House Bill 1100

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 75-76-34, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS MAY NOT TEACH PERSONS TO GAMBLE OR TO OPERATE GAMING DEVICES, BUT TO ALLOW SUCH SCHOOLS TO TEACH PERSONS TO BE EMPLOYEES IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 75-76-34, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

75-76-34. (1) The Mississippi Gaming Commission is authorized to regulate all schools or training institutions that teach or train gaming employees. Such schools shall only be located in counties where gaming is legal aboard a cruise vessel or vessel or in counties where cruise vessels were legally operating out of a port at the time of passage of the Mississippi Gaming Control Act pursuant to Section 19-3-79. No such school shall be located on publicly owned property, and no public school shall teach or train persons to gamble or to operate a gaming device. The gaming activities of schools or training institutions regulated by the commission shall be deemed to be legal under the laws of the State of Mississippi. Any person desiring to operate a school or training institution must file a license application with the executive director to be licensed by the commission.

(2) The commission may adopt regulations it deems necessary to regulate schools and training institutions. These regulations shall, without limiting the general powers of the commission, include the following:

(a) Prescribing the method and form of application which any applicant for a school or training institution must follow and complete before consideration of his application by the executive director or commission.

(b) Prescribing the information to be furnished by the applicant relating to his employees.

(c) Requiring fingerprinting of the applicant, employees and students of the school or institution or other methods of identification and the forwarding of all fingerprints taken pursuant to regulation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(d) Requiring any applicant to pay all or part of the fees and costs of investigation of the applicant as may be determined by the commission.

(e) Prescribing the manner and method of collection and payment of fees and costs and issuance of licenses to schools or training institutions.

(f) Prescribing under what conditions a licensee authorized by this section may be deemed subject to revocation or suspension of his license.

(g) Defining the curriculum of the school or training institution, the games and devices permitted, the use of tokens only for instruction purposes, and the method of operation of games and devices.

(h) Requiring the applicant to submit its location of the school or training institution, which shall be at least four hundred (400) feet from any church, school, kindergarten or funeral home. However, within an area zoned commercial or business, the minimum distance shall not be less than one hundred (100) feet.

(i) Requiring that all employees and students of the school or training institution be at least twenty-one (21) years of age and be a resident of the State of Mississippi.

(j) Requiring all employees and students of the school or training institution to wear identification cards issued by the commission while on the premises of the school or training institution.

(k) Requiring the commission to investigate each applicant, employee and student and determine that the individual does not fall within any one (1) of the following categories:

(i) Is under indictment for, or has been convicted in any court of, a felony;

(ii) Is a fugitive from justice;

(iii) Is an unlawful user of any controlled substance, is addicted to any controlled substance or alcoholic beverage, or is an habitual drunkard;

(iv) Is a mental defective, has been committed to a mental institution, or has been voluntarily committed to a mental institution on more than one (1) occasion;

(v) Has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions; or

(vi) Has been found at any time by the executive director or commission to have falsified any information.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2003.