Section 19577.

(a) (1) Any blood or urine test sample required by the board to be taken from a horse that is entered in any race shall be divided or taken in duplicate, if there is sufficient sample available after the initial test sample has been taken. The initial test sample shall be referred to as the official test sample and the secondary sample shall be referred to as the split sample. All samples immediately become and remain the property of the board. The board shall adopt regulations to ensure the security of obtaining and testing of all samples.

(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to total carbon dioxide testing. The board shall adopt emergency regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code) to establish policies, guidelines, and procedures that include a split sample process related to total carbon dioxide testing. These regulations shall be deemed to be an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare. The emergency regulations shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law for filing with the Secretary of State and publication in the California Code of Regulations, and shall be replaced by final, permanent regulations within 120 days of their adoption.

(b) If the official test sample is found to contain a prohibited drug substance, the executive director, after consulting with and agreeing with the equine medical director that the official test sample contains a prohibited substance, shall confidentially inform the owner and trainer of those results. The owner or the trainer of the horse, upon being so informed, may request that the split sample be tested by an independent laboratory selected from a list of laboratories provided by and approved by the board. The owner or trainer of the horse shall pay the cost of testing the split sample.

(c) If the split sample test results fail to confirm the finding of the prohibited drug substance found in the official test sample, a presumption affecting the burden of producing evidence pursuant to Section 603 of the Evidence Code of no evidentiary prohibited drug substance in the animal shall exist for purposes of this chapter.

(d) The executive director shall report to the board a finding of a prohibited drug substance in an official test sample within 24 hours of the confirmation of that prohibited drug substance in the split sample by the independent laboratory, or within 24 hours of waiver of split sample testing by the owner or trainer. Any recommendation to the board by the executive director to dismiss the matter shall be by mutual agreement with the equine medical director. The authority for the disposition of the matter shall be the responsibility of the board.

(e) The executive director shall maintain responsibility for all test samples until the executive director refers the matter to the board. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as provided in subdivision (a), the results of the tests from the official testing laboratory, the Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory and the independent laboratory shall be confidential until or unless the board files an official complaint.

(f) If the owner or trainer does not request that the split sample be tested within the time limits set by the board, the owner and trainer waive all rights to that sample and the board assumes all jurisdiction over the split sample.

(g) The board shall contract with the Regents of the University of California to be the primary drug testing laboratory performing the equine drug testing required by this section.

(Amended by Stats. 2005, Ch. 179, Sec. 1. Effective September 6, 2005.)