(Austin, Texas - Thursday, February 25, 2016) - Today, the Texas Horsemen's Partnership received the following email from Texas Racing Commission (TRC) Public Information Officer Rober Elrod informing us that the Commission's funding has now been restored through August 31, 2017:

"Hello everyone-
I just wanted to let you all know that this morning the Legislative Budget Board authorized the Texas Racing Commission to expend its Rider 7 appropriations. This means that the agency is now fully funded for the remainder of the biennium, which extends through August 31, 2017. Thank you.
Robert Elrod
Public Information Officer
Texas Racing Commission"

The TRC had been operating on a temporary plan covering its administrative costs. That temporary funding was scheduled to end on Monday, February 29. Had that happened, racing in Texas would have shut down on March 1. Such a shutdown was prevented by the Legislative Budget Board (LBB)'s release of the TRC's administrative funding on Thursday.

The release of funding comes a week after the TRC voted to repeal the rules for historical racing it put in place in August 2014. The historical racing rules have been a source of controversy since charitable bingo and tribal interests legally challenged them and a judge ruled that the commission did not have the jurisdiction to pass rules governing the electronic parimutuel game.

Some of the state’s tracks and horsemen’s organizations, including the THP, appealed the decision in court.