Senate Bill S817

                                BILL NUMBER:S817

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, in relation
to establishing an account to promote the standardbred breeding industry

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide a secure, stable funding stream from the Agriculture and
New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund to support the
education, promotion and protection of the standardbred breeding
industry.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 332 Racing, Pari-mutuel Wagering and Breeding law is amended
to provide a percentage of funding from the Agriculture and New York
State Horse Breeding Development Fund to enhance the educational,
administrative and promotional efforts of the Harness Horse Breeders
of New York state.

JUSTIFICATION:
The New York Sire Stakes program established in 1961, was created by
the Harness Horse Breeders of New York State (HHBNY) and was the
first program of its kind developed in North America and later became
the model for state-bred racing programs in nearly all of the major
harness racing states and provinces on the continent. HHBNY was also
              

instrumental in establishing the Agriculture and New York State Horse
Breeding Development Fund, which collects a portion of handle to
redistribute to state-bred horses through the New York Sire Stakes
program. Under the leadership of the Fund and in concert with HHBNY,
purses for the New York Sire Stakes have grown from $300,000 in 1961
to over $13 million today.

HHBNY has a longstanding history of planning and managing the New York
Sire Stakes racing program, while working to educate the public about
standardbred breeding and racing in New York. For almost 50 years,
the Fund has contracted with the organization to perform many of
these critical functions, but the annual contracting process has
become time consuming,cumbersome and has led to drastically reduced
funding for HHBNY. This in turn has forced the organization to layoff
staff and curtail their crucial duties. This bill seeks to remove
HHBNY from yearly contract uncertainty and provide a steady, secure
funding stream from the Fund to the organization so that they can
best fulfill their longstanding and critical duties.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S.3290 2011-12  REFERRED TO RACING, GAMING AND WAGERING
S.7437 2010-11  REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT:
None to the General Fund.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.