BILL REQ. #:  S-4582.1 

Read first time 02/04/10.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     AN ACT Relating to streamlining lottery accounts by transferring local accounts into the treasury custodial accounts, directing transfers of unclaimed prize money, and eliminating obsolete provisions; amending RCW 67.70.044, 67.70.230, 67.70.260, and 67.70.190; and creating a new section.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 67.70.044 and 2009 c 576 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Pursuant to RCW 67.70.040(1)(a), the commission may enter into the multistate agreement establishing a shared game lottery known as "The Big Game," that was entered into by party state lotteries in August 1996 and subsequently amended and a shared game lottery known as "Powerball."
     (2) The shared game lottery account is created ((as a separate account outside)) in the custody of the state ((treasury)) treasurer. The account ((is managed, maintained, and controlled by the commission and)) consists of all revenues received from the sale of shared game lottery tickets or shares, and all other moneys credited or transferred to it from any other fund or source under law. ((The account is allotted according to chapter 43.88 RCW.)) Only the commission may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.

Sec. 2   RCW 67.70.230 and 1985 c 375 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     ((There is hereby created and established a separate account, to be known as)) The state lottery account((. Such account shall be managed, maintained, and controlled by the commission and shall)) is created in the custody of the state treasurer. The account consists of all revenues received from the sale of lottery tickets or shares, and all other moneys credited or transferred thereto from any other fund or source pursuant to law. ((The account shall be a separate account outside the state treasury. No appropriation is required to permit expenditures and payment of obligations from the account.)) Only the commission may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.

Sec. 3   RCW 67.70.260 and 2002 c 371 s 919 are each amended to read as follows:
     There is hereby created the lottery administrative account in the state treasury. The account ((shall)) must be managed, controlled, and maintained by the director. The legislature may appropriate from the account for the payment of costs incurred in the operation and administration of the lottery. ((During the 2001-2003 fiscal biennium, the legislature may transfer from the lottery administrative account to the state general fund such amounts as reflect the appropriations reductions made by the 2002 supplemental appropriations act for administrative efficiencies and savings.))

Sec. 4   RCW 67.70.190 and 2009 c 564 s 949 are each amended to read as follows:
     Unclaimed prizes ((shall)) must be retained in the state lottery account for the person entitled thereto for one hundred eighty days after the drawing in which the prize is won, or after the official end of the game for instant prizes. If no claim is made for the prize within this time, all rights to the prize shall be extinguished, ((and the prize shall be retained in the state lottery fund for further use as prizes, except that)) one-third of all unclaimed prize money ((shall)) must be deposited in the economic development strategic reserve account created in RCW 43.330.250 and the remainder must be deposited into the education legacy trust account created in RCW 83.100.230.
     ((On July 1, 2009, June 30, 2010, and June 30, 2011, all unclaimed prize money retained in the state lottery fund [account] in excess of three million dollars, excluding amounts distributed to the economic development strategic reserve account, shall be transferred into the state general fund.))

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   No later than July 1, 2010, the state lottery commission must transfer to the newly created accounts in RCW 67.70.044 and 67.70.230 all unobligated balances of the shared game lottery account and the state lottery accounts outside of the state treasury, as of June 30, 2010.