Senate Bill No. 299

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________

A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act providing for the deposit of the video gambling machine gross income tax in the general fund; providing for reimbursement to local governments at the level received in 1996; amending section

23-5-610, MCA; and providing an immediate effective date and a retroactive applicability date."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:

Section 1.  Section 23-5-610, MCA, is amended to read:

"23-5-610.   Video gambling machine gross income tax -- records -- distribution -- quarterly statement and payment. (1) A licensed operator issued a permit under this part shall pay to the department a video gambling machine tax of 15% of the gross income from each video gambling machine licensed under this part. A licensed operator may deduct from the gross income amounts equal to amounts stolen from machines if the amounts stolen are not repaid by insurance or under a court order, if a law enforcement agency investigated the theft, and if the theft is the result of either unauthorized entry and physical removal of the money from the machines or of machine tampering and the amounts stolen are documented.

(2)  A licensed operator issued a permit under this part shall keep a record of the gross income from each machine in the form the department requires. The records must at all times during the business hours of the licensee be subject to inspection by the department.

(3)  A licensed operator issued a permit under this part shall, within 15 days after the end of each quarter, complete and deliver to the department a statement showing the total gross income from each video gambling machine licensed to the operator, together with the total amount due the state as video gambling machine gross income tax for the preceding quarter. The statement must contain other relevant information that the department requires.

(4)  (a) The department shall, in accordance with the provisions of 15-1-501, forward one-third of the tax collected under subsection (3) to the state general fund.

(b)  The department shall, in accordance with the provisions of 15-1-501, forward the remaining two-thirds notify the state treasurer of the amount of the tax collected under subsection (3) distributed during 1996 to the treasurer of the county or the clerk, finance officer, or treasurer of the city or town in which the licensed machine is located, for deposit to the county or municipal treasury. Counties are not entitled to proceeds from taxes on income from video gambling machines located in incorporated cities and towns. The state treasurer shall transfer from the general fund to the pass-through account provided for in subsection (5), one-fourth of the total amount of video gambling machine tax paid to local governments in 1996.

(5) Each quarter the state treasurer shall distribute from the pass-through account to the treasurer of each county, city, town, and consolidated government one-fourth of the amount of video gambling machine tax paid to that jurisdiction in 1996. The two-thirds local government portion of tax collected under subsection (3) distribution under this subsection is statutorily appropriated to the department as provided in 17-7-502 for deposit payment to the county or municipal treasury local government."

NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Retroactive applicability. [This act] applies retroactively, within the meaning of 1-2-109, to January 1, 1997.

NEW SECTION. Section 3.  Effective date. [This act] is effective on passage and approval.

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