BILL REQ. #:  H-1696.1 

Read first time 02/24/2003.   Referred to Committee on Appropriations.

     AN ACT Relating to the transfer of shared game lottery proceeds; and amending RCW 67.70.340.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 67.70.340 and 2002 c 349 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature recognizes that creating a shared game lottery could result in less revenue being raised by the existing state lottery ticket sales. The legislature further recognizes that the two funds most impacted by this potential event are the student achievement fund and the education construction account. Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to use some of the proceeds from the shared game lottery to make up the difference that the potential state lottery revenue loss would have on the student achievement fund and the education construction account.
     (2) The student achievement fund and the education construction account are expected to collectively receive one hundred two million dollars annually from state lottery games other than the shared game lottery. For fiscal year 2003 and thereafter, if the amount of lottery revenues earmarked for the student achievement fund and the education construction account are less than one hundred two million dollars, the commission must transfer sufficient moneys from revenues derived from the shared game lottery into the student achievement fund and the education construction account to bring the total revenue up to one hundred two million dollars. The funds transferred from the shared game lottery account under this subsection must be divided between the student achievement fund and the education construction account in a manner consistent with RCW 67.70.240(3).
     (3) For fiscal year 2003, the commission shall transfer from revenues derived from the shared game lottery to the violence reduction and drug enforcement account under RCW 69.50.520 five hundred thousand dollars exclusively for the treatment of pathological gambling as prescribed by RCW 67.70.350.
     (4) The remaining net revenues, if any, in the shared game lottery account after the transfers shall be ((deposited into the general fund)) distributed to cities and counties for the support of public safety functions, in the following manner: Forty percent shall be deposited into the municipal criminal justice assistance account under RCW 82.14.320; forty percent shall be deposited into the county criminal justice assistance account under RCW 82.14.310; and twenty percent shall be allocated to counties for the exclusive support of the operation of drug courts. The department of community, trade, and economic development shall establish an equitable method for distribution of funding to counties for drug courts under this section, giving priority to counties that had effective drug court programs in operation before January 1, 2003.