Florida Senate - 2025 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 1404 Ì914396IÎ914396 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 03/25/2025 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Regulated Industries (Bradley) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 Between lines 99 and 100 4 insert: 5 Section 2. Present subsections (8) and (9) of section 6 546.10, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (9) 7 and (10), respectively, and a new subsection (8) is added to 8 that section, to read: 9 546.10 Amusement games or machines.— 10 (8)(a)1. Before purchasing or installing a game or machine 11 on the premises of any veterans’ service organization granted a 12 federal charter under Title 36, U.S.C., or a division, a 13 department, a post, or a chapter of such organization, for which 14 an alcoholic beverage license has been issued, and the veterans’ 15 service organization is in doubt about whether a machine meets 16 the definition of an amusement machine under this section, the 17 organization may petition the Florida Gaming Control Commission 18 for a declaratory statement under s. 120.565 on whether the 19 operation of the game or machine would be authorized under this 20 section or would be a violation of this section or chapter 849. 21 A game or machine awaiting a declaratory statement from the 22 commission may not be purchased or installed until the 23 declaratory statement is issued. 24 2. If there is a game or machine currently on the premises 25 of any veterans’ service organization granted a federal charter 26 under Title 36, U.S.C., or a division, a department, a post, or 27 a chapter of such organization, for which an alcoholic beverage 28 license has been issued and the veterans’ service organization 29 is in doubt about whether a machine meets the definition of an 30 amusement machine under this section, the organization may 31 petition the commission for a declaratory statement pursuant to 32 s. 120.565 on whether the operation of the game or machine would 33 be authorized under this section or would be a violation of this 34 section or chapter 849. If the game, machine, premises, or 35 organization is the subject of an ongoing criminal 36 investigation, the organization may not petition the commission 37 for a declaratory statement under this subsection. 38 3. The commission shall issue a declaratory statement 39 pursuant to this subsection within 60 days after receiving a 40 petition requesting such statement. The commission may not deny 41 a petition that is validly requested pursuant to this subsection 42 and 120.565. 43 (b) A petition made under this subsection must provide 44 enough information for the commission to issue the declaratory 45 statement and must be accompanied by the exact specifications 46 for the type of game or machine that the organization will 47 purchase or install or currently has on the premises. The 48 declaratory statement is valid only for the game or machine for 49 which it is requested and is invalid if the specifications for 50 the game or the machine have been changed. 51 (c) The declaratory statement is binding on the commission 52 and may be introduced in any subsequent proceedings as evidence 53 of a good faith effort to comply with this section or chapter 54 849. 55 (d) This subsection does not prevent the commission or any 56 other criminal justice agency as defined in s. 943.045 from 57 detecting, apprehending, and arresting a person for any alleged 58 violation of chapter 24, part II of chapter 285, this chapter, 59 chapter 550, chapter 551, or chapter 849, or any rule adopted 60 pursuant thereto, or of any law of this state. 61 (e) This subsection does not require an owner or an 62 operator of an amusement game or machine under this section to 63 request or obtain a declaratory statement in order to operate 64 pursuant to this section. 65 66 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 67 And the title is amended as follows: 68 Delete line 5 69 and insert: 70 the Florida Gaming Control Commission; amending s. 71 546.10, F.S.; authorizing certain organizations to 72 petition the petition before purchasing, installing, 73 or operating a game or machine on its premises before 74 petitioning for and being issued a specified 75 declaratory statement from the Florida Gaming Control 76 Commission if the organization is unsure if such game 77 or machine is an amusement machine; prohibiting such 78 organizations from purchasing or installing a game or 79 machine until an outstanding declaratory statement is 80 issued; prohibiting such organizations from seeking a 81 declaratory statement if the game or machine in 82 question is the subject of a criminal investigation; 83 requiring the commission to issue a declaratory 84 statement within a specified timeframe; prohibiting 85 the commission from denying a petition if it was 86 validly requested; specifying what information must be 87 included in a request for a declaratory statement; 88 providing that the declaratory statement is valid only 89 for the game or machine for which it is requested; 90 providing that the declaratory statement is invalid if 91 the specifications for the game or machine have been 92 changed; providing that the declaratory statement is 93 binding on the commission and may be introduced as 94 evidence in subsequent proceedings; providing 95 construction; amending s.