Lawmakers in New York are taking a crack at ending subsidies for the NY horse racing industry. Sponsored by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, Bill A0162 would end more than $230 million in yearly state subsidies for the industry.
The money is used to boost purses, provide jockey health insurance, and other initiatives at the state’s three race tracks. That money would then go to the state’s education system.
The bill has the backing of animal activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Rosenthal offered her reasoning for the bill via a PETA press release:
“The industry pockets the money to enhance purses and often abuses and neglects the horses in its care, while workers toil at low-wage jobs. We must stop subsidizing this cruel business and instead reinvest the funds where they’re needed most—in public education, our human services sector, community redevelopment, and wage theft prevention.”
Rosenthal tried ending the subsidies in 2022, too.
Rosenthal’s bill is meant to address the state’s changing values. Whereas funding the horse racing industry may have been acceptable a decade ago, that’s no longer the case for the bill’s advocates.
“My legislation is a statement of New York’s evolving values,” Rosenthal said, “and I look forward to working with the diverse and growing coalition of advocates to see it become law.”
PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo characterized the state...
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