The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) has formally asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to set aside and temporarily not approve drug control and anti-doping rules set forth by the Safety Authority. and Horse Racing Integrity (HISA) proposal until the constitutionality of the HISA Act Association is decided by the Court.
“This has nothing to do with wanting unified rules or having a central rule-making body, two things that ARCI advocates for,” said Ed Martin, ARCI President. “All of this involves avoiding a situation where an enforcement action is dropped because the enforcement authority’s authority to act is in question. Full sport exposure could be avoided by keeping current state rules and enforcement in place until this issue is resolved.”
The ARCI board voted unanimously to make the same request in early December, and the FTC shortly thereafter rejected the proposed HISA rules without affecting the rationale for the underlying legal uncertainty. With the Fifth Circuit Court’s rejection earlier this week of HISA’s petition based on recently made changes to the Act, the possibility of regulatory chaos remains.
The records made today read as follows:
“ARCI asks the FTC to again reject the Rule or at least withhold the decision until all legal challenges to the Act are finally adjudicated. As you may know, aside from the federal court case that led to the Fifth Circuit ruling, other lawsuits that raise important questions about the legality and constitutionality of the Act are still ongoing. waiting to be resolved. In addition, after HISA resubmitted the proposed Rules, the Fifth Circuit denied HISA and the FTC’s requests to set aside the previous court ruling and request a retrial, which means two it is important: (1) by authorization of the Fifth Round, the preliminary injunction prohibiting HISA enforcement in the Fifth Round states will return to full effect and no longer remain; and (2) the Fifth Round’s decision that the Act is unconstitutional will be effective for the time being.
Once again, the FTC is in a unique position to restore some degree of regulatory certainty to the horse racing industry. It should do so by quickly and publicly announcing what it determined a few weeks ago – that it will not approve HISA’s proposed rules at this time. A decision to the contrary would be too costly, as it would lead to regulatory uncertainty, exacerbate existing confusion in the horse racing industry, and seriously harm the public interest. “
If the FTC approves the HISA rules and penalties are imposed on violations of those rules, the action can be appealed and potentially overturned and removed as a result of a discovery in the Round. race Thursday that HISA is unconstitutional.
Likewise, if a racing commission enforces an applicable State anti-doping rule and the penalties applicable to the violation are appealed using the argument that the federal rule prevents the conduct state action, the possibility that it could be reversed also exists.
The only way to avoid this Catch-22 is to keep state rules and enforcement intact by delaying final action on HISA ADMC rules.
ARCI has not taken a position on the pending litigation, although several member states have been suing over the constitutionality of the Act. In August, Martin urged HISA to sit down with all litigants and negotiate an exit. That didn’t happen.
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