GIA board reviews legislative efforts
By Paul Tash
Montana Tavern Times
Reports on early legislative action were among discussions at the latest Gaming Industry Association board of directors meeting held in Helena Jan. 27.
Following approval of its Nov. 17 meeting, the board heard from Executive Director Neil Peterson, who reviewed some legislation that could affect gaming establishments in Montana.
Peterson said the bill requiring training of all servers and sellers of alcohol had its initial hearing before the Senate's Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee. Senate Bill 29, sponsored by Sen. Linda Moss, D-Billings, requires licensees to train its servers and sellers within 60 days of hire. The measure accepts all approved training programs, including the Department of Revenue program, TIPS, TAMS, SERV-SAFE, and even approved in-house programs.
Members of the Senate committee added some amendments, however, Peterson said. Those amendments included one to strike the requirement to post signs on the licensee's premises informing customers of the licensee's policy against selling or serving to under-age people.
Another amendment, he said, reduced to three years from five years the term the training certificate was good for.
And thirdly, Peterson said, the penalty structure was changed to say the licensee will be fined a flat $200 if any employee was found to be without training, instead of $50 per employee found not to be trained.
Peterson said that the certificate stays with the employee, so trained employees won't need to recertify if they go to change their place of employment.
The bill later passed out of the Senate committee with the amendments. The measure would take effect Oct. 1.
One proposed bill that drew some discussion from the GIA board was LC2158, which would authorize blackjack tables to fund social services, primarily education. The bill remained in the drafting stage and had not been submitted by sponsor Sen. Jonathon Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, as of press time for the Montana Tavern Times. The GIA board took no position.
Another proposed bill that hadn't been submitted yet that drew some interest at the meeting was LC2013. The proposed bill would place pot limits on live poker at the same level as video poke – $800. Peterson said the idea behind the proposal was to “spur interest in live poker action.”
GIA board member Kent Frampton said he favored the idea, but supported even more the elimination of limits on the number of live poker tournaments a licensee can hold. Currently, a licensee can hold only one tournament per month, for a total of 12 per year.
Frampton said allowing licensees to freely hold freeze-out tournaments or sit-and-go tournaments would go much further in improving live poker action. It would also have the potential to keep the poker players who lost out at table to stay around and play some of the video games in a place, thus improving their play.
Frampton later suggested that the issue be taken to Gaming Advisory Council (GAC).
Regarding the GAC, the GIA board supported unanimously to keep John Tooke on the council as GIA's representative. Tooke, who is currently the GIA president, has served 12 years on the council, and his latest term has recently expired.
In other action, the GIA board voted to support the Montana Tavern Association's efforts to develop a plan for some gaming machine enhancements to help the industry weather the continuing decline in gaming play.
GIA member Tim Carson said, “One thing we can agree on is that we're not happy with the way things are now.”
The next board of directors meeting is May 18 in Bozeman during GIA’s annual convention.