Updated: Deal struck to fund state’s horse and greyhound racing regulator
Last edited Tue Sep 1, 2015, 11:55 PM - Edit history (1)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced late Tuesday that he reached an agreement with House leaders to fund the briefly shuttered Texas Racing Commission, allowing track operators to resume racing — and betting — at Texas tracks.
Effective immediately, the authorization permits the commission to operate for the next 90 days, Patrick said. House Appropriations Chairman John Otto, R-Dayton, had held firm until Tuesday evening that the agency should be funded for two years, as is normal, to ensure that races can run in a properly regulated way.
The lack of consensus between the two chambers led to a one-day closure of the commission, which couldn’t operate without funding in the new fiscal year that began Tuesday. Also as a result, six horse and greyhound tracks ceased all betting operations, too.
For Patrick — along with Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound — the move to block funding was a response to the commission’s recent refusal to bow to the Senate leadership’s wishes to repeal a rule to allow a new form of betting called historical racing.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/deal-struck-to-fund-states-horse-and-greyhound-rac/nnWnQ/
Earlier thread:
Texas Racing Commission Closed, Tracks Suspend Races
The Texas Racing Commission ceased operations Tuesday and directed racetracks to stop all live and broadcast racing, according to the agency.
The commission, which regulates dog and horse racing in the state, notified tracks Monday night that it had not received the money necessary to remain open. Texas House and Senate members of the Legislative Budget Board failed to reach an agreement Monday to avert a shutdown.
"I hope and think any shutdown will be brief and temporary," commission spokesman Robert Elrod wrote in an email to reporters late Monday. "In the event of a brief shutdown, the agency has the capability to resume operations very quickly and, if it does come to that, we’ll all be back on the job as soon as possible."
The commission’s $7.7 million annual budget comes from licensing and fees paid by the racetracks, but the budget board must appropriate that money.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/01/racing-commission-closed-tracks-suspend-races/
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