Senate Bill No. 376
(By Senator Schoonover)
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[Introduced February 1, 1999; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections six-a and twelve-a, article
twenty, chapter forty-seven of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all
relating to charitable bingo; allowing two super bingo
occasions a month; and increasing the maximum hourly rate
that can be paid to bingo workers to ten dollars an hour.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections six-a and twelve-a, article twenty, chapter
forty-seven
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. CHARITABLE BINGO.
§47-20-6a. Super bingo license.
Any charitable or public service organization may, upon payment of a five thousand dollar license fee, apply to the tax
commissioner for issuance of an annual super bingo license. All
revenue from the license fee shall be deposited in the special
revenue account established under the authority of section two-a,
article nine, chapter eleven of this code and used to support the
investigatory activities provided for in that section. The tax
commissioner shall promulgate propose rules for legislative rules
approval
in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a
of this code specifying those organizations which qualify as
charitable or public service organizations.
A holder of a super bingo license may conduct one two super
bingo occasion occasions each month during the period of the
license at which up to fifty thousand dollars in prizes may be
awarded, notwithstanding the ten thousand dollar limitation on
prizes specified in section ten of this article.
A charitable or public service organization that has a
regular or limited occasion bingo license may apply for a super
bingo license.
§47-20-12a. Compensation of bingo operator; number of employees.
(a) Within the guidelines set forth in subsections (b), (c) and (d) of this section, a licensee may pay a salary, the minimum
of which shall be established at the federal minimum wage, and
the maximum being six ten dollars and fifty cents per hour, to
operators of bingo games who are active members of the licensee
organization and who have been active members in good standing
for at least two years prior to the date of filing of the
application for a charitable bingo license or the most recent
filing of an application for renewal of the license.
(b) If the licensee's gross receipts from bingo occasions
equal or exceed one hundred thousand dollars for the licensee's
most recently filed annual financial report, a salary may be paid
to not more than eight operators.
(c) If the licensee's gross receipts from bingo occasions
are less than one hundred thousand dollars, but equal or exceed
fifty thousand dollars for the licensee's most recently filed
annual financial report, a salary may be paid to not more than
five operators.
(d) If the licensee's gross receipts from bingo occasions
are less than fifty thousand dollars for the licensee's most
recently filed annual financial report, a salary may be paid to
not more than three operators.
(e) If the licensee also possesses a super bingo license, it
may pay a salary to not more than fifteen operators during the a
super bingo occasion.
(f) In the case of a licensee lawfully holding a charitable
bingo occasion simultaneously with a charitable raffle occasion,
the number of paid charitable bingo operator employees allowed
under this limitation for bingo licensees shall be is in addition
to the number of charitable raffle operator employees allowed
under section fifteen, article twenty-one of this chapter.
Licensees holding simultaneous occasions shall pay bingo
operators from the proceeds of bingo operations and shall pay
raffle operators from the proceeds of raffle operations, and the
charitable bingo fund and the charitable raffle fund and payments
from the funds shall may not be commingled.
(g) For purposes of the limitations set forth in this
section, the term "operator" or "bingo operator" or "raffle
operator" shall does not include concession stand workers. Wages
paid to concession workers shall may not exceed six dollars and
fifty cents per hour.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow two super bingo occasions a month and to increase the maximum hourly rate that
can be paid to bingo workers to $10.00 an hour.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.