SGC-49-13-00017-P Restricted Time Period for Standardbred Firocoxib Use

12/4/13 N.Y. St. Reg. SGC-49-13-00017-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-49-13-00017-P

Restricted Time Period for Standardbred Firocoxib Use

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

Proposed Action:

Addition of section 4120.2(m) to Title 9 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

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

Subject:

Restricted time period for standardbred firocoxib use.

Purpose:

To enhance the integrity and safety of standardbred horse racing with a firocoxib equine drug 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:

A new subdivision (m) would be added to section 4120.2 as follows:

(m) A horse may not race for at least 14 days following an administration of firocoxib.

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 limit the administration to race horses of the drug firocoxib, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug with an unusually long duration of action, and to ensure that horsepersons who use this drug will not unwittingly violate the national regulatory laboratory threshold for this drug that the Commission has separately proposed.

This drug is among those whose selection by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (“RMTC”) and adoption as a model rule by the Association of Racing Commissioners International, Inc. (“ARCI”) is intended to apply in all horse racing jurisdictions. The drugs for which RMTC and ARCI have established thresholds are intended to encompass all of the medications that would be needed for routine veterinary care close to race day of any racing horses and that can be effectively regulated by means of laboratory testing. Such drugs were identified after lengthy consultation by the RMTC with the American Association of Equine Practitioners and many of the horse racing industry’s leading chemists and pharmacologists.

This proposed rule would prohibit the administration of firocoxib within 14 days of a race. Currently, the administration of firocoxib is permitted up to one week before a race under the general restriction of Section 4120.2(h). The 14-day restrictive time period would be consistent with the separately proposed regulatory threshold for firocoxib that establishes an automatic (“Per Se”) violation of the Commission’s equine drug rules if a standardbred horse’s race-day blood or urine sample exceeds 20 ng/ml in plasma. Between them, the regulatory threshold for firocoxib and the time restriction for firocoxib will provide clear standards governing when and how firocoxib can permissibly be administered to race horses.

The new rule will provide an advantage for horsepersons because the permissible concentrations of drugs in a horse on race day will become more uniform among the racing jurisdictions. All of the racing commissions in the neighboring mid-Atlantic states and Massachusetts, for example, have publicly pledged to adopt the ARCI thresholds by January 2014. The separately proposed Per Se rule for firocoxib also will make it easier for the Commission to establish that an improper equine drug administration has occurred.

The proposed changes to the Commission’s restricted time period for firocoxib in New York will ensure that horsepersons who treat their horses in compliance with this new time period would not violate the separately proposed threshold for this drug. Both measures will help ensure the integrity of horse racing by allowing the use of this well-accepted and necessary drug, which is capable of control by means of laboratory testing, only at a time when it would have a potential effect on race performance.

4. Costs:

(a) Costs to regulated parties for the implementation of and continuing compliance with the rule: These amendments will not add any new mandated costs to the existing rules.

(b) Costs to the agency, the state and local governments for the implementation and continuation of the rule: None.

(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 harness racing activities.

6. Paperwork: There will be no additional paperwork.

7. Duplication: None.

8. Alternatives: This rule amendment is based upon the finding and recommendations of the RMTC and the ARCI, and no other alternatives were 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 proposal does not require a Regulatory Flexibility Statement, Jobs Impact Statement or Rural Area Flexibility Statement as the amendment merely proposes the adoption of a restricted time period that supports the separately proposed national regulatory laboratory threshold for firocoxib and accords sufficient time for the proposed threshold not to be violated, if the horse were sampled on race day and tested for this drug. The rule is entirely limited to equine drug standards and testing, and merely modifies the restriction on administration of an approved drug for race horses. This rulemaking will not have a positive or negative impact on jobs. The amendment does not impact upon State Administrative Procedure Act § 102(8), nor do it affect employment. The proposal will not impose an adverse economic impact or reporting, recordkeeping or other compliance requirements on small businesses in rural or urban areas nor on employment opportunities. The rule does not impose any significant technological changes on the industry for the reasons set forth above.