H. B. 4544
(By Delegate Lane)
[Introduced February 14, 2008; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to repeal §29-22B-1108 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended; and to amend and reenact §29-22B-1102 and
§29-22B-1107 of said code, all relating to the eradication of
limited video lottery after the thirtieth day of June, two
thousand eleven.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §29-22B-1108 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be repealed; and that §29-22B-1102 and §29-22B-1107 of
said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 22B. LIMITED VIDEO LOTTERY.
§29-22B-1102. Permits to operate video lottery terminals
;
expiration date; annual fee to be paid by May
1st.
(a) The Lottery Commission shall establish forms for an
operator's permit to own or lease and operate video lottery terminals and a permit for a limited video lottery retailer that
allows the holder to own or lease video lottery terminals from a
licensed manufacturer. The number of video lottery terminals that
a person may own or lease or have on a limited video lottery
retailer premises shall be stated in the license or permit issued
by the commission as provided in this article.
(b) Permits shall be issued by the commission for a period of
ten years, except that all permits expire on the thirtieth day of
June, two thousand eleven, unless they are sooner surrendered,
modified, suspended or revoked as provided in this article:
Provided, That the annual fee imposed by this part for each video
lottery terminal authorized in the permit shall be paid on or
before the first day of May each year.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision in this article to the
contrary, no permits may be issued by the commission pursuant to
the provisions of this article to permit a person to own or lease
a limited video lottery terminal after the thirtieth day of June,
two thousand eleven.
§29-22B-1107. Bidding process.
(a) Bids for issuance of permits shall be obtained by public
notice published as a Class II-0 legal advertisement in compliance
with the provisions of article 59-3-1, et seq. of this code;
(b) The second publication of the notice shall appear more
than sixty days next preceding the final day for submitting bids;
(c) Each bid shall indicate the number of video lottery
terminals for which the permit is sought. The bid shall state the
amount bid for each video lottery terminal for which the permit is
sought;
(d) No bid may be altered or withdrawn after the appointed
hour for the opening of the bids;
(e) Subject to the provisions of subsection (f) of this
section, permits shall be awarded to the persons submitting the
highest per terminal bids, except that no person may be authorized
to directly or indirectly own or lease more than seven and one-half
percent of the total number of video lottery terminals authorized
in section 22B-1101 of this article. If a high bidder already
holds a permit issued under this section, the bid shall be awarded
to that bidder, but only to the extent the total number of video
lottery terminals the operator or limited video lottery retailer is
authorized to directly or indirectly own or lease does not exceed
seven and one-half percent of the number of video lottery terminals
authorized for the entire state specified in section 22B-1101 of
this article;
(f) No bid shall be considered unless the bond required by
section 22B-1109 of this article accompanies the bid or was
submitted to the State Treasurer before the time designated for
opening of the bid;
(g) No bid shall be considered unless the amount of the bid equals or exceeds the minimum bid amount for a video lottery
terminal specified by the commission;
(h) All bids for a permit may be rejected by the commission if
the commission determines that the bids are inadequate. In this
event, the director shall begin anew the bidding process for the
permits;
(i) Whenever there are two or more bids of the same dollar
amount and the number of authorizations for which the bids were
submitted exceeds the number of authorizations still available to
fill the bids, the director shall award the permit based upon the
drawing of lots among the bidders;
(j) A person submitting a bid under this article shall deliver
one copy to the director of purchasing, West Virginia Department of
Administration and deliver a second or duplicate copy to the State
Auditor. Both copies must be received at the respective offices
prior to the specified date and time of the bid opening;
(k) The failure to deliver or the nonreceipt of these bid
forms at either of these offices prior to the appointed date and
hour are grounds for rejection of the bids. In the event of any
deviation between the copies submitted to the Purchasing Division
and the State Auditor, the bids as to which there is a deviation
shall be rejected;
(l) After the award of a permit, the director of the lottery
shall indicate upon the successful bid that it was the successful bid and the number of video lottery terminals for which a permit is
awarded to the bidder. This shall be the number of video lottery
terminals for which the bid was submitted, or the remaining number
of video lottery terminals to be awarded when the number of video
lottery terminals remaining is less than the number of terminals
for which the bid was submitted. Thereafter, a copy of the bid and
the bidder's application for an operator's license or a limited
video lottery retailer license shall be maintained as a public
record at the commissions' offices and shall be open to public
inspection during its normal business hours. These documents may
not be destroyed without the prior written consent of the
Legislative Auditor;
(m) Prior to issuing a permit to a successful bidder, the bid
price for the number of video lottery terminals authorized in the
permit plus the amount of the operator's annual license fee or the
limited video lottery retailer's annual license fee for the first
license year, as specified in section 518 of this article, shall be
paid to the commission by money order, certified check or cashier's
check. If the operator's annual license fee or the limited video
lottery retailer's license fee was paid for the current license
year before the due date of the bid amount, the license fee shall
not be collected a second time for the same license year. The
amount paid shall be deposited into the fund established in section
eighteen-a, article twenty-two of this chapter;
(n) All permits shall be signed by the director of the lottery
in the name of the state;
(o) If the successful bidder fails to pay to the commission
the bid price and the operator's annual license fee or the limited
video lottery retailer's license fee for the first license year, at
the time specified by the commission, the bond provided for in
section 1109 of this article shall be forfeited and the bidder
shall not be issued the permit;
(p) In the event of a default, as provided in subsection (h)
of this section, the commission shall then issue the permit to the
next highest bidder for video lottery terminals, or reject all
remaining bids and start anew the bidding procedure for the
remaining number of video lottery terminals;
(q) If after a permit is awarded, an operator or limited video
lottery retailer surrenders the permit, in whole or in part, or the
permit is revoked or canceled by operation of law, the commission
may seek bids for video lottery terminals for which authorization
was surrendered or revoked, subject to the limitations and
requirements of this article; and
(r) During the fiscal year of the state ending the thirtieth
day of June, 2011, the commission shall seek bids for the ten-year
period beginning the first day of July, 2011, and ending the
thirtieth day of June, 2021.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eradicate limited video
lottery after the thirtieth day of June, two thousand eleven.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.