KY Senator Thayer Backs State Funding for Aftercare

Kentucky Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer supports amending Kentucky legislation that would commit up to a quarter-million dollars a year to support nationally accredited aftercare organizations in the state.

The amendment also would commit up to $250,000 to support an internship program in the state focused on equine management.

The amendments would not affect funding currently outlined in the legislation that supports the Equine Industry Program at the University of Louisville (up to $850,000), the University of Kentucky Equine Program (up to $400,000), and the Bluegrass Community and Technical College’s Equine Program (up to $250,000).

Both the current funding for the school programs and the proposed funding for aftercare and an internship program are tied to a percentage of pari-mutuel wagering on historical horse racing games in the state.

Thayer, a Georgetown Republican who has kept a focus on horse racing issues throughout his more than two decades in the Senate, announced in December that he would not seek re-election at the end of this year. He said March 15 that as he winds down his service in the Senate, he is trying to support legislation that will benefit the industry going forward.

The amendment that would support aftercare funding in the state calls on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to serve as the administrative agent of the fund and direct that money to the benefit of facilities that care for retired Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, and Quarter Horses. The amendment states that the fund would be reserved for, “aftercare facilities in Kentucky only after the facilities have achieved and maintained levels of service and operation that resulted in national accreditation.”

On Friday Thayer also introduced a resolution calling on the federal government to provide funding for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the regulator that oversees the sport’s safety issues as well as its anti-doping rules and medication regulation.

Thayer said Friday that many are aware that he is not a huge fan of HISA, which is in place in Kentucky and most of the racing states in the country with a few exceptions that stem from court orders tied to ongoing litigation. He said funding HISA has become a burden for the racing industry from state to state and that if HISA is going to continue, it should be funded by the federal government.

“I do think it needs to be paid for by the federal government,” Thayer said. “This is similar to an unfunded mandate handed down to the states and really, the industry.”

Thayer noted that different states are approaching funding in different ways but said it ultimately should be the federal government’s responsibility. HISA operates under the oversight of the Federal Trade Commission. When President Trump signed HISA into law as part of a December 2020 omnibus bill, the legislation did not include any federal funding to carry out its mission.

“If they’re going to force this on us, they need to pay for it,” Thayer said.

Last year, in April, before that legislative session ended, Kentucky lawmakers in the House and Senate both approved versions of a resolution that urges HISA and the Federal Trade Commission, which has broad oversight of HISA, to review its funding methodology. Neither vote directly impacted HISA’s ability to operate in Kentucky.