SGC-49-13-00012-P Per Se Regulatory Standardbred Threshold and Restricted Time Period for Betamethasone and Triamcinolone Acetonide

12/4/13 N.Y. St. Reg. SGC-49-13-00012-P

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXXV, ISSUE 49

December 04, 2013

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

NEW YORK STATE GAMING COMMISSION

PROPOSED RULE MAKING

HEARING(S) SCHEDULED

 

I.D No. SGC-49-13-00012-P

Per Se Regulatory Standardbred Threshold and Restricted Time Period for Betamethasone and Triamcinolone Acetonide

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:

Proposed Action:

Addition of sections 4120.2(e)(23) and 4120.3(a)(18), (19) to Title 9 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

Racing Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law, sections 103(2), 104(1), (19) and 122

Subject:

Per Se regulatory standardbred threshold and restricted time period for betamethasone and triamcinolone acetonide.

Purpose:

To enhance the integrity and safety of standardbred horse racing with new corticosteroid rules.

Public hearing(s) will be held at:

10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Jan. 21, 2014 at State Gaming Commission, One Broadway Center, 6th Fl. Board Rm. (overflow, 5th Fl. Multimedia Rm.), Schenectady, NY.

Interpreter Service:

Interpreter services will be made available to hearing impaired persons, at no charge, upon written request submitted within reasonable time prior to the scheduled public hearing. The written request must be addressed to the agency representative designated in the paragraph below.

Accessibility:

All public hearings have been scheduled at places reasonably accessible to persons with a mobility impairment.

Text of proposed rule:

Paragraphs (18) and (19) would be added to subdivision (a) of a proposed new section 4120.3 as follows:

4120.3. Equine drug thresholds; per se

(a) A horse shall have raced in violation of this rule if any of the following substances are found by the laboratory testing for the commission to be present in a race day urine or blood sample taken from such horse at a concentration in excess of any one or more of the thresholds listed below. The test for each sample shall include an evaluation of the method of uncertainty and the imprecision of the analytical test.

* * *

(18) Betamethasone: 10 pg/ml in plasma;

(19) Triamcinolone acetonide: 100 pg/ml in plasma.

Paragraph (23) would be added to subdivision (e) of section 4120.2 as follows:

(e) The following substances are permitted to be administered by any means until 48 hours before the scheduled post time of the race in which the horse is to compete:

* * *

(23) notwithstanding paragraph (9) of this subdivision, the corticosteroids betamethasone and triamcinolone acetonide are not substances that are permitted to be administrated by any means until 48 hours before the scheduled post time of the race in which the horse is to compete.

Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

Kristen M. Buckley, New York State Gaming Commission, One Broadway Center, Suite 600, Schenectady, NY 12305, [phone], email: [e-mail]

Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:

Same as above.

Public comment will be received until:

January 26, 2014.

Regulatory Impact Statement

1. Statutory authority and legislative objectives of such authority: The New York State Gaming Commission (“Commission”) is authorized to promulgate these rules pursuant to Racing Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law Sections 103(2), 104 (1, 19), and 122. Under Section 103(2), the Commission is responsible to supervise, regulate, and administer all horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering activities in the State. Subdivision (1) of Section 104 confers upon the Commission general jurisdiction over all such gaming activities within the State and over the corporations, associations, and persons engaged in such activities. Subdivision (19) of Section 104 authorizes the Commission to promulgate any rules and regulations that it deems necessary to carry out its responsibilities. Section 122 continues previous rules and regulations of the legacy New York State Racing and Wagering Board, subject to the authority of the Commission to modify or abrogate such rules and regulations.

2. Legislative objectives: To enable the Commission to protect the integrity of pari-mutuel horse races and the health and safety of standardbred horses and human participants in pari-mutuel racing, while generating reasonable revenue for the support of government.

3. Needs and benefits: This rulemaking is necessary to adjust the Commission’s restricted time period governing the systemic administration of the corticosteroids to standardbred race horses close to race day. The Commission has separately proposed to adopt a set of national regulatory laboratory thresholds for drugs that have been recommended by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (“RMTC”) and the Association of Racing Commissioners International, Inc. (“ARCI”). The full proposal of such organizations includes five corticosteroids that are necessary and sufficient to provide good veterinary care close to race day, including betamethasone and triamcinolone acetonide. The proposed rule would also exclude these two drugs from the 48-hour restriction in Section 4120.2(e)(9), thereby making them subject to the general one-week restriction of Section 4120.2(h). This change would increase the restricted time period before a horse’s next race during which these two drugs could be administered from 48 hours to seven days. Although restricting any drug for seven or more days may interfere with the horse’s standard racing schedule, the Commission has separately proposed thresholds for two other readily available corticosteroids (prednisolone and dexamethasone) that could be used until 72 hours before a horse’s next race.

This proposed new rule will enhance the integrity and safety of horse racing by limiting which corticosteroids can be used before race day to those, including these two, that are well-accepted, necessary, and capable of control by means of laboratory testing. The new rule will continue to ensure that corticosteroids that the Commission permits to be so used will not result in a violation of the proposed laboratory thresholds.

4. Costs:

(a) Costs to regulated parties for the implementation of and continuing compliance with the rule: There are no new or additional costs imposed by this rule upon regulated persons. The rule merely revises an existing rule in regard to allowable time of administration of a medication.

(b) Costs to the agency, the state and local governments for the implementation and continuation of the rule: There are no costs imposed upon the Commission, the State, or local government. The rule will be implemented using the Commission’s existing regulatory and medication testing program. There will be no costs to local governments because they do not regulate pari-mutuel racing activities.

(c) The information, including the source(s) of such information and the methodology upon which the cost analysis is based: The Commission has determined that no costs will be imposed based upon the fact that the rule does not create any new duty or obligation, utilizes an existing regulatory framework and medication testing program, and merely modifies a medication rule.

5. Local government mandates: None. The New York State Gaming Commission is the only governmental entity authorized to regulate pari-mutuel racing activities.

6. Paperwork: There will be no additional paperwork.

7. Duplication: None.

8. Alternatives: This rule amendment is to assure horsepersons that compliance with the Commission’s restricted time periods will protect such person against an inadvertent violation of the separately proposed national regulatory laboratory thresholds for equine drugs that have been recommended by the RMTC and the ARCI. No alternatives have been considered.

9. Federal standards: None.

10. Compliance schedule: It is expected that regulated parties will be able to comply as soon as the proposed rule is adopted.

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, Rural Area Flexibility Analysis and Job Impact Statement

This rulemaking proposal will not have an adverse affect on small businesses, local governments, jobs, or rural areas. The proposal limits the use on standardbred horses close to race day of the drugs betamethasone and triamcinolone acetonide by regulating their use by the adoption of Per Se regulatory laboratory thresholds. All trainers will be able to comply with the proposed thresholds. No competitors will be able to use these restricted substances in violation of the same thresholds. The thresholds will make it less expensive to prepare a horse to race in multiple jurisdictions, and inadvertent drug positives will be less common, because it is being proposed as part of a national set of thresholds in other states. The mid-Atlantic states and Massachusetts have publicly pledged to adopt these thresholds by January 2014, and the thresholds are favored by the other American racing jurisdictions, which all voted for these thresholds as a model rule. A trainer will be able to obtain veterinary care by reference to the rules of the host state without being concerned about whether this will prevent the horse from racing in a nearby jurisdiction.

This proposal will have no adverse impact on small businesses, local governments, jobs or rural areas. The rule does not impose any significant technological changes on the industry. It imposes no adverse economic impact or reporting, recordkeeping, or other compliance requirements on small businesses in rural or urban areas or on employment opportunities. No local government activity is involved. Trainers have been meeting various restrictions for many years in New York by complying with the Commission’s longstanding rules that restrict how long a horse must not race after being treated with various equine drugs and other substances. These thresholds require that a horse cannot race for another seven days, but the Commission’s separate proposals for the corticosteroids prednisolone and dexamethasone permit such readily available substitutes to be used until 72 hours before racing.

This proposal will not adversely impact small businesses, local governments, jobs, or rural areas. It does not require a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (for Small Businesses and Local Governments), Rural Area Flexibility Analysis, or Job Impact Statement.