Subcommittee backs LFO budget and new horse-welfare measures for Oregon Racing Commission

May 22 — The Transportation and Economic Development Subcommittee voted to move House Bill 5,035, the Oregon Racing Commission budget bill, to the full Ways and Means Committee with a do-pass recommendation after adopting the Legislative Fiscal Office’s budget recommendation and a dash-3 amendment.

The Legislative Fiscal Office recommended an other-funds budget of $7,662,147 with 14 positions (10.39 FTE) for the 2025–27 biennium and proposed several reductions and fee changes to address a current-service-level shortfall. LFO staff explained the recommendation includes a package reducing other-fund expenditure limitation to raise the agency’s ending fund balance to an estimated roughly three months of operating expenses and assumes enactment of related policy bills that raise licensing and civil penalty caps.

The committee also approved three new or revised key performance measures (KPMs) aimed at tracking horse welfare. Mr. Coe of the Legislative Fiscal Office described the recommended KPMs, including a horse welfare test result target (no more than one positive controlled-substance result per 250 tests), and an equine-injury target of no more than three injuries per 1,000 starts. The KPM for horse fatalities was tightened from 1.5 to one horse fatality per 1,000 starts.

Committee members and the Oregon Racing Commission director discussed a recent rise in horse fatalities. Connie Winn, Director of the Oregon Racing Commission, said she attends to injured horses and that the commission has identified two common links in recent incidents: the track and veterinary coverage. “We have brought in, we haven't found the right veterinarian because I'm not going to bring in the wrong veterinarian. So we're bringing in veterinarians from all over the country this summer to patch it together,” Winn said. She said the commission rewrote veterinary manuals, revised medication rules and brought in outside track inspectors to review practices.

Lawmakers pressed on causes and trends. Representative Watanabe asked about KPM targets given a last reported result of 94 percent on one measure; LFO staff answered that the targets were not being changed in the work session and that targets can be amended later in the session. Senator Niran Mislan asked why the fatality target was not zero; Director Winn said the target derives from a national standard and that the national average has recently improved.

Actions included a motion by Co Chair Gomberg to adopt the LFO recommendation, which was adopted without objection; adoption of the dash-3 amendment; approval of the KPMs; and a motion to send HB 5,035 as amended to the Ways and Means Full Committee with a do-pass recommendation. Committee members offered carriers for the full committee, naming Senator Niran Mislan for the Senate and Representative Scarlano for the House.

The subcommittee discussion also flagged illegal off-track racing as a concern. Director Winn said she has talked with counterparts in California and suggested partnering with animal-advocacy groups to identify illegal events. No new regulations were adopted at the work session; the committee’s actions were procedural (budget recommendation, amendment adoption, KPM approval and referral to the full committee).