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The Texas Amusement Machine Commission was originally established in 1971 as the Texas Vending Commission, to enforce the Vending Machine Regulatory Act of 1969. The commission was composed of nine members: three ex officio members (or their representatives) - the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Consumer Credit Commissioner, and the attorney general - and six members appointed by the governor, with the concurrence of the Senate, for overlapping terms of six years. No more than three of the appointed members could be at the time of appointment, or have been at any other time, owners or operators of any coinoperated machine. An executive director was employed by the commission as its chief administrative officer. The commission was to collect an annual occupational tax levied on owners of coinoperated machines, license the operation of these machines, and make rules and regulations for the enforcement and collection of revenues. It could suspend licenses for a period of at least one year for violation of its rules. Regulations also required that owners of music, skill, or any pleasure coinoperated machines not have concurrent financial interests in, or unauthorized dealings with, businesses selling alcoholic beverages. The commission could initiate investigations and hearings and could take other necessary measures to enforce this prohibition, including the initiation of civil proceedings through the attorney general's office. The 1969 act was found unconstitutional, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court of Texas in June 1974. The appointed director claimed that unconstitutional provisions were deliberately written into the act. Even though its regulatory powers were wiped out by the court's decision, the commission was still retained. In 1978 it was renamed as the Texas Amusement Machine Commission and had twenty-two employees. In 1987 it was changed to a six person board with only three appointments by the governor and had twenty-five employees and a $780,000 budget. Although not due for sunset review until 1993, the commission was evidently abolished in 1988.
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The Texas Amusement Machine Commission enforced the Vending Machine Regulatory Act of 1969 by collecting an annual occupational tax levied on owners of coinoperated machines, licensing the operation of these machines, and making rules and regulations for the enforcement and collection of revenues. Records of the commission consist of copies of minutes and agenda, and some support documentation (correspondence and reports), dating 1973-1987, that document the work accomplished by the commission at its meetings.
To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.
These records are arranged in chronological order by State Archives staff.
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(Identify the item), Texas Amusement Machine Commission minutes and agenda. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Processed by Tony Black, January 2006
Editing of description by Rebecca Romanchuk, February 2012
Accession numbers: 1998/228, 2006/090
These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Texas Legislative Reference Library on August 5, 1998; and December 20, 2005.