BILL REQ. #:  S-0612.5 

Read first time 01/28/2005.   Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research & Development.

     AN ACT Relating to the zoning authority of local jurisdictions with respect to activities licensed by the gambling commission; amending RCW 9.46.285 and 9.46.295; and adding new sections to chapter 9.46 RCW.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 9.46.285 and 1973 2nd ex.s. c 41 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) This chapter constitutes the exclusive legislative authority for the licensing and regulation of any gambling activity and the state preempts such licensing and regulatory functions, except as to the powers and duties of any city, town, city-county, or county which are specifically set forth in this chapter. Any ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act by any city, town, city-county, or county relating to gambling in existence on September 27, 1973 shall be as of that date null and void and of no effect. Any such city, town, city-county, or county may thereafter enact only such local law as is consistent with the powers and duties expressly granted to and imposed upon it by chapter 9.46 RCW and which is not in conflict with that chapter or with the rules of the commission.
     (2) An ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act by any city, town, city-county, or county conflicts with this chapter if the act:
     (a) Changes, or purports to change, any provision within the scope of a license issued under this chapter; or
     (b)(i) Is not an ordinance enacted or enforced in conformance with section 3 or 4 of this act; and (ii) applies or is enforced differently upon an entity required to possess a gambling license issued under this chapter than it would be applied or enforced if the entity were not required to possess a gambling license issued under this chapter.

Sec. 2   RCW 9.46.295 and 1974 ex.s. c 155 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     Any license to engage in any of the gambling activities authorized by this chapter as now exists or as hereafter amended, and issued under the authority thereof shall be legal authority to engage in the gambling activities for which issued throughout the incorporated and unincorporated area of any county, except that a city located therein with respect to that city, or a county with respect to all areas within that county except for such cities, may absolutely prohibit((, but may not change the scope of license,)):
     (1) Any or all of the gambling activities for which the license was issued; or
     (2) Only as provided in section 3 or 4 of this act, any or all gambling activities from being located or operating within less than all of the city or county.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 9.46 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A city or county that has, pursuant to chapter 36.70A RCW, adopted a comprehensive plan containing a statement identifying the jurisdiction's policy regarding the extent to which licensed gambling activity is to be prohibited within the jurisdiction, and within areas that may be annexed into the jurisdiction, may enact, amend, and enforce an ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act prohibiting any or all licensed gambling activities from being located within less than all of the city or county if the ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act: (a) Is consistent with the policy statement in the comprehensive plan required by this section; and (b) applies absolutely throughout all substantially similar land use zones within the jurisdiction.
     (2) If an ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act enacted or amended pursuant to this section or section 4 of this act creates or alters an area within the jurisdiction where commercial gambling activity is allowed, the ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act conflicts with this chapter if:
     (a) The area in which commercial gambling activity is allowed is less than one-third of the area within the jurisdiction in which an eating and drinking establishment licensed by the liquor control board is allowed to locate as a matter of right; and
     (b) A lawsuit is commenced by any resident of, or owner of a business located in, the jurisdiction which makes a prima facie challenge that the ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act has a disproportional and adverse effect on the jurisdiction's minority or low-income residents, and the jurisdiction fails to rebut the challenge by clear and convincing evidence.
     (3)(a) The land use petition act, chapter 36.70C RCW, governs challenges regarding the adoption or enforcement of an ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act adopted under this section or section 4 of this act.
     (b) The commission is immune from any action challenging the adoption or enforcement of an ordinance enacted or amended under this section or section 4 of this act.
     (4)(a) An ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act enacted or amended under this section or section 4 of this act may not be amended or repealed within three years of the effective date of initial enactment or most recent amendment of the ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act.
     (b) No jurisdiction shall enact an ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act under this section if: (i) The act authorizes commercial gambling activity in any zone within the jurisdiction where the activity was prohibited on January 1, 2005; and (ii) any zone in which commercial gambling activity is newly authorized was created or reduced in size within the three years prior to the date the ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act authorizing the activity was enacted.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 9.46 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A local jurisdiction that has, under chapter 36.70A RCW, adopted a comprehensive plan containing a statement identifying the jurisdiction's policy regarding the extent to which licensed gambling activity is to be prohibited within the jurisdiction, may enact, amend, and enforce an ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act absolutely prohibiting one or more licensed gambling activities from locating within five hundred feet of any of the uses identified in subsection (2) of this section, if: (a) The use existed on the initial application date of the license; and (b) the ordinance, resolution, or other legislative act is consistent with the policy statement in the comprehensive plan required by this section.
     (2) Subject to subsection (1) of this section, a local jurisdiction may absolutely prohibit any and all gambling activities within five hundred feet of any or all of the following uses:
     (a) A building used exclusively for religious worship, religious schooling, or other activity in connection therewith;
     (b) A residence located in a zone composed predominantly of single-family or multifamily residences;
     (c) A tax-supported public elementary or secondary school or private school meeting the requirements for private schools under Title 28A RCW; or
     (d) Publicly owned or leased buildings designated within the jurisdiction's comprehensive plan for the purposes of this section and used exclusively by the jurisdiction as a place of business for its employees, elected officials, or for public meetings, including but not limited to any library, court house, jail, police station, or fire station.
     (3) Any distances to be established for the purposes of this section shall be measured in a straight line from the perimeter property line of the grounds of the use identified under this section to the nearest property line of the property within which an applicant has applied to locate a facility requiring a license issued under this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   A new section is added to chapter 9.46 RCW to read as follows:
     For the purposes of sections 3 and 4 of this act:
     (1) "Commercial gambling activity" means any social card game, punch board, or pull-tab, as authorized under RCW 9.46.0325, other than as conducted by a bona fide charitable or nonprofit corporation pursuant to RCW 9.46.0351.
     (2) "Land use zone" means any discretely defined area that: (a) Appears on the jurisdiction's land use zoning map; (b) is situated within a single, continuous boundary perimeter; and (c) is subject to a defined set of zoning regulations, definitions, or standards that are not in conflict with this chapter.
     (3)(a) A gambling activity is "absolutely prohibited" and a legislative act prohibiting a licensed gambling activity applies "absolutely throughout" a jurisdiction or any applicable land use zone within the jurisdiction when:
     (i) All prohibited licensed gambling activity not in existence on the effective date of the ordinance prohibiting gambling activities are completely and uniformly prohibited within the applicable area; and
     (ii) No prohibited licensed gambling activity is allowed through the granting of a variance, nonconforming use, or other exception process.
     (b) Unless the voters of the jurisdiction decided otherwise by a sixty-percent affirmative vote on a measure placed on the ballot by initiative or by an action of the jurisdiction's legislative body, a licensee legally conducting a licensed gambling activity within a zone on the effective date of an ordinance prohibiting such activity shall be allowed to continue to operate, but only as allowed by the scope of the preexisting license, which may be renewed without alteration by the gambling commission.