Existing law, the Gambling Control Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of various legalized gambling activities and establishments by the California Gambling Control Commission and the investigation and enforcement of those activities and establishments by the Department of Justice. Existing law establishes the Gambling Control Fund within the State Treasury for the receipt and deposit of fees and revenue collected pursuant to the act. Under the act, specified licensing fees are required to be paid for the issuance or renewal of a state gambling license, as specified. Existing law requires that all fees and revenue collected pursuant to the act, except all fines and penalties, be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure exclusively for the support of the department and the commission in carrying out their duties and responsibilities under the act.

This bill would require the commission or the department, upon the adoption or adjustment of a fee that is deposited into the Gambling Control Fund, to maintain a regulation that states the authorized purpose and use of the fee, including the program activities funded and the categories of costs covered, among other things. The bill would state that a fee or adjustment to a fee shall not take effect until the required regulation is adopted or amended and would require that revenues from a fee subject to these provisions be expended only for the activities and purposes identified in regulation. The bill would state that these provisions do not apply to any fee adopted or amended prior to the bill’s enactment.