Sponsors
The bill offers uniform, science‑based national standards and a compacted pathway for interstate wagering that could improve horse welfare and race integrity and expand markets for participating States, but it does so by imposing new costs, concentrating regulatory power, increasing legal and privacy risks for participants, and creating uneven access and potential safety harms for non‑member States and vulnerable populations.
Covered horses, owners, trainers, racetracks, and bettors gain nationwide, science‑based medication, safety, and testing standards (RHSO) that increase consistency of testing, improve equine welfare, and strengthen race integrity.
State governments and racing regulators get clearer statutory definitions and a compact framework that restores and clarifies state regulatory authority and provides a path for coordinated interstate wagering.
Racetracks and wagering businesses in States that join the compact can accept interstate electronic off‑track and advance‑deposit wagers, expanding market access and potential revenues for tracks and associated small businesses.
State commissions, racetracks, owners, and trainers will face new startup fees, ongoing charges, and compliance costs to meet uniform RHSO standards and accreditation requirements, likely increasing operating costs and possibly raising fees for participants and taxpayers.
Repealing the federal Authority's national anti‑doping/medication program risks less uniform drug testing and inconsistent medication oversight across States, potentially undermining race integrity and horse safety while shifting enforcement burdens to resource-limited state commissions.
The bill concentrates regulatory power (preemption by RHSO rules, reserved seats for large racing States, industry appointments, and exemptions from certain oversight laws), which could reduce State autonomy, limit smaller States' influence, and increase risks of industry capture or biased rulemaking.
Based on analysis of 16 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the federal horseracing law and creates a State-led interstate compact (RHSO) to set drug, safety, and discipline rules for three racing breeds and tie wagering to compact membership.
Introduced May 14, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress May 14, 2025
Repeals the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 and replaces it with a state-led interstate compact to govern drug control, racetrack safety, and disciplinary rules for Thoroughbred, Standardbred, and Quarter Horse racing. It creates the Racehorse Health and Safety Organization (RHSO) — a board of state racing commissioners and breed/industry-appointed committees — to write and enforce medication-control, racetrack safety, and disciplinary rules, and it conditions interstate off-track wagering on State membership in the compact. The bill sets detailed definitions, board composition and appointment rules, scientific medication control committees for each breed, a racetrack safety committee, prohibited conduct and sanctioning processes (including lifetime bans and purse disgorgement), conflict-of-interest and recusal rules, and phased effective dates (including a two-year or compact-formation trigger for most provisions).