§ 308. Officials at harness horse race meetings. 1. At all harness race meetings licensed by the commission in accordance with the provisions of sections two hundred twenty-two through seven hundred five of this chapter qualified judges and starters shall be designated by the commission. Such officials shall enforce the rules and regulations of the commission and shall render regular written reports of the activities and conduct of such race meetings to the commission.

2. The licensed racing corporations shall reimburse the commission for the per diem cost to the commission to employ one associate judge and the starter to serve at harness race meetings. The commission shall notify each such licensed racing corporation of the per diem cost of the associate judge and the starter at the track of such licensed racing corporation within sixty days of the end of each month. Payment of the reimbursement required by this section shall be made to the commission by each entity required to make such payments within thirty days of such notification by the commission and shall cover all the costs incurred during that month. A penalty of five percent of payment due, and interest at the rate of one percent per month calculated from such date that payment is due to the date of the payment of the per diem cost shall be payable in case any per diem cost imposed by this subdivision is not paid when due. The commission shall promulgate rules and regulations to ensure the proper reimbursement of such costs.

3. The commission shall pay into the racing regulation account, as defined in section ninety-nine-i of the state finance law, under the joint custody of the comptroller and the commission, the total amount of the reimbursements collected pursuant to this section. With the approval of the director of the budget, monies used to pay the costs and expenses of the operations of the commission shall be paid out of such account on the audit and warrant of the comptroller on vouchers, certified and approved by the director of the division of the budget or his or her duly designated official.

4. Any associate judge and starter whose per diem costs are reimbursed by a licensed racing corporation shall remain employees of the commission and shall retain all the rights and privileges of their current civil service jurisdictional classification and status and collective bargaining unit representation.