Relates to licenses issued by the division of the lottery

BILL NUMBER:S5583

Title of bill

An act to amend the tax law, in relation to licenses issued by the division of the lottery

Purpose

This bill would clarify the Division of the Lottery's (the "Lottery") authority to obtain national criminal background search results for applicants and holders of licenses issued by the Lottery, including employees of Video Lottery Gaming ("VLG") agents.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill would amend Tax Law § 1605 to clarify Lottery's authority to obtain national criminal background search results for applicants or holders of VLG licenses issued pursuant to Tax Law 1617-a, including VLG agents; vendors; vendors' subcontractors; employees of agents, vendors or subcontractors; and officers, directors, partners, trustees or owners of agents, vendors or vendors' subcontractors.

Section 2 provides for an immediate effective date.

Existing law

Tax Law § 1605 specifically authorizes the Lottery to obtain state and national criminal background search results for applicants or holders of Lottery sales agent licenses. Tax Law § 1617-a authorizes the Lottery to license the operation of VLG.

Justification

This bill amends Tax Law §1605 to clarify the Lottery's authority to obtain national criminal background search results for applicants or holders of VLG licenses. When Tax Law § 1617-a was enacted and authorized the Lottery to license the operation of VLG facilities, related provisions of the Tax Law should have been amended to include VLG licenses and licensees. Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigations ("FBI") questioned this apparent ambiguity in the law.

Pursuant to federal law, the FBI is authorized to exchange criminal history records with officials of state and local governments for purposes of employment and licensing, if authorized by state statute and approved by the FBI. The FBI, with the assistance of the United States Department of Justice, has determined that state statutes must meet certain criteria in order to authorize such access. As the

result of discussions with the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the FBI, it was determined that this proposed amendment to Tax Law § 1605 would sufficiently clarify the Lottery's authority to continue obtaining national criminal background search results which are used to verify the backgrounds of persons employed in positions that can present a risk to public safety and public finances, such as agents, employees and vendors at VLG facilities operated under the authority of the Lottery.

Legislative history

This is a new bill.

Budget implications

This bill has no fiscal impact on the state.

Effective date

This bill would take effect immediately.