With all the news lately about states passing, working on, or killing online poker legislation, one bit of news out of Texas has been largely ignored. Back on March 5th, State Senator Leticia Van de Putte filed Senate Joint Resolution 43, an amendment to the state constitution which would allow for online poker should the game be legalized on the federal level.
Specifically, SJR 43 would have Texas automatically opt-in to a federal law “…that establishes a licensing program to license the operation of online poker facilities and that allows any state the option of applying the law to authorize licensed online poker facilities to accept bets for online poker games from individuals located in the state.”
The Resolution would also preempt any state laws which would conflict with federal law. That is, if any state laws forbid online poker, they would be overridden by a federal law that allowed it.
Interestingly, SJR 43 does not just give up on online poker if the U.S. government does not enact legislation. Subsection (c) of the amended Section 47(a) of the article of the constitution also gives the state Lottery Commission the authorization to “adopt rules necessary to implement online poker” even if federal regulation does not become a reality.
While there is no deadline given as to when Texas would stop waiting for federal legislation and go ahead with internet poker on its own, Section 3 of the Joint Resolution says that the proposed constitutional amendment will be voted upon by Texas residents on November 5th, 2013, so one could assume that if there is federal legislation before then, Texas will immediately opt-in if the initiative gets enough votes.
SJR 43 was referred to the Senate Finance Committee yesterday.
This is the second time this year that the issue of poker has come up in the Texas legislature. At the end of February, Representative Ryan Guillen filed House Bill 2098, a bill which would legalize social poker rooms in Texas. Social poker rooms were essentially defined as membership clubs that serve food and beverage and offer no financial benefits to members other than their winnings from poker. HB 2098 would take effect immediately if it passes through the Texas House and Senate by a two-thirds vote. If it passes but does not hit that vote threshold, it would take effect on September 1st.
In December, another poker bill, HB 292, was filed. As opposed to the other bills discussed here, this bill would outlaw online poker. Instead, it would set up a licensing and regulatory structure for live poker in the state. Electronic poker tables would also be forbidden.