BILL NUMBER: AB 1786 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Cooley
FEBRUARY 4, 2016
An act to amend Section 19619 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to horse racing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1786, as introduced, Cooley. Horse racing: the California
Standardbred Sires Stakes Program.
(1) The Horse Racing Law establishes the California Standardbred
Sires Stakes Program for standardbred horses bred in California, and
provides that an offspring of a registered California standardbred
stallion standing in California during an entire breeding season is
eligible to race in the program.
This bill would expand eligibility to race in the program to
include the offspring of registered standardbred stallions standing
in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, or Maine, or the Province of
Alberta, Canada.
(2) The Horse Racing Law requires the California Horse Racing
Board to set a schedule of races for the program in accordance with
specified requirements, including, among other things, that races be
scheduled by the California Standardbred Sires Stakes Committee, at
its discretion, for two-year-old and three-year-old trotters, as
specified, and that two- and three-year-old races be divided into
colt and filly divisions.
This bill would instead require that races be scheduled for
two-year-old or three-year-old trotters and would delete the
requirement that two- and three-year-old races be divided into colt
and filly divisions.
(3) The Horse Racing Law also establishes the manner of dividing
the purse in California standardbred sires stakes races, and sets
forth the percentages to be allocated for horses placing in the race
based on the number of participating starters in a race.
This bill would establish the percentages to be allocated for
horses finishing in first through fifth place, inclusive, regardless
of the number of starters in the race.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 19619 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
19619. (a) Since the purpose of this chapter is to encourage
agriculture and the breeding of horses in this state, a California
Standardbred Sires Stakes Program is hereby established for
standardbred horses bred in the State of California.
(b) Horses eligible to race in the California Standardbred Sires
Stakes Program shall be the offspring of any
a registered California standardbred stallion standing in
California during an entire breeding season.
season, or the offspring of a registered standardbred stallion
standing in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, or Maine, or the
Province of Alberta, Canada.
(c) (1) Responsibility for the California Standardbred Sires
Stakes Program is with the board. Administration of the California
Standardbred Sires Stakes Program is the responsibility of the
California Standardbred Sires Stakes Committee. The committee shall
consist of five members and one alternate selected from and by the
California Harness Horse Owners and Breeders
Horsemen's Association.
(2) Administrative expenses of the committee in any given year
shall not exceed 4 percent of that year's income to the California
Standardbred Sires Stakes Program, and all expenses shall be approved
by the board.
(d) The board may do all that is necessary to ensure that the
California Standardbred Sires Stakes Program is appropriately
administered and shall prepare, issue, and adopt rules and
regulations providing for all of the following:
(1) Classes and divisions of races, eligibility of horses and
owners therefor, and prizes and awards to be awarded.
(2) Nominating, sustaining, and entry fees for horses and races.
(3) Registration and certification of California stallions, mares
bred to those stallions, and foals produced thereby.
(4) Any other matter that is considered to be necessary and
appropriate for the proper administration and implementation of the
California Standardbred Sires Stakes Program.
(e) The funds for the California Standardbred Sires Stakes Program
made available pursuant to Section 19491.7 and the nominating,
sustaining, and entry fees provided for in this section shall be
deposited with the California Standardbred Sires Stakes Committee.
The committee shall distribute the funds deposited with it in
accordance with this section for the purposes of the program in the
manner approved by the board.
(f) Pursuant to Section 19491.7, the breakage used to fund the
California Standardbred Sires Stakes Program and to increase purses
shall be divided in accordance with the following criteria:
California
Standardbred
Sires Stakes
Program Purses
1977................ 10% 90%
1978................ 20% 80%
1979................ 25% 75%
1980................ 50% 50%
January 1 to June 75% 25%
30, 1981............
July 1, 1981, and 100% 0%
thereafter..........
(g) An amount equal to 10 percent of the total purses raced for in
the California sires stakes races shall be awarded to the
standardbred breeders of the horses that earned purse money in the
California standardbred sires stakes races in proportion to the
amount of purse money earned by each horse.
(h) An amount equal to 2 percent of the total purses raced for in
the California sires stakes races shall be awarded to the owners of
the registered California standardbred stallions that sired horses
that earned purse money in the California standardbred sires stakes
races in proportion to the amount of purse money earned by each horse
so sired.
(i) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the board may establish a
series of races for two-year-old and three-year-old fillies that are
wholly owned by a California resident on the first day of January of
the year that they become two years old and are wholly owned by a
California resident on the day of the race.
(j) The balance of the remaining funds, including nominating,
sustaining, and entry fees, and after the expenditures described in
subdivisions (e), (g), (h), and (i) have been made, shall be
allocated to purses for races comprising the California Standardbred
Sires Stakes Program.
(k) The schedule of races that shall comprise the California
Standardbred Sires Stakes Program during each year shall be set by
the board in accordance with the following criteria:
(1) California standardbred sires stakes races shall be scheduled
for two-year-old and or three-year-old
trotters and two-year-old and three-year-old pacers at the discretion
of the California Standardbred Sires Stakes Committee, except that
no two-year-old races shall be held prior to
before the first day of June of any year. Races for
four-year-old or aged trotters and four-year-old or aged pacers may
also be scheduled.
(2) Two- and three-year-old races shall be divided into colt and
filly divisions.
(3)
(2) Base purses for each set of races conducted during
any given year at any race meeting shall be determined by the
committee. As used in this section, a set of races means one
final race for each eligible age, sex, and gait, as scheduled by the
committee.
(4)
(3) In each division of each race in the California
standardbred sires stakes races, the purse shall be divided in the
following manner:
(i) Five or more starters
1st ............................... 50%
2nd ............................... 25%
3rd ............................... 12%
4th ............................... 8%
5th ............................... 5%
(ii) Four starters
1st ............................... 55%
2nd ............................... 25%
3rd ............................... 12%
4th ...............................
8%
(iii) Three starters
1st ............................... 55%
2nd ............................... 30%
3rd ............................... 15%
(iv) Two starters
1st ............................... 65%
2nd ............................... 35%
(v) One starter
1st ............................... 100%