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August 20, 2008 Make Your Voice Heard TODAY! SB1369 is a Senate Bill being pushed through in the final week of the California legislative session without public input or hearings. It will seriously hurt nonprofit charitable bingo games. If passed SB1369 will destroy charitable bingo as we currently know it. It is a special interest bill being pushed by the gaming tribes in the State, Catholic Church, Elks Club and the California Association of Nonprofits. California Association of Nonprofits (CANP) has supported this without conversations with most if not all charitable bingo games. They claim to represent non-profits and they DO NOT. They obviously have decided to support only few powerful charities while helping to devastate the majority of community based long running non-profits. SB1369 started out as a bill addressing student lunches and was gutted and amended on August 18, 2008 to allow something they are calling "remote caller bingo". This would allow certain organizations to link their statewide facilities together via satellite, cable, internet, etc. to play games with jackpots reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars. We believe this is an unwarranted and unnecessary expansion of bingo for a select few. This in essence would only make "remote bingo" possible for churches and clubs. Most community bingo games could NOT participate because they do not have existing multiple locations. Hundreds of bingo halls across the State would not be allowed to use this technology because of the exclusivity of the SB1369 language and would be run out of business quickly. The tribes are supporting the bill because it also does away with all forms of electronic bingo currently being used in the charitable halls. Charitable bingo is not a threat to the tribes and yet they want more and more. We support Indian self-reliance. But why do they want to put our GREAT hard working charities out of business? What is fair about any of this? Who will replace the revenue distributed by local charities? Unfortunately the answer is no one. So this is a double hit for all charities. Electronic bingo will be outlawed and traditional paper bingo game will NOW be threatened by MEGA bingo games from the Catholic Church and Elks Clubs. California Association of Nonprofit says it is good for all charities without speaking to any charitable bingo game. IT IS NOT!!! We are asking for is a delay until the next legislative session to give time for all sides to work together to create a workable solution that doesn't cripple some charities for the sake of others. PLEASE pick up the phone and call YOUR Senator and Assembly Member representative TODAY. Call and Fax ALL Senators and Assembly Members. Demand a NO vote on this destructive bill. Call the California Association of Nonprofits to encourage them to work for all California non-profts, not just the select few biggest ones. Darrell Steinberg President of the Senate Assembly Members' Home Pages California Association of Nonprofit Staff List Important Names and Fax and Phone Darrell Steinberg Karen Bass,
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