Bill Text: CA SB469 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Senate Bill 469 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Horse racing: health and safety.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-06-26 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 22, Statutes of 2019. [SB469 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SB469-Chaptered.html

Senate Bill No. 469

CHAPTER 22

An act to amend Section 19530 of, and to add Section 19481.7 to, the Business and Professions Code, relating to horse racing, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

[ Approved by Governor June 26, 2019. Filed with Secretary of State June 26, 2019. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 469, Dodd. Horse racing: health and safety.

(1) The Horse Racing Law, vests the California Horse Racing Board with jurisdiction and supervision over horse racing meetings in this state on which wagering is held or conducted, and over all persons or things having to do with the operation of those meetings. Existing law authorizes the board to issue a license to conduct a racing meeting at the racetrack specified in the license, subject to certain conditions, including that the board has inspected and approved the racetrack as conforming to the safety standards established by the board. Existing law requires all proceedings to revoke a license to be conducted in accordance with the procedures for a formal hearing set forth in the Administrative Procedure Act. A violation of the Horse Racing Law is generally a misdemeanor.

The Horse Racing Law authorizes the board to allocate racing weeks to an applicant and to specify racing days, dates, and hours for racing meetings. That law provides that the decision of the board as to racing days, dates, and hours is subject to change, limitation, or restriction only by the board. Existing regulations of the board provide that, upon a finding by the board that the allocation of racing weeks and dates for any racing year is completed, the racing weeks and dates are only subject to reconsideration or amendment by the board for conditions unforeseen at the time of the allocations.

Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, generally requires that all meetings of a state body be open and public. The act requires that notice, including a specific agenda for the meeting, be given and made available on the internet at least 10 days in advance of the meeting, or, in the case of special meetings, 48 hours in advance of the meetings. The act prohibits an item from being added to the agenda subsequent to the notice, except as provided.

This bill would authorize the board, at any time, upon a vote of at least 4 members of the board, to immediately suspend a license to conduct a racing meeting, as provided, when necessary to protect the health and safety of the horses or riders that are present at the racing meeting. The bill would authorize the board, as a condition of lifting the suspension, to require a licensee to comply with additional safety standards or other requirements as it deems necessary or desirable for the best interests of horse racing and the purposes of the Horse Racing Law. The bill would make it unlawful to conduct a horse racing meeting under a license that is suspended pursuant to these provisions or, if the suspension is lifted, without meeting a condition imposed pursuant to these provisions. Because a violation of those prohibitions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The bill would also authorize the board to call an emergency meeting to consider suspending a license pursuant to these provisions under specified circumstances. The bill would require, for purposes of ordering a suspension, a vote of at least 4 members of the board. The bill would exempt the emergency meeting from the above-described notice requirements of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act and would impose modified notice requirements.

The bill would require the board to review any action taken under the above-referenced provisions within 10 calendar days.

The bill would authorize the board, at any time, to change, limit, restrict, or reallocate racing weeks, days, or dates that are allocated pursuant to the above-described provisions regardless of whether a condition giving rise to that action is foreseen at the time of allocation or whether a license is issued to conduct a racing meeting during an allocated week, day, or date.

(2) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

(4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 19481.7 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:

19481.7.

(a) (1) The board may, at any time, immediately suspend a license to conduct a racing meeting when necessary to protect the health and safety of the horses or riders that are present at the racing meeting.

(2) The suspension shall require a vote of at least four members of the board.

(3) The suspension shall remain in effect until the board determines that the matters jeopardizing the health and safety of the horses or riders that are present at the racing meeting have been adequately addressed.

(4) As a condition of lifting the suspension, the board may require a licensee to comply with additional safety standards or other requirements as it deems necessary or desirable for the best interests of horse racing and the purposes of this chapter.

(5) The suspension is not a revocation subject to the proceedings required by Section 19461, regardless of any effect on a license issued under this chapter.

(b) (1) Notwithstanding the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), an emergency meeting may be called at any time by the chairperson of the board, the executive director, or by a majority of the members of the board to consider suspending a license to conduct a racing meeting when there exists an emergency situation involving matters upon which prompt action is necessary to protect the health and safety of the horses or riders that are present at the racing meeting.

(2) An emergency meeting held pursuant to this section is exempt from the 10-day notice requirement of Section 11125 of the Government Code or the 48-hour notice requirement of Section 11125.4 of the Government Code if the delay necessitated by those requirements would significantly and adversely impact the board’s ability to protect the health and safety of the horses or riders that were present at the racing meeting.

(3) Before the commencement of the emergency meeting, the board shall make a finding in open session that the delay necessitated by providing the 10-day notice required by Section 11125 of the Government Code or 48 hours before a meeting as required by Section 11125.4 of the Government Code would significantly and adversely impact the board’s ability to protect the health and safety of the horses or riders that are present at that racing meeting. The finding shall be adopted by a vote of at least four members of the board. Failure to adopt the finding shall terminate the meeting.

(4) Newspapers of general circulation and radio or television stations that have requested notice of meetings pursuant to Section 11125 of the Government Code shall be notified by the executive director, or a designee thereof, at least one hour before the emergency meeting by telephone. Notice shall also be made available on the board’s internet website as soon as is practicable after the decision to call the emergency meeting has been made. Notwithstanding Section 11125 of the Government Code, the board may take action at the emergency meeting on an item of business involving the emergency situation that is not included in the agenda, if any, that accompanies a notice provided pursuant to this paragraph.

(5) The minutes of the emergency meeting, a copy of the rollcall vote, and any action taken at the meeting shall be posted for a minimum of 10 days in a public place as soon after the meeting as is possible.

(c) (1) It is unlawful to conduct a racing meeting under a license suspended pursuant to this section or, if the suspension is lifted, without meeting a condition imposed pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a).

(2) The board shall review any action taken under this section within 10 calendar days.

(3) Nothing in this section supersedes or limits the board’s authority to suspend or deny a license under any other law, rule, or regulation.

(d) The board shall adopt emergency regulations pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code to implement this section. The board may readopt, pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, any emergency regulation authorized by this section that is the same as, or substantially equivalent to, an emergency regulation previously adopted as authorized by this section. No such regulation shall be readopted on an emergency basis pursuant to this section more than a total of two times. Notwithstanding any other law, the initial adoption of emergency regulations and the readoption of emergency regulations authorized by this section shall be deemed an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or general welfare.

SEC. 2.

Section 19530 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:

19530.

(a) The board shall have the authority to allocate racing weeks to an applicant or applicants pursuant to the provisions of this article and Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 19540) and to specify such racing days, dates, and hours for horse racing meetings as will be in the public interest, and will subserve the purposes of this chapter. The decision of the board as to those racing days, dates, and hours shall be subject to change, limitation, restriction, or reallocation only by the board. No municipality or county shall adopt or enforce any ordinance or regulation that has or may have the effect of directly or indirectly regulating, limiting, restricting, or reallocating the racing days and dates of horse racing meetings.

(b) The board may, at any time, change, limit, restrict, or reallocate racing weeks, days, or dates that are allocated pursuant to this section regardless of whether a condition giving rise to that action is foreseen at the time of allocation or whether a license is issued to conduct a horse racing meeting during an allocated week, day, or date. The board’s exercise of authority pursuant to this subdivision is not a revocation subject to the proceedings required by Section 19461, regardless of any effect on a license issued under this chapter.

SEC. 3.

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 19481.7 of the Business and Professions Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:

In order to protect the health and safety of the horses or riders that are present at racing meetings, it is necessary to exempt certain meetings of the California Horse Racing Board from notice requirements that would prevent the board from providing timely protection to those horses or riders.

SEC. 4.

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.

SEC. 5.

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

In order to provide additional protections for the horses and riders that are present at racing meetings as soon as possible, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.