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Introduced May 14, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress May 14, 2025
The bill centralizes horseracing safety, medication, and wagering rules through an interstate RHSO to create uniform, science-based standards and expanded interstate betting opportunities for member States—but it does so at the cost of new compliance expenses, reduced state autonomy, governance and transparency risks, and potential gaps or uneven protections for non‑member States and vulnerable communities.
Racehorses, racetrack workers, and racing participants see more uniform, breed-specific safety and anti-doping standards across member States, which should reduce injuries, fatalities, and performance-enhancing drug use.
Owners, trainers, jockeys, and racetracks get clearer legal definitions and consistent breed-specific medication rules, reducing uncertainty about compliance when racing in member States.
States that join the interstate compact can authorize interstate electronic transmission for off‑track and advance‑deposit horserace wagers, expanding market access for betting businesses and bettors in member States.
Owners, trainers, racetracks, veterinarians, and other industry participants face new and potentially significant compliance, accreditation, monitoring, testing, training, and reporting costs and administrative burdens.
Member States cede regulatory autonomy because RHSO rules preempt State laws on covered matters, concentrating policy authority at the interstate body and reducing state regulatory control.
Committee and Board structures (industry-appointed seats, Board removal authority, accreditation control) risk industry capture, conflicts of interest, and entrenched appointees that could bias rulemaking and limit independent oversight.
Based on analysis of 16 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the federal HISA, creates a state-run RHSO under an interstate compact, and sets breed-specific safety, medication-control, and disciplinary rules while limiting interstate wagering to compact members.
Repeals the existing federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act and replaces it with a state-run system that uses an interstate compact to create a Racehorse Health and Safety Organization (RHSO). The RHSO, governed by a multi‑state board and breed-specific scientific and racetrack safety committees, will set mandatory breed-specific medication, safety, and discipline rules for Thoroughbred, Standardbred, and Quarter Horse racing and manage investigations, sanctions, and appeals. The law also restricts interstate transmission of wagering signals to races in States that join the compact, sets conflict-of-interest and due-process rules for discipline, and phases in most provisions two years after enactment or when at least two States join the compact, with some parts effective sooner or immediately.