Gaming Control Bill Clears Major Hurdle : Legislature: Panel agrees to compromise measure that would establish a state commission to regulate the card club industry.

SACRAMENTO —  Legislation to establish a powerful gaming control commission to regulate California’s booming $7.5-billion-a-year card club industry cleared a major hurdle Friday.

The sweeping proposal was approved by a joint Assembly-Senate conference committee and sent to the floors of both houses for consideration by Wednesday, the final day of the legislative session.

The heavily lobbied compromise bill is the result of two weeks of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations featuring an unlikely set of players, including Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) and Republican Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

“This is a very strong regulatory reform proposal,” said Hayden, who is co-authoring the measure with Democratic Assemblymen Curtis Tucker Jr. of Inglewood and Phillip Isenberg of Sacramento.

Now, the state’s 265 clubs are loosely regulated by local governments and a three-person unit in Lungren’s office.

The bill would set up a larger gaming control division in Lungren’s office to investigate card club applicants, enforce the state’s gambling laws, and establish a five-member commission to approve card club licenses and discipline club operators.

Under strict conflict-of-interest provisions, the commissioners would be prohibited from employment in the gaming industry for 10 years before appointment and for three years after serving on the panel.

Another reform provision is intended to limit the influence of campaign contributions from gaming sources by restricting the donations made by card rooms to candidates for attorney general and local card club initiatives.

Under the Legislature’s rules, the proposal had to be approved by the committee by Friday. For much of the day, the proposal’s fate was up in the air as lawmakers wrestled with who would appoint the commissioners.

By evening, they broke the deadlock by agreeing to allow Gov. Pete Wilson to name three members and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and the Senate Rules Committee to name one apiece.

The measure also would prevent an undue concentration of clubs by restricting new clubs from starting within five miles of existing card rooms in Los Angeles County. The bill’s backers said this would not restrict development of a contemplated casino in Downtown Los Angeles.

As an accommodation to Hayden, several disputed provisions were stripped from the bill. They would have placed a cap on the number of new card tables in Los Angeles County and for the first time would have allowed publicly traded companies to own card clubs in California.

However, Hollywood Park is expected to push another bill that would allow public firms to own card clubs in California. A card club recently opened at the Inglewood racetrack, but because Hollywood Park is a public corporation, it must lease the facility to a concessionaire.

The members of the committee who agreed to the compromise were Hayden, Tucker, Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Ken Maddy (R-Fresno).