§3057 Rule Violations and Civil Sanctions

Summary

The Authority must create rules that list safety, performance, and anti-doping/medication-control violations for horses and people covered by the program. The rules can make trainers strictly responsible when a horse tests positive for a banned drug, has too much of a legal drug, or misuses allowed methods. They can also cover attempted use or possession, giving or trying to give drugs, refusing a sample, not helping or lying to investigators, tampering (like interfering with officials, giving false information, or intimidating witnesses), trafficking, helping or hiding violations, and threatening people to stop them from reporting problems. Not later than 120 days before the program effective date, the Authority must set lab accreditation standards, testing protocols, and the steps to become and stay accredited. The anti-doping and medication control enforcement agency will run accreditation and audits and can send special tests to expert labs. The Authority may give temporary accreditation to labs already accredited by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, Inc. States can pick an accredited lab to test their samples; if they don’t, the Authority will pick one. By that same deadline the Authority must also set rules for handling test results and discipline, including notice, hearings, proof rules, evidence, appeals, confidentiality, and fair process with neutral decision-makers. The Authority must create uniform civil penalties that fit horse racing, protect fair races, and deter cheating. Penalties may include lifetime bans, returning purse money, fines, and changing race results. For anti-doping cases, rules may let people reduce penalties in a way similar to the chance USADA gives under its Olympic testing protocol. The Authority can propose rule changes and send them to the Commission for review.