Will Clarity Emerge from Texas Meeting?

The immediate future of Texas racing–cloaked in the long-running, difficult-to-understand political odyssey of whether historical race gaming should be legal at the state's tracks–is what's at stake at a Thursday Texas Racing Commission meeting, where the agenda consists primarily of “A, B and C” contingency items about historical racing that have the potential to cancel each other out.

Or not.

The outcome chiefly depends on whether the nine-member commission deadlocks in a 4-4 tie like it did the last time a repeal of historical racing was voted upon. One member of the board, the Texas state comptroller, is an ex-officio commission member who has thus far abstained from casting a vote on the controversial rules.

In truncated form, the issue is this: In 2014, the racing commission enacted rules that would legalize historical racing–slot machine-like betting on already-run horse races that have been stripped of identifying markers. The machines, though, have never been operational at any Texas track.

Soon after the rules were passed, a state district judge ruled that the games needed legislative approval. Over the past 18 months, the commission's rules have remained in place, the racing industry fought the court ruling, and some elected officials grew angry that the commission refused to repeal the rules in lieu of allowing legislators to vote on the issue.

Seemingly in retaliation, some lawmakers have made the commission's 2016 operating budget conditional upon a repeal of historical racing rules. Without that budget, the commission can't function, and without commission oversight, Texas horse and greyhound tracks won't be able to race or simulcast once the commission's funding runs out at the end of February.

The commission had a potential repeal of historical racing rules scheduled for its Feb. 9 agenda. But immediately before that meeting, a state district judge served the Texas Racing Commission with a temporary restraining order (TRO) that kept the agency from voting on the issue. The restraining order stemmed from a lawsuit by the Texas Greyhound Association (TGA), which does not want historical racing repealed.

A court hearing on the TRO was also originally supposed to take place on Thursday, two hours before the commission's 10:30 a.m. meeting. But Robert Elrod, the racing commission's public information officer, told TDN Wednesday that he doesn't think the hearing is going to happen, because “my understanding is that [TGA] dropped the lawsuit.”

Complicating matters further, the jurisdiction of the court hearing for the TRO has been switched since last week. The court clerk where the TRO originated didn't know the status of the hearing, and no one answered the phone at the new clerk's office on Wednesday when TDN repeatedly called to inquire if the TRO is still valid.

“We don't know exactly what the status of the TRO is right now, but I don't think it's in effect,” Elrod said. “As of now we're planning on having the meeting.”

So now on to trying to make sense of Thursday's agenda:

Item A is headed “Adoption of Amendments and Adoption of Repeals of Rules Related to Historical Racing as published in the Jan. 1, 2016, edition of the Texas Register.” It involves switching back a number Texas racing rules to preserve language as it existed before references to historical racing were added in two years ago. Once votes are taken on whether or not to switch back the wording, a separate vote is scheduled on repealing historical racing altogether.

A repeal of historical racing rules theoretically means funding would come through for the commission, but it's not automatic. The finding approval, if it's forthcoming, would be handed down by the Texas Legislative Budget Board.

“If A passes, and they repeal the rules, then B and C are a moot point,” Elrod said. “If they don't pass the repeal, that means the rules stay on the book. Then we would go down to B.”

Item B is headed “Withdrawal of Proposed Repeal of Rule 321.705, Request to Conduct Historical Racing, as published in the Jan. 1, 2016, edition of the Texas Register.”

This gets the proposed repeal off the books so it can't come up for a vote again, Elrod explained.

Item C is headed: “Proposal to Amend Rule 321.705, Request to Conduct Historical Racing. If approved by the Commission, this new proposal will be published in the Texas Register for public comment.”

This puts the concept of historical racing back into play, but a new amendment includes the stipulation that the historical racing rules can't be enacted by the commission until late next year.

Elrod's plain-language explanation of what happens if C attains a passing vote: “They would withdraw that [initial] rule proposal, and republish a new one for 30 days of public comment… That particular rule proposal, what it would do is change the language to read, 'The Commission shall not consider or approve any request to conduct historical racing under this section until after Sept. 1, 2017.'”