RCI names members of Compliance Committee

The Association of Racing Commissioners International has named 12 members to a committee that will work with individual racing states on adopting the organization’s uniform rules, the RCI announced on Tuesday.

The 12 members of the newly formed Compliance Committee have been divided into three teams, and each team will work with specific states on the adoption of the rules, the RCI said. The teams will begin work on the process “this week,” the RCI said in its release.

The RCI announced the formation of the committee two weeks ago and appointed the organization’s current chairman, Mark Lamberth, to head up the committee. The formation of the committee came at a time when a number of racing organizations have banded together to press for the passage of federal legislation that would give the United States Anti-Doping Agency, a private company, the power to enforce one set of rules in all 38 U.S. racing jurisdictions.

The racing industry has been attempting to achieve uniformity on a state-by-state basis for the past five years, but progress on the front has been too slow for many critics of the process. Although dozens of states have adopted portions of the uniform medication regulations, the rules in the vast majority of racing states are not identically aligned with those in other states.

Lamberth, who is the head of the Arkansas Racing Commission, said that the new committee will work to identify the areas in which states need to change their rules to achieve full adoption. He also said that the committee members will be expected to work with all parties in the states to support the adoption of the rules.

Team A of the committee will include John T. Ward from Kentucky, Jonathan Zachem from Florida, Judy Wagner from Louisiana, and Domenic DiCera from Illinois, the RCI said. That team will be responsible for Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming.

Team B will include Rick Baedeker from California, Jeff Colliton from Washington, Tom DiPasquale from Minnesota, and Dr. Corinne Sweeney from Pennsylvania, and will be responsible for Arizona, California, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

Team C will include Mike Hopkins from Maryland, Duncan Patterson from Delaware, Robert Williams from New York, and Frank Zanzuccki from New Jersey, and will be responsible for Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The committee members have been asked to provide a progress update in December when the RCI meets for its board meeting in Tucson, Ariz., the RCI said.