The Gambling Control Act: regulatory fees.

Removed the requirement that the commission or department adopt and maintain a formal regulation stating the authorized purpose and use of each fee, including program activities funded, categories of costs covered (including shared administrative or support costs), and cost allocation methodology.

The remaining obligation is now simply to post on a public internet website a detailed statement of the need for, purpose of, and authorized use of the fee, including general activities the fee supports and reference to publicly available rulemaking materials. This is a lighter transparency requirement compared to the formal regulation mandate in the prior version.

Removed the provision that prohibited any fee or adjustment to a fee from taking effect until the required regulation was adopted or amended. This was the bill's main enforcement mechanism.

Removed the provision that fees established for licensing activities could not be used to fund nonlicensing activities unless otherwise authorized by statute and identified by regulation.

Removed the provision that revenues from a fee subject to the section must be expended only for the activities and purposes stated in the applicable regulation.

Changed the grandfather clause from excluding fees adopted or amended prior to the effective date of the act to a fixed date of January 1, 2027, giving agencies a specific deadline for compliance with the new requirements.

Changed the trigger language from 'adoption or adjustment' to 'adoption or amendment' when referring to fee changes that trigger the regulatory and posting requirements.

Removed the restriction that nonlicensing regulatory fee revenues cannot be used to fund licensing activities. Only the one-way prohibition remains: licensing fees still cannot fund nonlicensing activities, but nonlicensing fees can now potentially be used for licensing purposes if authorized by statute and identified by regulation.

Deleted the provision (former subdivision (e)) that required the commission and department to implement the section with existing resources and allowed them to use existing fee revenues from the Gambling Control Fund to cover marginal administrative costs of compliance.

In Section 19841.5(a)(1), the phrase 'including any indirect costs' was replaced with 'shared administrative or support costs.' This changes the category of costs that must be itemized in fee regulations from the broader accounting concept of 'indirect costs' to a more specific reference to shared administrative and support costs, which could limit what types of overhead expenses are transparently accounted for in gambling fees.

A clerical duplication error appears in subdivision (c) where 'activities. activities.' is repeated. This is a drafting artifact rather than a substantive policy change.