§ 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.