How Can HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) be Ready for Implementation?
On January 9, the National HBPA sent the following communication to April Tabor, Secretary of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), regarding the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority’s proposed anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) rule.
Dear Secretary Tabor,
Please find the attached letter from the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA). The letter addresses a recent article from Horse Racing Nation, a well-regarded horseracing news website, who reported that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (“the Authority”) has submitted a proposed anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) rule for approval on an unprecedented accelerated timeframe. Authority CEO Lisa Lazarus is quoted as saying:
“We resubmitted the anti-doping rules. And we’re hopeful and optimistic that we’ll be able to implement them, probably around mid-March,” Lazarus said. “Obviously, it’s dependent on the FTC, when they post in the federal register, when they actually approve them. But that’s our current expectation of what the timeline looks like.” Carolyn Greer, Lazarus is ‘very optimistic’ about federal racing agency’s future, Horse Racing Nation (January 5, 2023).
When this Commission declined the Authority’s proposed ADMC rule the first time, it said the Authority should not submit a similar rule until “the legal uncertainty regarding the Act’s constitutionality comes to be resolved.” ORDER DISAPPROVING THE ANTI-DOPING AND MEDICATION CONTROL RULE (Dec. 12, 2022).
We state in the letter that we believe the legal uncertainty regarding the Act is far from resolved, and the Commission should not presume the outcome of the decisions from the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth or Sixth Circuits. Please review the letter for details, but if the Commission wishes to build trust with participants in the horseracing industry, it should not force transformative rules change onto the industry mid-season and it should not allow potentially unconstitutional/unlawful regulations to become effective. The Commission should wait until the legal cases have been finally resolved as it promised in its Order.
Sincerely,
Eric J. Hamelback
