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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
AMENDED
June 30, 1999
H. 3834
S. Printed 6/30/99--H.
Read the first time April 6, 1999.
TO AMEND SECTION 2-7-76, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENTS FOR PROPOSED LEGISLATION AFFECTING COUNTIES OR MUNICIPALITIES, SO AS TO REQUIRE THE ACQUISITION OF A FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT FROM THE "BOARD OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS" INSTEAD OF FROM THE "DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE" AND TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS; TO AMEND SECTION 12-6-40, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO APPLICATION OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE TO STATE TAX LAWS, SO AS TO ADOPT APPLICATION OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE AS AMENDED THROUGH TAXABLE YEAR 1998; TO AMEND SECTION 12-6-1120, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO COMPUTATION OF GROSS INCOME FOR STATE TAX PURPOSES, SO AS TO MAKE TECHNICAL CHANGES; TO AMEND SECTION 12-6-3410, RELATING TO INCOME TAX CREDIT FOR CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR DETERMINING THE PER CAPITA INCOME FOR PURPOSES OF CALCULATING ADDITIONAL TAX CREDIT FOR CREATION OF NEW HEADQUARTERS JOBS BY USING THE MOST RECENT PER CAPITA INCOME DATA AVAILABLE AT THE END OF THE TAXABLE YEAR THE JOBS ARE FILLED; TO AMEND SECTION 12-6-3465, RELATING TO RECYCLING FACILITY TAX CREDITS, SO AS TO UPDATE CODE CROSS REFERENCES; TO AMEND SECTION 12-16-20, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS FOR PURPOSES OF THE ESTATE TAX, SO AS TO DEFINE THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE AS AMENDED THROUGH 1998; TO AMEND SECTION 12-20-20, RELATING TO FILING OF A CORPORATE ANNUAL REPORT, SO AS TO UPDATE A CROSS REFERENCE; TO AMEND SECTION 12-36-510, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO RETAIL LICENSE REQUIREMENTS, SO AS TO DELETE THE REQUIREMENT THAT A FESTIVAL BE LISTED AS A SPECIAL EVENT WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, RECREATION, AND TOURISM; TO AMEND SECTION 12-37-251, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE BOARD OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS, INSTEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, ESTIMATE THE TOTAL SCHOOL TAX REVENUE LOSS FROM THE EXEMPTION; AND TO AMEND SECTION 12-54-85, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO TIME LIMITATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT OF TAXES, SO AS TO INCREASE FROM THIRTY TO NINETY THE NUMBER OF DAYS A CORPORATION HAS TO FILE A CLAIM FOR REFUND AFTER AN ADJUSTMENT TO ITS TAXABLE INCOME IS MADE BY THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 12-21-2710 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 155 of 1997, is further amended to read:
"Section 12-21-2710. It is unlawful for any person to keep on his premises or operate or permit to be kept on his premises or operated within this State any vending or slot machine, or any video game machine with a free play feature operated by a slot in which is deposited a coin or thing of value, or other device operated by a slot in which is deposited a coin or thing of value for the play of poker, blackjack, keno, lotto, bingo, or craps, or any machine or device licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720 and used for gambling or any punch board, pull board, or other device pertaining to games of chance of whatever name or kind, including those machines, boards, or other devices that display different pictures, words, or symbols, at different plays or different numbers, whether in words or figures or, which deposit tokens or coins at regular intervals or in varying numbers to the player or in the machine, but the provisions of this section do not extend to coin-operated nonpayout pin tables, in-line pin games, and video games with free play feature which meet the technical requirements provided for in Section 12-21-2782 and Section 12-21-2783, or to automatic weighing, measuring, musical, and vending machines which are constructed as to give a certain uniform and fair return in value for each coin deposited and in which there is no element of chance.
Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for a period of not more than one year, or both."
SECTION 2. Section 12-21-2712 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 12-21-2712. Any vending or slot machine, punch board, or other device pertaining to games of chance prohibited by Section 12-21-2710 must be seized by any officer of the law law enforcement officer and at once taken before any magistrate of the county in which the machine, board, or device is seized who shall immediately examine it, and if he is satisfied that it is in violation of Section 12-21-2710 or any other law of this State, he shall direct that it be immediately destroyed."
SECTION 3. A. Section 12-21-2720(A)(3) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Section 148, Act 181 of 1993, is further amended to read:
"(3) a machine of the nonpayout type, or in-line pin game, or video game with free play feature operated by a slot in which is deposited a coin or thing of value except machines of the nonpayout pin table type with levers or `flippers' operated by the player by which the course of the balls may be altered or changed."
B. Section 12-21-2720(C) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 145 of 1995, is further amended to read:
"(C) The owner or operator of any coin-operated device which is exempt from Section 16-19-60 and is subject to licensing under Section 12-21-2720(A)(3) and which has multi-player stations, shall purchase a separate license for each such station and any such multi-player station counts as a machine when determining the number of machines authorized for licensure under Section 12-21-2804(A)."
C. Section 12-21-2720 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 155 of 1997, is further amended by deleting subsections (E) and (F), which read:
"(E) The department shall not issue a license for the operation of a video game with a free play feature which is located or intended to be located on a watercraft or vessel plying the territorial waters of this State.
(F) Four hundred dollars of the four thousand dollar license fee imposed in subsection (A) may be retained by the department and expended in budgeted operations for the implementation and ongoing operation of the monitoring system required by law or in other programs and services as the director may determine necessary and appropriate."
SECTION 4. Section 12-21-2726 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 164 of 1993, is further amended to read:
"Section 12-21-2726. Every person who maintains for use or permits the use of, on a place or premises occupied by him, a machine subject to the license imposed by this article by way of proof of licensing must have a current license displayed conspicuously on the front of the machine. Except for the provisions of Sections 12-21-2774 and 12-21-2776, each machine licensed pursuant to this section must be operated in a stand-alone fashion and may not be linked in any way to another coin-operated machine or device."
SECTION 5. Section 16-19-40 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 16-19-40. If any person shall play at any tavern, inn, store for the retailing of spirituous liquors or in any house used as a place of gaming, barn, kitchen, stable or other outhouse, street, highway, open wood, race field or open place at (a) any game with cards or dice, (b) any gaming table, commonly called A, B, C, or E, O, or any gaming table known or distinguished by any other letters or by any figures, (c) any roley-poley table, (d) rouge et noir, (e) any faro bank or (f) any other table or bank of the same or the like kind under any denomination whatsoever or (g) any machine or device licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720 and used for gambling purposes, except the games of billiards, bowls, backgammon, chess, draughts, or whist when there is no betting on any such game of billiards, bowls, backgammon, chess, draughts, or whist or shall bet on the sides or hands of such as do game, upon being convicted thereof, before any magistrate, shall be imprisoned for a period of not over thirty days or shall suffer a fine of fined not over one hundred dollars, and every person so keeping such tavern, inn, retail store, public place, or house used as a place for gaming or such other house shall, upon being convicted thereof, upon indictment, be imprisoned for a period not exceeding twelve months and forfeit a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars, for each and every offense."
SECTION 6. Section 12-54-40 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 155 of 1997, is further amended by deleting subsection (M) which reads:
"(M) A machine owner or distributor, as defined in Article 20, Chapter 21 of this title, who allows or causes a machine to be operated without a metering device, or who wilfully places a machine on location or who wilfully allows or causes a machine to be operated with a metering device that does not accurately record the information required under Article 20, Chapter 21 of this title is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than ten years, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, and in addition may be fined not more than twenty-five thousand dollars."
SECTION 7. Section 16-19-50 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 16-19-50. Any person who shall set up, keep, or use any (a) gaming table, commonly called A, B, C, or E, O, or any gaming table known or distinguished by any other letters or by any figures, (b) roley-poley table, (c) table to play at rouge et noir, (d) faro bank or (e) any other gaming table or bank of the like kind or of any other kind for the purpose of gaming, or (f) any machine or device licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720 and used for gambling purposes except the games of billiards, bowls, chess, draughts, and backgammon, upon being convicted thereof, upon indictment, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars and not less than two hundred dollars."
SECTION 8. Section 12-21-2703 and 16-19-60 and Article 20, Chapter 21 of Title 12, all of the 1976 Code, are repealed.
SECTION 9. (1) A statewide referendum must be conducted November 2, 1999, to ascertain whether or not video game machine payouts will continue to be allowed in this State. The State Election Commission shall place the exact question contained in item (2) of this subsection on the referendum ballot. The state election laws shall apply to the referendum, mutatis mutandis. The State Board of Canvassers shall publish the results of the referendum and certify them to the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Code Commissioner.
(2) The question put before the qualified electors in the referendum shall read:
"Shall cash payouts for credits earned on video game machines continue to be allowed after June 30, 2000?
Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or cross mark in the square after the word 'Yes', and those voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or cross mark in the square after the word 'No'."
(3) The State Election Commission shall place the following explanation of the referendum question on the ballot:
"A majority 'yes' vote shall mean that cash payouts for credits earned on video game machines shall continue to be allowed.
A majority 'no' vote shall mean that cash payouts for credits earned on video game machines shall not be allowed after June 30, 2000."
(4) In addition to all license taxes and fees imposed by the State on video games with a free play feature pursuant to Section 12-21-2720(A)(3) of the 1976 Code imposing such licenses and fees, there is imposed a one-time surcharge license fee of fifty dollars for each such licensed machine due and payable to the Department of Revenue on or before September 1, 1999. Failure to remit the surcharge in a timely manner is deemed failure to pay the license tax imposed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720(A)(3). The revenues of this fee shall be used to defray the expenses of the statewide referendum required by this act.
SECTION 10. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this chapter, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.
SECTION 11. The repeal or amendment by this act of any law, whether temporary or permanent or civil or criminal, does not affect pending actions, rights, duties, or liabilities founded thereon, or alter, discharge, release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under the repealed or amended law, unless the repealed or amended provision shall so expressly provide. After the effective date of this act, all laws repealed or amended by this act must be taken and treated as remaining in full force and effect for the purpose of sustaining any pending or vested right, civil action, special proceeding, criminal prosecution, or appeal existing as of the effective date of this act, and for the enforcement of rights, duties, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities as they stood under the repealed or amended laws.
SECTION 12. Title 12 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 12-21-2805. (A)(1) Except as provided in subsection (B), machines shall not be operated or continue to operate at any casino. For purposes of this chapter, the term `casino' shall mean both of the following:
(a) any two or more "single places or premises", as that term was defined, applied, and interpreted in Regulation 117-190 on or before May 31, 1999, that are located within a single structure; and
(b) beginning December 1, 1999, any two or more establishments located within one hundred feet of each other that have establishment licenses issued to the same person or a person who has the same principals.
(2) In determining whether an establishment violates this section, the department shall consider whether more than one licensed establishment operates within a single structure, unless the distance between the licensed establishments exceeds one hundred feet and the licensed establishments are not owned by the same person, do not have any of the same principals, and the owner of one is not a principal of another licensed establishment. Licenses denied under this section are subject to review under Section 12-60-1310.
(B)(1) A casino shall not operate or continue to operate except as provided in this subsection. No casino shall continue to operate as a casino unless on May 31, 1999:
(a) machines were both licensed and in operation within each `single place or premises' as that term was defined, applied, and interpreted in Regulation 117-190 on or before May 31, 1999; and
(b) each single place or premises within the casino met the qualifications of Regulation 117-190 and a certificate of occupancy, if otherwise required by law , has been issued for the structure within which two or more single places or premises are located.
(2) After December 1, 1999, each casino authorized to operate after May 31, 1999 shall be permitted to re-apply for and may be granted renewal of licenses that, notwithstanding any other provision of the law, must expire and may not be renewed after June 1, 2001. Pursuant to Sections 1, 9, and 11 of Article V, the General Assembly provides that the Magistrate, Circuit and Appellate Courts do not have jurisdiction to extend the termination date of June 1, 2001, and may not enjoin the enforcement of this subsection by the department or the division. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to affect the jurisdiction of the state courts regarding other provisions of this chapter.
(C) All casinos authorized to operate after May 31, 1999:
(1) on or before January 1, 2000, conduct business as a single operation and be licensed as a single licensed establishment to maintain on the premises more than five licensed machines;
(2) advise the department of the machine licenses currently issued and the licenses currently issued for each single place or premises within the structure and return the licenses for each single place or premises to the department at the time the new license for the single licensed establishment is approved by the department and issued;
(3) once licensed as a single establishment, never have licenses for any number of machines greater than the total number of machines licensed in the structure as of May 31, 1999, as asserted in the statement required in item (5);
(4) never increase the number of machines permitted by this section after any reduction in the number of machines at the licensed establishment; provided, that a reduction, as that term is used in this subsection, does not include the routine removal and replacement of machines for maintenance, repair, service, or similar purpose; and
(5) on or before January 1, 2000, file with the department a sworn statement asserting any and all reasons why it is entitled to the benefits conferred by this subsection (B).
(D) Any person claiming the benefits of subsection (B) shall have the burden of proof and must establish by clear and convincing evidence that he is entitled to operate the structure as a single licensed establishment with more than five licensed machines. Any transferee of an interest in such an establishment shall be subject to all limitations of this section.
(E) 'Machine' means a nonpayout electronic machine with a free play feature that, upon insertion of cash or coin, is available to play or simulate the play of games utilizing a video display and microprocessors, in which the player may receive free games or credits that are redeemed for cash except as prohibited by this chapter. Each player station of a multi-player unit is a separate machine.
SECTION 13. Parts II and III of this act takes effect upon approval of the Governor. Part I takes effect July 1, 2000, except that if a majority "yes" vote is certified by the State Board of Canvassers in the referendum provided in Part II of this act, Part I of this act does not take effect.
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