the game operated under this section be equivalent to the amount the commission spends to promote any other instant-ticket lottery game operated under this chapter (State Lottery).
SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2013.