Sponsor
Thomas Bryant Cotton
Senator · R-AR
Senator · R-AR
The bill builds a national, science‑based framework and interstate compact aimed at improving horse welfare, testing, and market access, but it centralizes authority, increases industry compliance costs and legal risks, and creates uneven state-by-state access and oversight tradeoffs.
State racing commissions, racetracks, trainers, owners, and bettors gain a national, science‑based rules body (RHSO), accredited labs, and a shared horse-health/performance database that standardizes medication, safety, and testing practices to improve equine welfare and race integrity.
Clear, uniform statutory definitions and core provisions let state governments, regulators, and industry apply the law consistently across jurisdictions, reducing ambiguity about who and what activities are covered.
The bill restores primary regulatory authority to state racing commissions (removing the prior federal Authority), returning local rulemaking and enforcement control to States.
State racing commissions, racetracks, trainers, and owners face new fees, startup charges, and ongoing compliance costs to meet national accreditation, testing, reporting, and safety requirements, which could be passed on to participants and bettors.
The bill centralizes significant authority in the RHSO (including preemption of State rules within its jurisdiction) and reserves certain committee/board appointments for industry and large racing States, reducing State autonomy and concentrating influence among larger jurisdictions and industry representatives.
Eliminating the prior federal Authority’s national anti‑doping/medication program risks inconsistent drug testing and enforcement across States and shifts enforcement costs and burdens to state commissions that may lack resources, undermining uniform integrity and safety.
Based on analysis of 16 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the federal horseracing safety law and replaces it with a State interstate-compact RHSO to set medication and racetrack safety rules and disciplinary procedures.
Official title: Protect the health and welfare of certain horses and improve the integrity and safety of horseracing by authorizing States to enter into an interstate compact to develop and enforce scientific medication control rules and racetrack safety rules that are uniform for each equine breed, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 14, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress May 14, 2025
Repeals the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act and replaces it with a state-led interstate compact framework to govern racehorse health, medication control, and racetrack safety. The bill creates a Racehorse Health and Safety Organization (RHSO) run by member State racing commissions, establishes breed-specific scientific medication committees and a racetrack safety committee, sets rules for prohibited substances and disciplinary processes, and phases in most provisions two years after enactment or once enough States join the compact.