SSB 1061 – Wine Direct Shipping Bonding Requirements
SSB 1063– Campaign Finance
SSB 1068– Fantasy Sports
COMMITTEE ACTION:
SSB 1061 states that a wine manufacturer that has submitted a bond under 123.175 sub 3 as part of an application for a class “A” wine permit is not required to also provide a bond in an application for a wine direct shipper license under 123.187. 123.175 sub 3 deals with a class “A” wine permit. It requires a $5,000 bond with good and sufficient sureties to be approved by the Alcohol and Beverages Division in order to be in compliance. 123.187 sub 2C requires a $5,000 bond for the direct shipment of wine. [2/2: 12-0 (Chapman, Feenstra, McCoy excused)]
SSB 1063 relates to campaign finance by requiring electronic filing of certain statements and reports, and raising the minimum dollar amounts that trigger certain regulations. Beginning January 1, 2016, certain candidate and political committees will need to file all statements and reports with the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board in an electronic format.
The minimum dollar amounts for contributions that trigger certain regulations are raised. A person receiving a contribution is required to keep the name and address of each person making a contribution in excess of $25. Current law limits these requirements to contributions in excess of $10.
The bill also changes the definition of “candidate committee,” “county statutory political committee” and “political committee” by raising the minimum qualifying amounts of contributions, expenditures or indebtedness to amounts in excess of $1,000 (current law is in excess of $750). Current law provides that certain permanent organizations can make a one-time contribution to one candidate for office in excess of $750. The bill changes that amount to $1,000.
Current law further provides that an independent expenditure means one or more expenditures in excess of $750 in the aggregate for a communication expressly advocating the nomination, election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate; or the passage or defeat of a ballot issue that is made without the prior approval or coordination with a candidate, candidate’s committee or a ballot issue committee. The bill, however, provides that an independent expenditure requires one or more of such expenditures in excess of $1,000 in the aggregate.
The Senate passed a similar bill (SF 2119) on March 3, 2014, by a vote of 45 to 3. The House passed SF 2119 out of the House State Government Committee in 2014, but no further action was taken. [2/2: 10-0 (Chapman, Feenstra, McCoy excused)]
SSB 1068 authorizes the paying of awards and prizes to participants in fantasy sports contests. The definition of bona fide contests (99B.11) is amended to provide that a fantasy or simulation sports contest is a bona fide contest, allowing the payment of awards to persons winning the contest, if certain conditions are met. A fantasy sports contest is a bona fide contest if all prizes and awards offered to winning participants are established and made known in advance of the contest, all winning outcomes reflect the relative knowledge of skill of the participants and are determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of the performance of individuals in multiple actual sporting events, and no winning outcome is based on the score, or performance of any actual team or combination of such teams or solely on any single performance of an individual athlete in any single actual sporting or other event. [2/4: 13-1 (Johnson “no”; Chapman excused)]