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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The promoters of Formula One's U.S. Grand Prix blew a deadline to collect their annual $25 million in Texas taxpayer money to help pay for the 2018 race. Now state lawmakers are about to give them another chance and make it easier to get the funds in the future.
The Grand Prix depends heavily on state cash to cover Formula One's license fees to stage the race. The Circuit of the Americas in Austin has collected more than $150 million from the Major Events Reimbursement Program for F1's only race in the U.S. since 2012.
But race organizers missed a paperwork deadline ahead of the 2018 race and were denied their annual payout, threatening a devastating financial blow. State lawmakers have now stepped in with a measure that would let them reapply and get the money. The bill has already passed the Texas House of Representatives and awaits a Senate vote before the legislative session ends May 27.
Circuit of the Americas President Bobby Epstein, who also founded the investment firm Prophet Capital, has pumped about $100,000 in campaign donations to state officials and lawmakers in the six months since the 2018 race, including donations to Gov. Greg Abbott, whose office controls the fund, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate.
Other donations went to several lawmakers who sit on committees that first considered the bill or live in districts near the racetrack. Epstein did not immediately return messages seeking comment Thursday.
Tickets have already gone on sale for the 2019 race and Formula One has expressed no public worries. In 2015, Epstein complained that a $5 million reduction in reimbursement put the race at risk, but it has survived.
The reimbursement program allows organizers of big events to cover their costs by giving them tax money that was collected around the event. While critics have called it a corporate giveaway of taxpayer money, it has been used by big events such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA Final Four. The U.S. Grand Prix has been the largest recipient of state cash by far.
State law requires applicants to submit an anti-human trafficking plan 30 days before an event as part of an effort to combat spikes in prostitution. U.S. Grand Prix organizers didn't file their plan until 11 days before the 2018 race.