“This addition of H-2B visas is helpful for the horse racing industry, as we continue to see high demand for workers by employers,” said NTRA president and CEO Tom Rooney. “At the same time, the NTRA supports relief from the burdensome annual H-2B visa cap to enable affected employers to stabilize their businesses through a permanent returning worker exemption. We urge both departments to permanently reform the program.”

DHS is also providing additional flexibilities to H-2B petitioners under its general programmatic authority by allowing nonimmigrant workers in the United States in valid H-2B status and who are beneficiaries of non-frivolous H-2B, to begin work with a new employer after an H-2B petition is filed and before the petition is approved, generally for a period of up to 60 days. This provision clarifies portability eligibility for beneficiaries of pending petitions.

Of these additional 20,000 visas, 6,500 are reserved for nationals of the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and 13,500 for returning workers.

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a nonimmigrant visa program used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions.

For more information, view the temporary final rule in the Federal Register.

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Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas directed the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Tuesday to stop mass worksite raids and to take actions to promote a fair labor market by supporting more effective enforcement of wage protections, workplace safety, labor rights and other employment laws and standards.

In accordance with a memorandum issued by Secretary Mayorkas, ICE, CBP, and USCIS will develop and update policies to enhance the Department's impact in supporting the enforcement of employment and labor standards. The agencies must also develop strategies for prioritizing workplace enforcement against unscrupulous employers and, through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, facilitate the participation of vulnerable workers in labor standards investigations. The memorandum also calls for broader and deeper mechanisms for coordination with interagency partners to enforce worker protections.

“This is welcome news for the many horse industry businesses and employers, including trainers who pay close attention to labor laws,” said NTRA President and Chief Executive Officer Alex Waldrop.

The complete text of the memo can be found here.

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In accordance with a memorandum issued by Secretary Mayorkas, ICE, CBP, and USCIS will develop and update policies to enhance the Department's impact in supporting the enforcement of employment and labor standards. The agencies must also develop strategies for prioritizing workplace enforcement against unscrupulous employers and, through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, facilitate the participation of vulnerable workers in labor standards investigations. The memorandum also calls for broader and deeper mechanisms for coordination with interagency partners to enforce worker protections.

“This is welcome news for the many horse industry businesses and employers, including trainers who pay close attention to labor laws,” said NTRA President and Chief Executive Officer Alex Waldrop.

The complete text of the memo can be found here.

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“The 22,000 H-2B visas offered through this rule issued by the DHS and DOL will be helpful to employers who rely on the H-2B visa program, including trainers, but many more of these visas are ultimately required to satisfy the need,” said NTRA President and CEO Alex Waldrop. “For that reason, the NTRA, through its involvement in the H-2B Workforce Coalition, supports additional relief from the burdensome annual H-2B visa cap through a permanent returning worker exemption.”

Employers can find eligibility and filing details here.

This past December, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 became law and included a provision that provides the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the discretionary authority to release an additional 64,176 H-2B visas when significant need is demonstrated. The NTRA supports all efforts to make additional visas available to seasonal businesses struggling with labor issues.

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a nonimmigrant visa program used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions.

Demand for H-2B visas often exceeds their availability and the cap level is quickly reached, leaving employers in need. For the second half of federal fiscal year 2021, DHS announced that by February 12 it had received enough H-2B worker petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap of 33,000 visas allotted.

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“The 22,000 H-2B visas offered through this rule issued by the DHS and DOL will be helpful to employers who rely on the H-2B visa program, including trainers, but many more of these visas are ultimately required to satisfy the need,” said NTRA President and CEO Alex Waldrop. “For that reason, the NTRA, through its involvement in the H-2B Workforce Coalition, supports additional relief from the burdensome annual H-2B visa cap through a permanent returning worker exemption.”

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a nonimmigrant visa program which trainers rely heavily on to fill various backside positions. Demand for H-2B visas often exceeds their availability and the cap level is quickly reached, leaving employers in need. Employers can find eligibility and filing details here.

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“We are pleased to learn that additional H-2B visas will be available for trainers soon and applaud Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh for this action,” said NTRA President and CEO Alex Waldrop. “At the same time, the NTRA supports relief from the burdensome annual H-2B visa cap through a permanent returning worker exemption and urges both departments to reform the program accordingly, enabling affected employers to stabilize their businesses.”

This past December, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 became law and included a provision that provides the DHS with the discretionary authority to release an additional 64,176 H-2B visas when significant need is demonstrated. The NTRA, through its involvement with the H-2B Workforce Coalition, supports all efforts to make additional visas available to seasonal businesses struggling with labor issues.

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a nonimmigrant visa program used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions.

Demand for H-2B visas often exceeds their availability and the cap level is quickly reached, leaving employers in need. For the second half of federal fiscal year 2021, DHS announced that by February 12 it had received enough H-2B worker petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap of 33,000 visas allotted.

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Originally issued on April 20, 2020, by then-President Trump and extended by him in June and December through sections of Proclamations 10052 and 10131, respectively, Proclamation 10014 prevented certain immigrants and nonimmigrants from traveling to the United States. Included in this group were individuals who either were selected to receive the opportunity to apply for visas – including H-2B visas – through the Fiscal Year 2020 Diversity Visa Lottery or who had already received such visas, causing labor challenges for many industries, including the horse racing industry. President Biden's Proclamation revokes these restrictions.

In other foreign worker developments, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it had received enough H-2B worker petitions by February 12 to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B visa cap of 33,000 visas for the 2nd half of fiscal year 2021.

In December, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 became law and included a provision that provides the DHS with the discretionary authority to release an additional 64,716 H-2B visas when sufficient need is demonstrated. The NTRA, through its involvement with the H-2B Workforce Coalition, supports efforts to make these additional visas immediately available to seasonal businesses struggling with labor issues.

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a nonimmigrant visa program used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, racehorse trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions. Demand for H-2B visas often exceeds their availability and the cap level is quickly reached, leaving employers in need.

The post President Lifts Several Immigrant, Non Immigrant Travel Restrictions; H-2B Visa Cap Reached appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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• H-2B visa program policies set to continue include:
• Authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), to increase the H-2B cap for fiscal year 2021 by up to approximately 69,000 visas if it determines that the needs of seasonal businesses cannot be met with U.S. workers;
• Continuation of the use of private wage surveys for prevailing wage determinations;
• A prohibition against DOL enforcing the corresponding employment and three-quarters guarantee provisions of its H-2B regulations relating to total work hours; and
• Provisions extending the maximum employment season for up to 10 months, as opposed the nine-months in current DOL regulations.

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a nonimmigrant visa program used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, racehorse trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions. Demand for H-2B visas often exceeds their availability and the cap level is quickly reached, leaving employers without sufficient help.

The NTRA, through its involvement with the H-2B Workforce Coalition, supports efforts for comprehensive reform of the guest worker visa program.

The post Omnibus Legislation Will Allow Current H-2B Visa Provisions To Continue appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Three months into his tenure as CEO, the coronavirus pandemic hit, causing global economic havoc on many businesses, including sports leagues and organizations, which were forced to cancel, downsize or reschedule events. While focusing on planning for the two-day world championships that will take place at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 6-7, Fleming also played a significant role in the creation of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition and the advancement of federal legislation, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, that had been at a stalemate.

Fleming was interviewed by Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick.

Paulick: In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, what's been the biggest challenge to staging this year's Breeders' Cup?

Fleming: The world as a whole is grasping with COVID-19, including major sporting events. Back in March, when the world was essentially shut down, Breeders' Cup looked at every single aspect of our world championships and had to reevaluate, reassess and in some cases change what we were doing. We've taken extensive time and attention to make sure that the safety is consistent with CDC guidelines. We will always put the health and safety of our fans first and foremost. We've come up with safe protocols that have been applied that will make sure safety will be dealt with.

It's been a complete team effort by many, many people: health officials, including the former head of infectious diseases for the University of Kentucky, local government officials, state officials. Countless people were involved just in being able to pull the Breeders' Cup off. It's been an honor to be involved in the process. It's been an awakening to me to see how resilient our industry is and how we all come together in times of crisis.

What do you anticipate the total number of people that will be on-site each day, including essential personnel and the connections of the participating horses?

We made the sad decision to not permit fans to attend, which was a difficult decision but we made it when we did because we knew fans would normally come from all over the United States and the world. We wanted to be fair to them and give them due notice. We are limited to participants: owners, breeders, jockeys, trainers and a very limited number of sponsors. I don't know the specific number yet.

What kind of hoops did you have to jump through to secure any exemptions for international travel? The international participation this year is robust – the second-highest number ever.

I think that's a testament to racing and our board to keep our purses and awards at $31 million, and we thank the breeders for letting us be in a position of strength to do that. We've been working closely with the Department of Homeland Security, and back in May President Trump made a “major sporting event” exemption. We've been working with our local legislators and the Department of Homeland Security to make sure we meet the criteria for a “major sporting event.” We've been having daily, if not more frequent, dialogue with them for quite a while to make sure the athletes and their essential team members can come over to compete.

Coming off a record year – $174 million in handle for the two days at Santa Anita –  what are your expectations from a wagering standpoint, given the declines we've seen in the rescheduled Triple Crown races?

It's really an unknown, but there are a couple of factors we've been closely evaluating. One, the amount of on-track wagering will be severely reduced, and betting at off-track facilities will be significantly reduced, both as a direct result of COVID-19. But we've seen a significant increase in ADW wagering. One of the questions will be what percentage of both on-track and OTB wagering will convert to ADW wagering. I know you mentioned Triple Crown races had declined, but there were smaller field sizes and non-traditional dates. Fortunately for us, we've had the second highest pre-entries in the history of the Breeders' Cup, including as you mentioned the second highest number of international horses. We are having very, very strong fields. The racing will be world class without question. We are hopeful and energetic that our fans, though they can't be here in person, will see the great product out there and have fun placing a bet.

To make sure that they have that true at-home experience and want to connect with the Breeders' Cup, we've done two things. First, we've done an awareness campaign. This was planned pre-COVID. While one might think it's easy to cut expenses and not have an awareness campaign like this, we felt it was important for racing and our industry to go forward with it. It's a campaign focused on general horse racing fans and sports fans, to show them the beauty of the athlete, the passion for horse racing, how great our sport is, and hope that they tune in on Nov. 6-7 to watch the world's best horses compete.

Second to that, back in February and March, when we started to learn more about COVID, we came up with many different scenarios. One that we obviously didn't want to have was that we wouldn't be able to have fans in person at the track. We wanted to make sure they had the best at-home experience possible. We've done a lot of great work with TVG and NBC, and this will be the most robust on-site production ever for a horse racing event. We'll have access to more than 80 cameras on-site, including two jockey cams and the “batcam,” which is a high speed camera on cables that moves down the backstretch. In addition to the television broadcast, we're having a second screen, which is digital for phones and iPads. Part of that is the new Contenders Cam, where fans can watch a specific horse or more than one specific horse from the time that horse enters the paddock until it goes into the starting gate. That's really geared toward bettors. We spent a lot of time and effort and made a significant investment. I think everyone's going to be blown away at how cool the technology is.

You mentioned maintaining purse levels. There were planned increases for 2020, which you obviously held off on. Were there discussions about cutting purses?

Given the financial uncertainty, we were looking at it from all different angles, but it was a very unanimous decision from our board that we are in a position of strength, thanks to the breeder support for many years, and while we are in that position of strength we felt it was important to give back in order to show the strength of the Thoroughbred industry and to highlight the world-class racing and world-class purses. So, yes it was discussed, but it was very brief, and everybody was very supportive of keeping purses and awards what they were in 2019.

Because the Breeders' Cup has significant cash reserves, you can afford to do that. How much of a hit are you taking from the loss of ticket sales and, possibly, sponsorships?

It's a little too early to have actuals, but the last time we were at Keeneland in 2015, we sold $15-$16 million in tickets. Obviously, we'll be nowhere near that. We are very fortunate, though, to have great corporate partners, and they've seen and are very excited about the new ways we will be highlighting the Breeders' Cup, are on-board with our awareness campaign, and are very supporting with the technology and innovation we've been doing for the at-home experience. It's definitely a challenging year from a financial standpoint, but that's why the reserves are there. We are still going to do everything we can to promote the Thoroughbred industry, even in difficult times.

Between anticipated losses on the event and likely declines in 2021 revenue from lower stud fees, do you expect Breeders' Cup will have to undergo some belt tightening?

I don't want to speculate at this point. One thing I'm proud about with the Breeders' Cup, is we publish our financials. We are an open book, we are transparent. Obviously, it's a moving target, but we are in a great position of strength and I think, despite some financial things we wouldn't like or anticipate this year,  we are going to have a great Breeders' Cup with world-class racing, and we are very proud of that.

From my perspective, the Challenge Series really seems to have caught on. How do you feel it's been embraced by the horsemen?

Horsemen around the world love it. We had 86 different Challenge races this year, I believe in 12 countries. We've had 48 Challenge Series winners pre-enter the Breeders' Cup, which is a testament to its success. It does a couple things: one, it keeps Breeders' Cup top of mind all year long, and two, it's a great thank you to our breeders that we are able to offer these Challenge Series races so that horses automatically qualify for the Breeders' Cup and their entries are paid for. We absolutely love it. It's been a tremendous success and we are going to continue to have many Challenge races.

What's different from an on-track safety and integrity standpoint this year?

As always, we are putting the safety of our athletes and the integrity of our sport as a top priority. We've been working with the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition as well as Dr. Larry Bramlage on a number of reforms, but Breeders' Cup will always have the best veterinary team on site, 72-hour surveillance, out-of-competition testing, medication protocols, in addition to six new recommendations that will be in place this year.

No one in American racing is more high profile than Bob Baffert. He's now named in four separate medication violations in three states this year, in addition to the 2018 Justify case that's been reopened by the California Horse Racing Board. Is his right to participate in the the Breeders' Cup in jeopardy because of policies that were adopted a few years ago?

The situation is challenging, but until these most recent charges are adjudicated, Mr. Baffert is not under suspension in any jurisdiction in the United States, particularly not in violation of any Kentucky regulation or any existing Breeders' Cup rule. As of now, he is not prohibited from participating in the world championships. But like all Breeders' Cup participants, his horses will be subject to the same stringent medication restrictions, testing protocols – including out-of-competition testing – surveillance and pre-race veterinary exams. As I mentioned earlier, we will always put the safety and integrity of our races first and foremost.

Similar to that, Breeders' Cup is going to continue to advocate zealously for passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act. We believe its passage will create uniformity across the United States in the 38 fragmented states, offer transparency and hopefully have timely solutions moving forward.

What role did you play in bringing Churchill Downs Inc. and The Jockey Club together in support of this legislation? It's well known these two organizations were not working in concert with one another, and my understanding is you played a significant role in bringing the two parties together.

I think it's important that everyone gets credit for this, because it was a true team effort. Thanks to The Jockey Club, thanks to Churchill Downs for working with the Breeders' Cup, The Stronach Group, New York Racing Association and many other racing organizations that see the need and passion to move forward with federal legislation. We were presented with a unique opportunity to act as a facilitator, similar to what we did with the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, and we were able to have good dialogue among many parties to bring the industry together. It was a first step, but it was a very important first step. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act has passed the House of Representatives, it's currently in front of the Senate and we are very hopeful for its passage because it will be a watershed moment for our industry.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who is now a co-sponsor of the bill, had hoped to get it passed by the Senate before the election. That didn't happen. Where do things stand now?

We've been working with a number of officials in Washington, D.C., and it remains a top priority for many. It's important that it's a bipartisan bill supported by Sen. McConnell and Sen. Gillibrand (of New York), among others. I think everybody is still intent on moving forward and getting this passed.

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