West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey joined a coalition of states and private parties in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case involving the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA).
HISA was signed into law in 2020 to address issues in the horseracing industry that were previously regulated by states. HISA is a private, independent, self-regulatory, nonprofit corporation—the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. Under the Act, the Federal Trade Commission must promulgate HISA’s rules as federal law.
The Act also provides the Authority broad powers to enforce its own rules against regulated parties through civil actions in federal court and to impose its own civil sanctions—including fines and lifetime bans from horseracing.
West Virginia, the West Virginia Racing Commission, Oklahoma, and others challenged the law, arguing that it improperly delegated legislative power to a private entity and inappropriately commandeered state resources by forcing the states to collect fees on behalf of the new entity.
In a separate case brought by other challengers, the Fifth Circuit agreed the law was unconstitutional. Congress enacted an 11th-hour amendment that purported to cure some of the problems. Relying on that amendment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order dismissing the coalition’s challenge.
The coalition is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to definitively answer questions about whether HISA should have the jurisdiction to carry out these activities given that it is not a federal agency, is not regulated by Congress and is not federally funded. Rather, it is a private corporation enacting policies and enforcing its own rules for the horseracing industry, an industry that states traditionally regulate.
“Ensuring the health and safety of race horses remains important and we can do so in a manner that respects state sovereignty—a far cry from the impact of the Horseracing Integrity Safety Act,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “This Act takes away much of West Virginia’s constitutional authority to regulate horse safety and health, give it to a private company and then make West Virginia pay for it—that makes no sense.”
West Virginia and Oklahoma are joined by Louisiana and private parties within the horseracing industry in the petition.
Original source can be found here.