Martin: HISA Needs A Rewrite, Not A Midnight Quick Fix

by Press Release | 6 Dec 22 “Don't make the same mistake twice,” ARCI President Ed Martin said in reaction to reports that Senator Mitch McConnell will make an effort to slip changes to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) in to the Defense Appropriations Bill or Omnibus Spending bill. “Such a move would…

Horse racing-U.S. Senator McConnell pushing for legislative fix to safety law

(Reuters via Yahoo!News) Dec, 3, 2022 — U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is pushing for a legislative fix to a law designed to make horse racing safer after an appeals court last month ruled it unconstitutional, a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters. The changes to the law, which would provide…

Tennessee “celebrates” another year of hideous horse cruelty

Horse Soring The show must go on for these serial horse abusers — but who attends these hideous events? Not many. The days when the stands were comparatively full during Celebration are long since gone. Attendance has been dwindling for years (with and without COVID). The Walking Horse Report brags that this year's paid attendance…

Lawmakers at work to get anti HISA lawsuit tossed

You are familiar with the The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), right? The Act that Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell hustled into law during the previous Congress's last hurrah, before adjourning? A couple of "horsemen" groups decided to be a big fly in everybody's ointment by filing lawsuits. HISA's authors are trying to defeat the…

Lawsuits filed against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act

In an opinion piece for the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 29, 2021, right before the Kentucky Derby, Mitch McConnell and Andy Barr patted themselves generously on the back regarding the passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (“Act”), a bi-partisan bill made law on December 27, 2020. The Act establishes the Horseracing Integrity and Safety…

McConnell Bill authorizes strict control of medications in training

ARCI PRESS RELEASE (Sept 24, 2020) — The federally sanctioned authority empowered by newly proposed legislation by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell will be able to impose strict controls on the use of any therapeutic medications administered to a “covered horse”, effectively setting the stage for a program that could require a veterinarian to receive prior permission before…

House Cmte to consider thoroughbred racing reform legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTVQ) — The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce has officially scheduled a markup hearing for H.R. 1754, the Horseracing Integrity Act, led by U.S. Reps. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Andy Barr, R-Ky., for Wednesday. The markup, which gives committee members the opportunity to present changes or amendments before it is sent to…

Mitch McConnell rides a spooked horse — the racing industry

We have been following the scuttlebutt this week since it was announced that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has decided to ride to the rescue of horse racing. He is riding a spooked horse so not sure what he can do, but it appears he feels he has found at least part of the answer —…

Protest Mitch McConnell and the “Big Lick”, Fri., Sept. 4th, in Shelbyville

CLANT SEAY invites everyone who can to protest in person with him Friday, Sept. 4th, at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration and the visiting Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Seay writes: U. S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) has perpetuated “Big Lick” Animal Cruelty. Since 1988, “Big Lick” Multi-Millionaires have paid…

Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Committee Power

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) uses his influence to not only interfere with the success of pending horse protection legislation, but also existing laws and government agencies in charge of making sure horse welfare regulations are enforced. Two cruelty issues stand out that McConnell has perpetuated: horse slaughter and horse soring. McConnell has routinely been active…