89R3256 BEE-D
By: Menéndez S.B. No. 171
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of a lottery game to benefit the child-care
services program administered by the Texas Workforce Commission.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 466, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 466.0265 to read as follows:
Sec. 466.0265. GAME SUPPORTING TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION
CHILD-CARE SERVICES PROGRAM. (a) The commission shall operate an
instant-ticket lottery game to benefit the child-care services
program administered by the Texas Workforce Commission.
(b) The commission shall:
(1) determine the ticket price, payout amounts, and
manner in which the game is conducted;
(2) to the extent practicable, continuously make
available for sale tickets to the game; and
(3) change the design or theme of the game regularly to
ensure the game remains competitive with other instant-ticket
lottery games the commission offers.
(c) The commission shall market and advertise the lottery
game operated under this section in a manner intended to inform the
public the game tickets are available for purchase and the game
proceeds are used to fund the child-care services program
administered by the Texas Workforce Commission. The game tickets
must clearly state the game proceeds are used to benefit the
child-care services program administered by the Texas Workforce
Commission. The Texas Workforce Commission may submit
recommendations to the Texas Lottery Commission relating to the
marketing and advertising of the game.
(d) The commission shall encourage each sales agent that
sells tickets to instant-ticket games or similar types of lottery
games to sell tickets to the game operated under this section.
SECTION 2. Section 466.355(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) Money in the state lottery account may be used only for
the following purposes and shall be distributed as follows:
(1) the payment of prizes to the holders of winning
tickets;
(2) the payment of costs incurred in the operation and
administration of the lottery, including any fees received by a
lottery operator, provided that the costs incurred in a fiscal
biennium may not exceed an amount equal to 12 percent of the gross
revenue accruing from the sale of tickets in that biennium;
(3) the establishment of a pooled bond fund, lottery
prize reserve fund, unclaimed prize fund, and prize payment
account; and
(4) the balance, after creation of a reserve
sufficient to pay the amounts needed or estimated to be needed under
Subdivisions (1) through (3), to be transferred on or before the
15th day of each month as follows:
(A) the portion of the balance attributable to
the lottery game operated under:
(i) Section 466.0265 to the general revenue
fund for appropriation only to fund the child-care services program
administered by the Texas Workforce Commission; and
(ii) Section 466.027 to the fund for
veterans' assistance established by Section 434.017; and
(B) the remainder to the foundation school fund.
SECTION 3. Section 466.408(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) If a claim is not made for prize money on or before the
180th day after the date on which the winner was selected, the prize
money shall be used in the following order of priority:
(1) subject to legislative appropriation, not more
than $20 million in prize money each year may be deposited to the
Department of State Health Services state-owned multicategorical
teaching hospital account, which is an account in the general
revenue fund, or appropriated from that account to provide indigent
health care services as specified in Chapter 61, Health and Safety
Code;
(2) not more than $5 million in prize money each year
may be appropriated to the Health and Human Services Commission and
shall be used to support the provision of inpatient hospital
services in hospitals located in the 15 counties that comprise the
Texas-Mexico border area, with payment for those services to be not
less than the amount established under the Tax Equity and Fiscal
Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) cost reimbursement methodology
for the hospital providing the services;
(3) [the remaining amount,] not more than [to exceed]
$5 million in prize money in each state fiscal year less any amount
deposited in the fund in that year attributable to the lottery game
operated under Section 466.027[,] shall be deposited to the fund
for veterans' assistance; [and]
(4) the remaining amount, not to exceed $5 million in
prize money in each state fiscal year less any amount deposited to
the general revenue fund under Section 466.355(b)(4)(A)(i) in that
year attributable to the lottery game operated under Section
466.0265, shall be deposited to the general revenue fund for
appropriation only to fund the child-care services program
administered by the Texas Workforce Commission; and
(5) all prize money subject to this section and not
deposited or appropriated in accordance with Subdivision (1), (2),
[or] (3), or (4) shall be deposited to the credit of the foundation
school fund.
SECTION 4. (a) Section 466.355, Government Code, as
amended by this Act, applies only to a transfer from the state
lottery account made on or after the effective date of this Act.
(b) The Texas Lottery Commission shall establish and begin
selling tickets to the lottery game as required by Section
466.0265, Government Code, as added by this Act, not later than
March 2, 2026.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.