Relating to the use of unclaimed lottery prize money to benefit the child-care services program administered by the Texas Workforce Commission.

The text as introduced · 458 words

89R5007 BEE-D

By: Menéndez
S.B. No. 738

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the use of unclaimed lottery prize money 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. 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, 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 2. The change in law made by this Act to Section

466.408, Government Code, applies only to an unclaimed prize for a

lottery game for which the winner was selected on or after the

effective date of this Act. An unclaimed prize for which the winner

was selected before the effective date of this Act is governed by

the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this

Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.