(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, at the time the board allocates racing weeks, it shall determine the number of useable stalls that each association or fair shall make available and maintain in order to conduct the racing meeting. The minimum number of stalls may be at the site of the racing meeting or at board-approved offsite locations.
(b) With respect to racing meetings conducted in the northern zone, the association or fair conducting the meeting shall provide all stabling required by the board pursuant to subdivision (a) without cost to participating horsemen. Offsite stabling shall be at a board approved facility or facilities selected by the association or fair, with the agreement of the organization representing horsemen participating at the meeting. If there is a disagreement between the association or fair and the organization representing the majority of horsemen participating at the meeting with respect to the selection of offsite stabling facilities, the board, at the request of the association or fair or the organization representing the majority of horsemen participating at the meeting, shall promptly determine the board-approved facility or facilities at which offsite stabling shall be made available. The organization representing horsemen participating at the meeting and the association or fair shall mutually agree on the criteria and selection of horses that may use stalls required pursuant to this section. Northern zone racing associations or fairs may provide, subject to the availability of funds pursuant to Sections 19607, 19607.1, 19607.2, and 19607.3, at the option of the horse owner, vanning of participating racehorses from any board-approved offsite stabling facility.
(c) (1) With respect to racing meetings conducted in the central or southern zones, all costs associated with the maintenance of the useable stalls for the racing meeting shall be borne by the association or fair conducting the meeting, and, with respect to useable stalls at an offsite location, the association or fair may be required, by order of the board, to bear the costs of vanning from the offsite location to the racing meeting. However, with respect to any racing association in the central or southern zone that conducted a racing meeting in 1986, if the number of useable stalls made available onsite by a racing association during a racing meeting is less than 95 percent of the number of useable stalls made available onsite by that racing association during its 1986 racing meeting, the racing association shall reimburse the facility providing offsite stabling for the difference in cost between the actual number of useable stalls made available and 95 percent of the useable stalls made available in 1986.
(2) The racing association shall, in addition, reimburse the owner for vanning to the onsite location with respect to those horses stabled at an offsite location necessitated by the failure of a racing association to maintain 95 percent of the useable stalls made available by that racing association during its 1986 racing meeting.
(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 156, Sec. 1. (SB 732) Effective January 1, 2012.)