Government Relations Committee THE MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL
by Jane Seigler, MHC Government Relations Committee Co-Chair
T is year’s legislative session will open at noon on January 10, and will end precisely at midnight on April 8, 90 days later. Packed into those 90 days will be hearings and votes on approximately 2500 bills. During this session, Governor Wes Moore’s and the legislators’ agendas
will run smack into a looming structural budget defi cit and the end to federal pandemic aid. Several legislators have told us privately that any bill that would require signifi cant spending would be an extremely heavy lift. Factoring into that grim fi scal outlook is the report of the Maryland
Racetrack Operating Authority (MTROA) on the future of racing in Maryland, due out on January 5. T e MTROA was created during the last legislative session in Annapolis, to try to deal with the fact that previ- ous legislation, enacted in 2020 and intended to facilitate the renovation of Laurel and Pimlico, has gotten nowhere. Virtually no work has begun, and a number of factors, including the impact of the pandemic with its eff ect on costs and the supply chain, caused the estimated cost of the project to balloon to almost double the original $375 million price tag. T ere is also uncertainty over whether 1/ST Racing, which owns the Maryland Jockey Club as well as Pimlico, Laurel and Rosecroft Race- way, will remain in Maryland, and for how long. T e legislation creating MTROA also empowers it to operate racing in Maryland. MTROA was originally mandated to report to the legislature by December 1, 2023. T at deadline has now been extended to January 5. T ere is speculation that the report will call for the complete closure of Laurel, the renovation of Pimlico to host the Preakness and all other racing days, and a new training center to be opened at a location TBD. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, MHC has been working on some legislative initiatives of
its own. Once again, we are working with Del. Mary Lehman (D-PG) on a bill
that would require helmets for minors riding horses in certain venues. Last year, the bill passed the full House and unanimously out of the Sen- ate Judicial Proceedings Committee. At quite literally the last minute, amendments by Sen. J. B. Jennings caused it to run out of time on the Senate fl oor. MHC and Del. Lehman worked with Sen. Jennings over
the summer to resolve his concerns about the bill, and we are optimistic that we will get it over the fi nish line this time. T e bill has been pre-fi led, so will probably be scheduled for a hearing soon after the session opens. It will be crossed fi led in the Senate by Sen. Ariana Kelly (D-Mont.) Sen. Katie Fry Hester will be sponsoring a bill that would create a
Maryland Horse License Plate, similar to the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT) plate and the MD Ag Education Foundation (MAEF) plate (the “Ag Tag”). Fees for the special plate would help provide funding for MHC, Days End Farm Horse Rescue, as well as additional funds for CBT and MAEF. We will, of course, be closely monitoring all the bills as they come in, to identify those of interest and concern to Maryland horse people, and we will take action on them as appropriate throughout the session. We may also issue Legislative Alerts from time to time, asking you to contact leg- islators urging them to vote our way. Watch this space, as well as MHC newsletters, and social media for more info as the session unspools. Our eff orts in Annapolis will be aided by new economic impact data
released on December 13. T e Economic Impact Study (EIS) was com- missioned by the American Horse Council (AHC), and includes Mary- land-specifi c data made possible through a grant by the Rural Maryland Council. While the complete data were not available as of this writing, some advance results were provided to us by AHC, which show that the annual economic impact of Maryland’s horse industry grew by almost 50% from the last EIS in 2017, to $2.8 billion. T e recreation sector accounts for $621 million of the industry’s impact on the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the racing sector for $466 of GDP, and the competition sector for $326 million of GDP. So the state of Maryland’s horse industry is strong and we have a great story to tell! It’s not too late to help MHC make a diff erence for us all in Annapolis!
Please make a donation in any amount NOW to the Horse Council’s Political Action Committee. We must make distributions to the legis- lators’ campaigns BEFORE the session opens on January 10. Donate using the QR code below. T ank you!
TIME IS RUNNING OUT - PLEASE ACT NOW!
What do creating a special position within the MD Dept. of Agriculture to support horse businesses, making it easier for MD barns that off er equine assisted therapy to qualify for grants from the MD Dept. of Veterans Aff airs, and exempting horse farmers from a requirement for on farm composting permits from the MD Dept. of the Environment, have in common? They are just three of the bills that the Horse Council successfully lobbied for passage in this year’s Legislative Session in Annapolis. The next legislative session convenes at noon on January 10. We need your help to continue our
work on behalf of you and your horses. Legislators respond to PAC contributions and pay attention to organizations with robust PACs. By law, we must make our PAC disbursements to Legislators be- fore the Session opens in January. Legislators ramp up their fundraising in December, ahead of the deadline, so we need your PAC contribution NOW!
Please donate today - every dollar counts, but we need your contribution ASAP! THANK YOU!
MHC does not endorse political candidates. We support incumbents who are in a position to support, or have already supported, the horse industry on general policy issues and in specifi c pieces of legislation.
16 | JANUARY 2024 | THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION 800-244-9580 |
www.equiery.com
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