Racing industry suit is not a winner

The showdown between the Texas horse racing industry and key legislative leaders got ugly long ago. It’s getting worse.

With Texas Racing Commission administrative funding scheduled to end by legislative edict on Feb. 29, and with all operations at Texas horse tracks set to halt simultaneously, an organization representing horse owners and trainers filed suit in Austin on Thursday. The suit asks a court to declare that lawmakers are violating their industry’s constitutional rights.

The suit is a bold but ultimately brainless move by the racing industry. Even if the owners and trainers were to win in court — judges are reluctant to tell the Legislature what to do — biting the hand that feeds you is never a long-term winning strategy.

At issue is an expansion of racetrack betting called historical racing. Video machines let gamblers wager on races previously run at tracks across the country, with no identifying clues to how the race turned out.

At the industry’s urging, the commission approved historical racing at Texas tracks in 2014. The goal is higher track income, leading to higher purses and industry players taking home more money.

An Austin judge determined that only the Legislature could approve historical racing, but the industry has appealed that ruling.

State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate’s chief budget writer, said at the beginning of the 2015 legislative session that the Racing Commission would not be funded unless historical racing was rescinded.

In the end, the commission was funded, but a special budget provision called Rider 7 gave the Legislative Budget Board power to control administrative expenditures. The LBB includes the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the House, four senators and four representatives.

The suit from horse owners and trainers says Rider 7 is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to the LBB. The owners and trainers have paid for multiyear licenses from the state, the suit says, and a racing shutdown would unconstitutionally deprive them of their livelihood.

The suit reads like a true tale of woe. The real remedy is for the commission to rescind historical racing at its scheduled Feb. 9 meeting.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Racing industry suit is not a winner."