Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority

In a virtual town hall Monday, representatives from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority outlined, and took stakeholder questions on, the revised "Racetrack Safety" rules that have just gone into effect. The main rule revisions and modifications apply to intra-articular injections and to vets' listings. An online "handbook" of the new rules can be accessed here. The following are some of the primary points raised during Monday's hour-long session, and in the materials available online. Joint Injections The updated rules on intra-articular injections are significantly stricter than what...

On the back of Tuesday's decision in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denying a motion by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority for that court to vacate its recent opinion that the law is unconstitutional, the Texas Racing Commission (TXRC) has reopened the door for Texas tracks to beam their signals out-of-state, with Sam Houston set to begin this Friday. Last year, the TXRC argued that it was statutorily barred from joining HISA, and because the enabling federal legislation gave the HISA Authority regulatory jurisdiction over the...

by Sue Finley and T. D. Thornton This story has been updated. The Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied a motion by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority for that court to vacate its recent opinion that HISA is unconstitutional. Back on Jan. 3, the HISA Authority had asked for the Fifth Circuit's Nov. 18, 2022, anti-constitutionality order to be vacated based on a federal rewrite of the HISA law in December. Also on Tuesday, separate motions for a rehearing of the case made...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will now hear oral arguments Aug. 30--slightly earlier than expected--in the injunction appeal brought by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority (HISA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Both entities are defendants in an underlying lawsuit that alleges unconstitutionality and federal rulemaking procedure violations regarding HISA's initial framework of regulations that went into effect July 1. The Appeals Court docket previously indicated a September oral argument date was being planned. At issue in the appeal is whether a lower...

Led by 14 affiliates of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) and four racetracks, an alliance of entities seeking protection from the alleged harms of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority (HISA) have asked a federal judge to allow them to participate in an existing lawsuit that claims HISA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) violated the Fourth and Seventh Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, plus the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations. On Friday, the anti-HISA parties filed what is known as a "motion...

The legal rabbit hole deepened on Tuesday in one of four lawsuits designed to derail the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority (HISA), pulling jockeys Drayden Van Dyke, Miguel Vazquez and Edwin Gonzalez into the fray as plaintiffs alleged new harms resulting from rule enforcement they believe is in contempt of a court order. Plaintiffs led by Louisiana, West Virginia, and the Jockeys' Guild moved for a federal judge to issue an immediate order to enforce its July 26 injunction to keep Guild-member jockeys from being subject to HISA rules...

The plaintiff states of Louisiana and West Virginia won a preliminary injunction in federal court Tuesday that will keep the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority's rules from being implemented in those two states until a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of HISA gets decided in full. "This court believes the threatened harm to Plaintiffs outweighs any harm that may result to the Defendants and that a preliminary injunction will not undermine the public interest," wrote Judge Terry Doughty of U.S. District Court (Western District of Louisiana). "This Court is...