Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 48 of chapter 6 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1984 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the fourth paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

The commission may appoint and remove a secretary, a financial officer and other assistants who shall not be exempt from the provisions of chapter thirty-one. The commission shall employ an auditor, who shall be a certified public accountant, who shall devote full time during normal business hours to the duties of the position, and who shall be exempt from the provisions of said chapter thirty-one and of section nine A of chapter thirty. The auditor shall serve at the pleasure of the commission, which shall determine his salary in accordance with the provisions of said chapter thirty. The commission may also appoint the following positions which shall be exempt from the provisions of said chapter thirty-one and of section nine A of said chapter thirty: one director of racing operations who shall devote full time to the supervision of commission officials and employees at the tracks, one semi-senior accountant, eight junior accountants, one senior chemist, four assistant chemists, two junior chemists, one head clerk, the principal clerks, the senior clerks, the junior clerks, one chief of laboratory, two laboratory technicians, one veterinarian, state racing commission, one supervisor of licenses and registration, state racing commission, one supervisor of racing inspectors, eight assistant supervisors of racing inspectors and a head administrative assistant.

SECTION 2. Section 2 of chapter 128 of the General Laws, as most recently amended by section 8 of chapter 580 of the acts of 1985, is hereby further amended by adding the following paragraph:-

(i) To promote, develop and encourage through the Massachusetts greyhound breeding program, breeding of racing greyhounds in the commonwealth by offering: a cash prize to the breeder of a Massachusetts bred greyhound, equal to not more than twenty-five per cent of the purse monies won by said greyhound in any pari-mutuel greyhound race if said greyhound finishes first, second or third; a cash prize of not more than fifteen per cent of the purse won by said greyhound to the owner of the stud; provided, however, that (i) the stud stood in the commonwealth at the time of service to the bitch and the owner of the stud was a Massachusetts resident, (ii) the greyhound finishes first, second or third and (iii) the stud is registered with the department as a stud standing in Massachusetts at the time of mating; and a cash prize equal to not more than five per cent of the purse monies won by said greyhound in any unrestricted pari-mutuel greyhound race to the owner of a Massachusetts bred greyhound if said greyhound finishes first, second or third.

The department is further authorized to pay cash purses for stakes races to be limited to Massachusetts bred greyhounds from the Massachusetts greyhound breeding program at licensed pari-mutuel race meetings authorized by the state racing commission. Such races may be betting or nonbetting races and may or may not be races scheduled by the licensee conducting the racing meeting. Purse monies and prize monies paid by the department under this section may be in such amounts as the department shall determine and may be the sole cash purse for such races or may be in supplement to the cash purses established by the licensee.

No person shall be eligible for the prizes provided herein unless all of the following standards are met:

(1) the stud is standing in Massachusetts at the time of mating and is owned or leased by a Massachusetts resident; and

(2) the greyhound is whelped in Massachusetts from a bitch owned by a Massachusetts resident; and

(3) the greyhound is physically present within Massachusetts for the first six months of the first year following the date such greyhound was whelped; and

(4) the greyhound is certified as a Massachusetts bred greyhound by the department.

The department shall, with the approval of the state racing commission, and after public hearing, adopt rules and regulations for the expenditure of sums appropriated to carry out the provisions of this paragraph and for the registration of Massachusetts bred greyhounds. Said rules and regulations shall contain provisions for the eligibility of greyhounds for participation in such program where such greyhounds were whelped in Massachusetts prior to November first, nineteen hundred and eighty-six, which greyhounds may be deemed to be Massachusetts bred for purposes of this paragraph. Said rules and regulations shall be subject to section nine B of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A, in the same manner as if they had been adopted by the commission.

SECTION 3. Section 9 of chapter 128A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1984 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the second paragraph the following paragraph:-

The commission shall prescribe rules and regulations under which dog race track licensees shall be required to provide access to schooling races and participation in pari-mutuel dog races conducted by said licensees for Massachusetts bred greyhounds.

SECTION 4. Chapter 494 of the acts of 1978 is hereby amended by inserting after section 12 the following section:-

Section 12A. During the calendar years nineteen hundred and eighty-six through nineteen hundred and ninety, each dog race track licensee under section three of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A of the General Laws, other than a licensee holding a racing meeting in connection with a state or county fair, shall pay daily: (a) a sum equal to one-half of one per cent of the total amount wagered by patrons wagering on the speed or ability of dogs into a trust fund to be known as the Greyhound Capital Improvements Trust Fund under the direction and supervision of the state racing commissioners, as they are individuals, as trustees of said trust; and (b) a sum equal to one-half of one per cent of the total amount wagered by patrons so wagering into a trust fund to be known as the Greyhound Promotional Trust Fund under the direction and supervision of the state racing commissioners, as they are individuals, as trustees of said trust. Said trustees shall deposit all monies in said trust funds in one or more banks, at interest, within the commonwealth.

Said trustees may expend without appropriation all or any part of the Greyhound Capital Improvements Trust Fund to a dog track licensee for use as all or part of a capital expenditure for alterations, additions, replacements, changes, improvements or major repairs to or upon the property owned or leased by such licensee and used by it for the conduct of racing; and said trustees may expend without appropriation all or any part of the Greyhound Promotional Trust Fund to such licensee for use in promotional marketing, to reduce the costs of admission, programs, parking and concessions, and to offer other entertainment and give-aways; provided, however, that no licensee shall receive an amount in excess of the amount attributable to said licensee in such trust funds.

Said trustees may prescribe terms and conditions for such grants; provided, however, that, prior to approving any expenditures from said trust funds, the trustees shall require the licensee to submit to them detailed business plans describing the specific promotions and capital improvements contemplated by the licensee and shall formally vote to permit such expenditures; provided, further, that under no circumstances shall the trustees permit the expenditure of trust funds for purposes not directly related to the improvement of dog racing or for the raising of handles and attendance; and provided, further, that such terms and conditions for capital improvement projects shall include schedules of periodic payments to be prepared by the trustees in accordance with schedules contained in construction contracts for such capital improvement projects. Such licensee shall comply with all applicable provisions of chapter one hundred and forty-nine of the General Laws unless such compliance is waived by the commission in writing for cause.

No such expenditure for such capital improvements or for such promotions shall be approved by the trustees if such improvements or promotions are to be accomplished pursuant to a contract with a person, corporation, partnership, trust or any combination of the same or any other entity owned wholly or in part by a person, corporation, partnership, trust or any combination of the same or any other entity which owns or operates or holds any interest in any racetrack in the commonwealth.

The trustees shall hire the services of such architectural and engineering consultants as they deem appropriate to advise them generally and to evaluate proposed capital improvement projects submitted to them for their approval.

Nothing herein contained shall preclude a dog race track from making capital improvements or undertaking promotional operations not funded in whole or in part from such funds; provided, however, that all sums approved by said trustees hereunder shall be expended in their entirety for capital improvements or for promotions; and provided, further, that any revision by said licensee in the making of capital improvements or in promotional plans as hereinbefore provided, shall require separate written approval by the trustees therefor. All financial statements required under section six of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A of the General Laws shall be accompanied by a statement signed under the pains and penalties of perjury by the chief financial officer of the licensee, setting forth the capital improvements made and the promotions completed with funds obtained under this section and further certifying that such expenditures are treated as capital expenditures and promotional expenditures in the accompanying financial statement.

The trustees shall require from a dog race track licensee such vouchers, cancelled checks or other documents as said trustees deem necessary to verify that the expenditures from said funds were carried out in accordance with the provisions of this section.

Funds paid by licensees and deposited by the commission in the Greyhound Capital Improvements Trust Fund and in the Greyhound Promotional Trust Fund shall remain in said funds until expended under this section; provided, however, that any amount in said accounts as of December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety which has not been so expended or as to which no binding commitment has been made by said trustees shall thereupon be deposited in the General Fund.

SECTION 5. Section 13 of said chapter 494, as amended by section 4 of chapter 558 of the acts of 1981, is hereby further amended by striking out the introductory paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

Notwithstanding the provisions of Clause (5) of the first paragraph of section two and of clauses (a) to (q), inclusive, of the third paragraph of section three of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A of the General Laws, during the calendar years nineteen hundred and eighty-six through nineteen hundred and ninety, for clauses (c) and (f), and during the calendar years nineteen hundred and eighty-five through nineteen hundred and ninety, for clauses (a), (b), (d), (e), (g) and (h), licenses to conduct racing meetings shall only be issued under the following conditions:.

SECTION 6. Said section 13 of said chapter 494 is hereby further amended by striking out clause (c), as appearing in said section 4 of said chapter 558, and inserting in place thereof the following clause:-

(c) no license shall be issued for more than an aggregate of one thousand one hundred and ninety racing days in one year at all dog racing meetings combined, excluding dog racing meetings conducted at a racetrack owned and operated by a state or county fair in Essex county; provided, however, that two hundred and ten such days may be awarded only for racing in Hampden county during the period between the fifteenth of April and the twenty-first day of October, and five hundred and twenty of the remaining such days may be awarded only in Bristol county; provided, further, that the remaining four hundred and sixty days may be awarded only in Suffolk county; and provided, further, that up to sixty additional days may, in the discretion of the commission, be awarded only in Suffolk county, in proportion to the number of racing days under two hundred and fifty not applied for or used for running horse racing in Suffolk county in the same calendar year.

SECTION 7. Clause (d) of said section 13 of said chapter 494, as amended by section 4 of chapter 580 of the acts of 1985, is hereby further amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Licenses shall permit racing meetings only between the hours of ten o'clock antemeridian and twelve o'clock midnight; provided, however, that, in awarding racing days in Suffolk county, the state racing commission shall not award dog racing days for performances to be conducted between ten o'clock antemeridian and seven o'clock postmeridian if running horse racing performances are to be conducted prior to seven o'clock postmeridian on the same days.

SECTION 8. Said chapter 494 is hereby further amended by striking out section 15, as amended by section 6 of said chapter 580, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 15. During calendar years nineteen hundred and eighty-seven through nineteen hundred and ninety, the state racing commission shall include in its annual report filed with the general court pursuant to section forty-eight of chapter six of the General Laws, the following information with respect to the previous calendar year: statements of monies deposited in the Running Horse Capital Improvements Trust Fund and the Running Horse Promotional Trust Fund, both established pursuant to section eleven of chapter four hundred and ninety-four of the acts of nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, the Harness Horse Capital Improvements Trust Fund and the Harness Horse Promotional Trust Fund, both established pursuant to section twelve of chapter four hundred and ninety-four of the acts of nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, the Greyhound Capital Improvements Trust Fund and the Greyhound Promotional Trust Fund, both established pursuant to section twelve A of this act, together with a detailed account of monies disbursed from said funds, and the specific capital improvements and promotions for which the disbursements were intended, and a report on which such improvements and promotions have been accomplished; a statement of racing dates awarded to licensees, including those awarded in connection with a state or county fair; and a statement of the total amounts wagered at each racetrack, together with the monies paid to the commonwealth and the commission, purses paid to horse and dog owners and monies retained by each licensee, together with a statement of the net profit of each licensee taken from the financial statements filed under section six of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A of the General Laws. Copies of said report shall be transmitted to the governor, the president of the senate, the speaker of the house and the chairmen of the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on government regulations and the joint committee on taxation.

SECTION 9. Notwithstanding the provisions of section fourteen of chapter four hundred and ninety-four of the acts of nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, during the calendar years nineteen hundred and eighty-six to nineteen hundred and ninety, inclusive, each licensee conducting a dog racing meeting shall return to the winning patrons wagering on the speed or ability of any one or more dogs in a race or races all sums so deposited as an award or dividend, according to the acknowledged and recognized rules and method under which such pari-mutuel or certificate system has been operated, less the so-called breaks, as defined in section five of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A of the General Laws, and less an amount not to exceed nineteen per cent of the total amount so deposited by patrons so wagering.

Each person licensed to conduct a dog racing meeting, other than a licensee holding a racing meeting in connection with a state or county fair, shall pay to the state racing commission on the day following each day of such dog racing meeting, a sum equal to seven per cent of the total amount deposited on the preceding day by the patrons so wagering at such meeting, said percentage to be paid from the nineteen per cent withheld, as provided in this section, from the total amount wagered. A sum equal to one-tenth of one per cent of the total amount deposited by the patrons wagering on the speed or ability of dogs at pari-mutuel dog tracks, not to exceed three hundred thousand dollars per annum, less the so-called breaks, and taken from the seven per cent paid daily to the commission under this paragraph, shall, subject to appropriation, be allocated to the Massachusetts Greyhound Breeding Program established under the provisions of section two.

Each licensee conducting a dog racing meeting, other than a licensee holding a racing meeting in connection with a state or county fair, shall allocate a sum equal to four per cent of the total amount deposited daily by the patrons wagering at such meeting. Said percentage shall be used for the payment of purses to the dog owners in accordance with the rules and established customs of conducting dog racing meetings and shall be paid from the nineteen per cent withheld as provided in this section from the total amount wagered. On and after the effective date of this act, the payment of all purses shall be computed in accordance with the provisions of this section.

Each such licensee may retain as its commission on the total of all sums so deposited, a sum not exceeding the balance of the nineteen per cent withheld as provided in this section from the total amount wagered after deducting therefrom the amount hereinbefore required to be paid to said commission, after deducting therefrom the amount required to be paid for purses at dog racing meetings, and after deducting therefrom the amounts required to be paid into the Greyhound Capital Improvements Trust Fund and into the Greyhound Promotional Trust Fund.

Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions of this section, once a licensee conducting a dog racing meeting has reached the level of the total amount wagered during calendar year nineteen hundred and eighty-five, such licensee shall retain daily as its commission a sum not exceeding the balance of the nineteen per cent withheld as provided in this section from the total amount wagered daily in the current year after deducting therefrom six and one-half per cent to be paid to the commission, after deducting therefrom the amount hereinbefore required to be paid as purses and after deducting therefrom the amounts required to be paid into the Greyhound Capital Improvements Trust Fund and into the Greyhound Promotional Trust Fund.

SECTION 10. Notwithstanding the provisions of clauses (a) to (q), inclusive, of the third paragraph of section three of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A of the General Laws, any person licensed to conduct a dog racing meeting, not including dog racing meetings held in connection with a state or county fair, may, within seven days of the effective date of this act, make application to the state racing commission for additional racing dates for the remainder of nineteen hundred and eighty-six. The commission shall award no more than the additional dates authorized by this act for calendar year nineteen hundred and eighty-six to said licensee and issue a license therefor upon application so filed for such racing meet to be held or conducted in calendar year nineteen hundred and eighty-six. Said commission's procedures for hearings upon all such applications shall be the same as the procedures on supplementary applications for racing meetings filed under said chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A; provided, however, that nothing in this paragraph shall authorize the commission to change the hours or dates of any racing meet granted to any licensee prior to the effective date of this act.

For racing dates authorized for the calendar year nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, a dog track licensee who held or conducted racing meetings during calendar year nineteen hundred and eighty-six may submit, resubmit, or amend its application for a license to hold or conduct racing meetings for calendar year nineteen hundred and eighty-seven within fifteen days after the effective date of this act, notwithstanding the provisions of said chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A. The commission may award such racing meetings and issue a license therefor upon application so filed for all dog racing meetings to be held in calendar year nineteen hundred and eighty-seven; provided, however, that said commission's procedures shall be the same as for original applications for racing meetings filed under the provisions of said chapter one hundred and twenty-eight A.

SECTION 11. The secretary of consumer affairs and business regulation is hereby authorized to make an investigation and study relative to the adoption and humane disposition of greyhounds bred for racing who never qualify for pari-mutuel races or who have reached the end of their racing career. Said secretary shall report the results of his investigation and study and his recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry its recommendations into effect by filing the same with the clerk of the house of representatives, who shall forward the same to the joint committee on government regulations on or before November thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighty-six.