Senate File 247 - Introduced
SENATE FILE 247
BY BOLKCOM
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to certain billiard or pool tournaments and
2 providing penalties.
3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
TLSB 1842XS (3) 89
jda/rn
 S.F. 247
1 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 99B.33 Billiard or pool
2 tournaments.
3 1. A person shall not host, conduct, or otherwise facilitate
4 a billiard or pool tournament in this state with at least
5 sixty-four tournament participants without first obtaining a
6 license from the department.
7 a. Upon receipt of an application and a fee of one hundred
8 dollars for a billiard or pool tournament license, the
9 department may issue an annual license. The application shall
10 include the name, phone number, electronic mail address, and
11 physical address of the applicant.
12 b. Upon receipt of an application and a fee of one
13 hundred dollars for the renewal of an annual billiard or pool
14 tournament license, the department may renew an annual license.
15 The application shall include all of the following:
16 (1) The name, phone number, electronic mail address, and
17 physical address of the applicant.
18 (2) The number of tournaments the applicant conducted
19 during the previous year.
20 (3) For each tournament conducted during the previous
21 calendar year, the names of the top five finishers in each
22 group.
23 (4) For each tournament conducted during the previous
24 calendar year, the amount of prize money the applicant paid to
25 the top five finishers in each group.
26 (5) For each tournament conducted during the previous
27 calendar year, the amount of money the applicant charged
28 participants to participate in the tournament.
29 2. A person hosting, conducting, or otherwise facilitating
30 a billiard or pool tournament subject to this section shall:
31 a. Organize participants in the tournament into groups
32 based on the skill level of the participants. The groups shall
33 include standard, open, advanced, and master.
34 b. Pay out in prizes to participants during each tournament
35 at least eighty percent of the total amount the person charged
LSB 1842XS (3) 89
-1- jda/rn 1/4
 S.F. 247
1 participants to participate in the tournament. The person
2 shall pay out in prizes equal amounts to participants in each
3 group provided in paragraph “a”.
4 c. If the tournament includes participants competing as a
5 team, register the team in the group corresponding to the group
6 in which the participant with the highest skill level on the
7 team would compete individually.
8 d. Publish all of the following on the person’s internet
9 site:
10 (1) How the person determines the skill level of the
11 participants in a tournament.
12 (2) The names of the participants in each group who placed
13 in the top three percent of their group in a tournament.
14 (3) Contact information for the department and information
15 related to the system developed by the department pursuant to
16 subsection 4.
17 3. A person hosting, conducting, or otherwise facilitating
18 a billiard or pool tournament subject to this section shall not
19 charge a participant in a tournament to challenge what group
20 another participant should be included in.
21 4. The department shall make available on its internet site
22 a system to allow individuals to report potential violations of
23 this section.
24 5. The department may assess a civil penalty for a violation
25 of this section in an amount not to exceed five thousand
26 dollars for each violation. The provisions of section 99B.4
27 shall not apply to a violation of this section.
28 6. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A
29 to administer and interpret this section.
30 EXPLANATION
31 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
32 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
33 This bill relates to certain billiard or pool tournaments.
34 The bill creates new Code section 99B.33. The bill prohibits
35 a person from hosting, conducting, or otherwise facilitating
LSB 1842XS (3) 89
-2- jda/rn 2/4
 S.F. 247
1 a billiard or pool tournament in this state with at least 64
2 tournament participants without first obtaining a license from
3 the department of inspections and appeals.
4 The bill authorizes the department to issue an annual
5 license for a tournament upon receipt of an application and
6 a fee of $100. The bill requires the application to include
7 the name, phone number, electronic mail address, and physical
8 address of the applicant.
9 The bill authorizes the department to renew an annual
10 license for a tournament upon receipt of an application and a
11 fee of $100. The bill requires the application to include:
12 the name, phone number, electronic mail address, and physical
13 address of the applicant; the number of tournaments the
14 applicant conducted the previous year; for each tournament
15 conducted during the previous calendar year, the names of the
16 top five finishers in each group; for each tournament conducted
17 during the previous calendar year, the amount of prize money
18 the applicant paid to the top five finishers in each group;
19 and for each tournament conducted during the previous calendar
20 year, the amount of money the applicant charged participants to
21 participate in the tournament.
22 The bill requires a person hosting, conducting, or otherwise
23 facilitating a tournament to do all of the following: organize
24 participants in the tournament into groups based on the skill
25 level of the participants; pay out in prizes to participants
26 during each tournament at least 80 percent of the total entry
27 fees; if the tournament includes participants competing as
28 a team, register the team in the group corresponding to the
29 group in which the participant with the highest skill level
30 on the team would compete individually; and publish certain
31 information on the person’s internet site related to the
32 participants in the tournament and information related to the
33 department.
34 The bill prohibits a person hosting, conducting, or
35 otherwise facilitating a tournament from charging a participant
LSB 1842XS (3) 89
-3- jda/rn 3/4
 S.F. 247
1 to challenge what group another participant should be included
2 in.
3 The bill requires the department to make available on its
4 internet site a system to allow individuals to report potential
5 violations of new Code section 99B.3.
6 The bill authorizes the department to assess a civil penalty
7 for a violation of new Code section 99B.3 in an amount not to
8 exceed $5,000 for each violation. The bill provides that the
9 provisions of Code section 99B.4, which provides additional
10 penalties, shall not apply to a violation of new Code section
11 99B.3. Pursuant to new Code section 99B.3, a violation of
12 new Code section 99B.33 may lead to the department denying,
13 suspending, or revoking a license issued pursuant to new
14 Code section 99B.33. Additionally, if the person hosting,
15 conducting, or otherwise facilitating a tournament has been
16 issued a liquor control license, a violation of new Code
17 section 99B.33 could lead to suspension of the liquor control
18 license.
19 The bill grants the department the authority to adopt
20 rules to administer and interpret the bill. If interpretive
21 rulemaking authority is clearly vested in the discretion of an
22 agency by statute, the applicable judicial standard of review
23 is whether the rules constitute an irrational, illogical, or
24 wholly unjustifiable interpretation of law by the agency (Code
25 section 17A.19(10)(l)). If interpretive rulemaking authority
26 is not clearly vested in the discretion of an agency, the
27 applicable judicial standard of review is whether the rules
28 constitute an erroneous interpretation of law (Code section
29 17A.19(10)(c)).
LSB 1842XS (3) 89
-4- jda/rn 4/4