decoupling bill

The Florida Legislature's 2026 regular session concluded with decoupling legislation again failing to reach Governor Ron DeSantis's desk, according to a press release from the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association on Friday. HB881 passed the House but companion bill SB1564 never received a hearing in the Senate. A special session is expected to finalize the state budget. Lonny Powell, the FTBOA's CEO, said in a statement that, "Decoupling has stalled again. Once more, the FTBOA and our industry partners defended Florida's Thoroughbred industry. We thank the industry partners who...

The Florida House of Representatives on Feb. 11 passed the controversial decoupling bill backed by Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs that would allow either track to cease live racing while retaining their respective casino and card-room privileges. The 77-34 decoupling vote was largely split along party lines, with Republicans mostly in favor of it and Democrats mostly against it. The roll call came at the very end of a four-hour legislative session on Wednesday, and the eight minutes of discussion preceding its passage consisted of only one representative speaking...

The Florida House of Representatives on Friday passed controversial Thoroughbred decoupling legislation by a 70-34 vote at 6:10 p.m. HB 167 is a wide-ranging gaming bill, but the only section of it that came up for debate during the Apr. 25 legislative session was the decoupling aspect. As passed by the House, the bill would remove a statutory requirement that Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs run a minimum number of live Thoroughbred races in order to operate the respective casino and card room at each venue. The language of...

A Senate committee advanced Florida's controversial decoupling bill at a Tuesday hearing after amending the legislation so that the effective date for removing the live racing requirement for Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs to operate their respective casino and card room would be seven years instead of the five years that appears in the amended companion House bill. After absorbing more than two hours of testimony--almost all of it from Thoroughbred trainers, owners, breeders, sales company officials, veterinarians and other industry workers speaking out against the bill--Senator Jennifer Bradley...

Florida's polarizing decoupling legislation, which would remove a statutory requirement that Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs run a minimum number of live Thoroughbred races in order to operate the respective casino and card room at each venue, recently had its first reading in the House of Representatives and remains pending at the committee level in the Senate. The bill has the backing and was launched at the impetus of Gulfstream's corporate owner, The Stronach Group (TSG). But in a solidarity twist that supersedes his family's business ties, 92-year-old Frank...

Damon Thayer, who recently completed a 22-year tenure in the Kentucky State Senate, delivered the keynote address Tuesday at the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association Convention in Safety Harbor, Florida. With a theme of "cooperation is always better than extinction," Thayer's 35-minute address focused on the importance of horsemen in every racing jurisdiction building relationships with their state legislators. "It's mind-boggling what a legislator has to absorb every day, and if an industry isn't aligned, the easiest thing for a legislator to do is to wash their hands of...