Sponsors (5)
The bill builds a coordinated, breed‑specific regulatory framework and enables interstate wagering for participating States that should improve safety, testing accuracy, and market access for member participants — but it shifts substantial compliance, administrative, and legal burdens onto States, racetracks, and small industry participants while creating potential conflicts of interest and uneven protections for non‑member States and individuals.
State racing commissions, race participants (owners, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians), racetracks, and bettors get clearer, uniform definitions and rules (including who is 'covered' and what wagering types are) that simplify compliance across member States and visiting participants.
Covered horses and racing participants benefit from stronger health and safety measures — breed‑specific medication standards, coordinated medication control, standardized safety protocols, an injury/health database, and clearer drug prohibitions — which should improve horse welfare and reduce some injuries and cheating.
Racetracks and wagering operators in States that join the interstate compact gain legal ability to offer interstate electronic wagering and access out‑of‑state customers (with model consent language reducing legal uncertainty), expanding market opportunities for participating businesses.
Small-business owners, racetracks, owners, trainers, and State racing commissions face substantial new compliance, testing, accreditation, fee, and administrative costs across multiple provisions — increasing operating expenses for an already thin‑margin industry and shifting costs to States and local taxpayers.
By removing federal enforcement and relying on State/regional approaches (including an interstate compact), the bill risks creating a patchwork of standards and uneven anti‑doping/safety protections across States, exposing horses, participants, and bettors to variable safety and integrity outcomes.
Covered persons (trainers, owners, other participants) face expanded enforcement powers, subpoenas, a rebuttable presumption of liability with tight deadlines, potential criminal referrals, and reputational harms from reporting and disclosures, raising legal risk and defense costs.
Based on analysis of 16 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act and creates a State-run interstate compact to form the RHSO, which sets medication, safety, and enforcement rules for covered horse racing.
Introduced May 14, 2025 by Clay Higgins · Last progress May 14, 2025
Creates a new state-driven, multistate regulatory structure for thoroughbred, standardbred, and quarter horse racing by repealing the existing federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act and replacing it with an interstate-compact model. It authorizes States to join a compact that forms the Racehorse Health and Safety Organization (RHSO) to write and enforce breed-specific medication-control and racetrack-safety rules, set investigative and adjudicative procedures, and regulate interstate off-track and advance-deposit wagering subject to the Interstate Horseracing Act. The bill sets detailed governance rules for the RHSO (board composition, committees, conflict-of-interest standards), creates scientific medication-control and racetrack-safety committees with industry and technical experts, defines prohibited drug and conduct rules and remedies (including lifetime bans and fines), and phases in effectiveness based on State participation and a two-year timeline with certain parts taking effect immediately upon enactment.