§ 308 — Officials at harness horse race meetings

§ 308. Officials at harness horse race meetings. 1. At all harness\nrace meetings licensed by the commission in accordance with the\nprovisions of sections two hundred twenty-two through seven hundred five\nof this chapter qualified judges and starters shall be designated by the\ncommission. Such officials shall enforce the rules and regulations of\nthe commission and shall render regular written reports of the\nactivities and conduct of such race meetings to the commission.\n 2. The licensed racing corporations shall reimburse the commission for\nthe per diem cost to the commission to employ one associate judge and\nthe starter to serve at harness race meetings. The commission shall\nnotify each such licensed racing corporation of the per diem cost of the\nassociate judge and the starter at the track of such licensed racing\ncorporation within sixty days of the end of each month. Payment of the\nreimbursement required by this section shall be made to the commission\nby each entity required to make such payments within thirty days of such\nnotification by the commission and shall cover all the costs incurred\nduring that month. A penalty of five percent of payment due, and\ninterest at the rate of one percent per month calculated from such date\nthat payment is due to the date of the payment of the per diem cost\nshall be payable in case any per diem cost imposed by this subdivision\nis not paid when due. The commission shall promulgate rules and\nregulations to ensure the proper reimbursement of such costs.\n 3. The commission shall pay into the racing regulation account, as\ndefined in section ninety-nine-i of the state finance law, under the\njoint custody of the comptroller and the commission, the total amount of\nthe reimbursements collected pursuant to this section. With the approval\nof the director of the budget, monies used to pay the costs and expenses\nof the operations of the commission shall be paid out of such account on\nthe audit and warrant of the comptroller on vouchers, certified and\napproved by the director of the division of the budget or his or her\nduly designated official.\n 4. Any associate judge and starter whose per diem costs are reimbursed\nby a licensed racing corporation shall remain employees of the\ncommission and shall retain all the rights and privileges of their\ncurrent civil service jurisdictional classification and status and\ncollective bargaining unit representation.\n