On May 11, the racing commissioners of the ARCI, meeting in Palm Springs, heard Stan Bergstein from Harness Racetracks of America, speaking on his assigned topic of over-regulation, say that the Kyl bill was the utmost form of over-regulation: prohibition.
He was followed to the podium by Mark Wilson, president of Hubbard Enterprises and chairman of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's legislative committee, who outlined the Kyl bill in detail. Wilson was the man most responsible for getting Kyl to amend the bill to remove its most offensive provisions affecting racing.
When a racing commissioner asked Wilson from the floor, "Well, what are you suggesting we do, support it or oppose it?", Wilson, with a wry smile, shook his head, signifying he was not about to tell the commissioners what to do, and answered, "The NTRA has taken a position of neutrality. We're neutral on the bill."
That position, and the similar stance of neutrality taken by the American Horse Council, were policies arrived at after weeks and months of discussion.
The commissioners took a different course. They did not discuss the bill from the floor at all in their deliberations. On Tuesday morning, they heard from Robin Williams (of Virginia, not Hollywood) who chairs the ARCI's Judiciary and Legislative Committee. Ms. Williams said her committee voted to support the Kyl bill as currently written. President Tony Chamblin, after making a brief statement that the ARCI had been following neutrality on the bill, asked for a motion and second to adopt the committee report. It was quickly forthcoming, and then Chamblin asked for discussion.
There was none. Not one racing commissioner raised his hand, not one had a word to say or a question to ask about a bill that can affect racing's future for decades. Without discussion, ARCI's support of the Kyl bill was passed unanimously.
On a more positive note, the commissioners were told of a 'drivers license' type of magnetic striped identification card, with a digitally created photo of the bearer, that will be issued by ARCI on completion of its multi-jurisdictional license application form. Once issued, ARCI hopes it will be accepted by each of its jurisdictions with a swipe through a magnetic reader. All pertinent data of the applicant will be input into the ARCI's new database, and any subsequent violations would be fed into the computer as well, thus notifying all jurisdictions of the status of the applicant on presentation of the card. Chamblin reminded the commissioners they had overwhelmingly endorsed the idea six years ago, and said he hopes they will implement the reciprocal license now.