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House subcommittee advances bill to subject COAM rulemaking to Administrative Procedures Act
Summary
The House Lottery Oversight and Gaming Subcommittee voted to pass House Bill 74, which would require the Georgia Lottery Commission’s COAM division to follow the Administrative Procedures Act, including public hearings and legislative committee review of rule changes.
The Lottery Oversight and Gaming Subcommittee of the Georgia House Regulated Industries Committee voted to pass House Bill 74, which would require the coin-operated amusement machine (COAM) division of the Georgia Lottery Commission to comply with the Administrative Procedures Act and hold public hearings on rule changes.
Chairman Alan Powell presented the bill, saying, “the lottery commission has full control of the COAM industry.” Powell told the subcommittee the bill would ensure that rulemaking affecting the industry is subject to the Administrative Procedures Act, which he said would require public hearings and submission of rule changes to the legislature’s regulated industries committee and the Senate’s economic development committee.
The bill's text, as explained by Powell, fixes what he described as a drafting error in last year’s legislation (House Bill 353) that left the COAM rulemaking status inconsistent in different provisions. “What happened on this was somehow there was a scribe error or typo or something that it put them under in 1 sentence and took them out in another,” Powell said. He asked the committee for “favorable consideration.”
A member moved to pass the bill and a second was made; the subcommittee approved House Bill 74 by voice vote. The subcommittee recorded that the bill will be “signed up and sent on the rules” committee for scheduling.
House Bill 74 was presented as a targeted fix rather than a broad policy overhaul; Powell said he did not “perceive this to be a vehicle bill.” The subcommittee did not provide a roll-call vote or numerical tally in the transcript; the approval was recorded as a voice vote and the chair announced, “the ayes have it.”
If enacted, the change would subject COAM-related rulemaking to the state’s Administrative Procedures Act requirements for notice, public comment and committee review, a procedural change proponents said would increase transparency in how the COAM industry is regulated. The subcommittee chair said the bill will appear on the calendar next week after being processed through Rules.
Votes at a glance House Bill 74 (LC 2806 45) — Motion to pass: approved by voice vote; mover and seconder not specified in the transcript; no numerical tally recorded. The subcommittee directed that the bill be signed up and sent to Rules.
