NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10429
SPONSOR: Woerner TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, in
relation to the New York racing association, and to repeal certain
provisions of such law relating thereto
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide for the transfer of the New York Racing Association (NYRA)
from public to private control.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Repeals subdivision 1 of section 207 of the racing, pari-mu-
tuel wagering and breeding law and replaces it with a new subdivision 1.
This provides for a new NYRA board composed of 15 members as follows: 2
appointed by the Governor; 1 appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly; 1
appointed by the Temporary President of the Senate; 1 to be the Chief
Executive Officer of NYRA; 1 appointed by the New York Thoroughbred
Breeders, Inc. (provided that they approve a NYRA board member on their
board); 1 appointed by the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association
(provided that they approve a NYRA board member on their board); and 8
to be chosen by the Executive Committee of the current NYRA reorganiza-
tional board, of which 1 member each must be from Nassau, Queens and
Saratoga counties. Additionally, it provides for the terms of office of
the members, the standing committees of the NYRA board and the process
for incorporation.
Section 2: Effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Chapter 457 of the Laws of 2012 provided for the transfer of control of
NYRA to a publicly controlled reorganization board which was tasked with
temporarily managing the racing franchise. The time has come for the
board to transition back to private control and this legislation
provides for that transition.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATION:
Minimal to State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect October 18, 2016.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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10429
IN ASSEMBLY
May 27, 2016
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER, PRETLOW -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Racing and Wagering
AN ACT to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, in
relation to the New York racing association, and to repeal certain
provisions of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 207 of the racing, pari-mutuel
2 wagering and breeding law is REPEALED and a new subdivision 1 is added
3 to read as follows:
4 1. a. The board of directors, to be called the New York racing associ-
5 ation board, shall consist of fifteen members, eight of whom shall be
6 elected by the executive committee of the New York racing association
7 reorganization board of which at least one shall be a full time resident
8 of each of Nassau, Queens and Saratoga counties, one shall be the chief
9 executive officer of the New York racing association, two shall be
10 appointed by the governor, one shall be appointed by the temporary pres-
11 ident of the senate, one shall be appointed by the speaker of the assem-
12 bly, one shall be appointed by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.
13 provided that a current board member of the New York racing association
14 shall serve on the board of directors of the New York Thoroughbred
15 Breeders Inc., and one shall be appointed by the New York thoroughbred
16 horsemen's association (or such other entity as is certified and
17 approved pursuant to section two hundred twenty-eight of this article)
18 provided that a current board member of the New York racing association
19 shall serve on the board of directors of the New York thoroughbred
20 horsemen's association (or such other entity as is certified and
21 approved pursuant to section two hundred twenty-eight of this article).
22 (i) The governor shall nominate a member to serve as the first chair,
23 subject to confirmation by majority vote of the board of directors. All
24 members shall have equal voting rights.
25 (ii) In the event of a member vacancy occurring by death, resignation
26 or otherwise, the respective appointing officer or officers shall
27 appoint a successor who shall hold office for the unexpired portion of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15679-01-6
A. 10429 2
1 the term. A vacancy from the members appointed from the present board of
2 the New York racing association reorganization board, shall be filled by
3 the remaining such members.
4 (iii) Each board member, other than the chief executive officer of the
5 New York racing association, shall serve a term of three years. However,
6 the first terms of five of the members elected by the executive commit-
7 tee of the New York racing association reorganization board shall expire
8 December thirty-first, two thousand seventeen; the first terms of the
9 remaining three members elected by the executive committee of the New
10 York racing association reorganization board, the member appointed by
11 the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc., and the member appointed by the
12 New York thoroughbred horsemen's association shall expire December thir-
13 ty-first, two thousand eighteen; and the first terms of the members
14 appointed by the governor, temporary president of the senate and speaker
15 of the assembly shall expire December thirty-first, two thousand nine-
16 teen.
17 b. The franchised corporation shall establish a compensation committee
18 to fix salary guidelines, such guidelines to be consistent with an oper-
19 ation of other first class thoroughbred racing operations in the United
20 States; an equine safety committee, to review industry best practices to
21 improve the safety of horses racing at each of the three racetracks; a
22 finance committee, to review annual operating and capital budgets for
23 each of the three racetracks; a nominating committee, to nominate any
24 new directors to be designated by the franchised corporation to replace
25 its existing directors; a racing committee, to review industry best
26 practices to improve the quality of racing at the three racetracks; and
27 an executive committee. Each of the compensation, finance, nominating
28 and executive committees shall include at least one of the directors
29 appointed by the governor, and the executive committee shall include the
30 director appointed by the temporary president of the senate and the
31 director appointed by the speaker of the assembly.
32 c. Upon the effective date of this paragraph, the structure of the
33 board of the franchised corporation shall be deemed to be incorporated
34 within and made part of the certificate of incorporation of the fran-
35 chised corporation, and no amendment to such certificate of incorpo-
36 ration shall be necessary to give effect to any such provision, and any
37 provision contained within such certificate inconsistent in any manner
38 shall be superseded by the provisions of this section. Such board shall,
39 however, make appropriate conforming changes to all governing documents
40 of the franchised corporation including but not limited to corporate
41 by-laws. Following such conforming changes, amendments to the by-laws of
42 the franchised corporation shall only be made by unanimous vote of the
43 board.
44 § 2. This act shall take effect October 18, 2016.
