Legislation governing racehorse medication policy unanimously passed the Florida Senate Regulated Industries Committee Feb. 18 and was reported favorably to the full Senate.

Introduced by Republican Senator Jack Latvala, the bill would bring Florida racing in line with the National Uniform Medication Program. The effort by Florida stakeholders to update equine medication regulations began in earnest in 2014.

No one objected to the bill, which has broad support among horsemen and Thoroughbred racetracks, Latvala said. The senator also noted it’s important to bring Florida’s equine medication rules up to speed with those states that have adopted all or parts of the National Uniform Medication Program.

Dionne Benson, DVM, executive director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, was on hand to answer questions, but there were no questions. Seven individuals from the equine industry waived comments and issued their support for the bill