CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1999 Fla. App. LEXIS 9911, 1999 WL 516253
ALLEN, J. The appellant challenges a final summary judgment declaring section 550.2614, Florida Statutes, unconstitutional as an unlawful exercise of the state’s police power....
...The appellees are three Florida thoroughbred owners who do not belong to the association. The appellees filed a declaratory action against the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation [hereinafter “the division”] seeking to have section 550.2614 declared unconstitutional and to enjoin the division from enforcing the statute. Section 550.2614 * provides that each race track shall deduct one percent of the total purse pool and pay that amount to the horsemen’s association representing the majority of the thoroughbred racehorse owners and trainers. § 550.2614(1), Fla....
...It also provides that owners and trainers are automatically enrolled in the majority association upon receipt of an occupational license from the division, unless the owner or trainer declines membership in writing within 30 days of receiving the license. Id. § 550.2614(3) [hereinafter “the membership provision”]. After the division declined to defend the action, the appellant successfully intervened. The appellees then filed a motion for summary judgment. Following a hear *451 ing on the motion, the court entered a final summary judgment declaring section 550.2614 an unlawful exercise of the police power because the one percent provision “does not provide a requirement that the monies received by the association be used for a justifiable state objective and does not describe how the funds pa...
...onal on its face and enjoined the division from enforcing its provisions. As an initial matter, the appellant argues that the appellees do not have standing to challenge the statute. Under the plain language of the statute, however, clearly they do. Section 550.2614(1) requires each racetrack to deduct one percent of the total purse pool and pay that amount to a horsemen’s association representing the majority of the thoroughbred racehorse owners and trainers....
...As the above-quoted language demonstrates, the essential holding of Horsemen’s was that the statute was unconstitutional because the withheld funds could be spent by the association without regard to any permissible objective under the state police power. Section 550.2614 suffers from the same constitutional infirmity suffered by the statute addressed in Horsemen’s. We agree with the trial court’s following analysis: The only appreciable difference between the 1978 statute and the current Section 550.2614 is subsection (3), which provides that each thoroughbred owner and trainer, upon receipt of the required license, is to receive automatic membership in the association and be counted on its membership unless the individual declines membership in writing within 30 days after receipt of a license from the State. This addition does not provide a requirement that the monies received by the association be used for a justifiable state objective and does not describe how the funds paid to the association are to be spent. Therefore, the portions of the current Section 550.2614 that are substantially similar to the 1978 statute are still unconstitutional because of the Florida Supreme Court’s previous ruling in Horsemen’s....
...ar as the legislative intent is concerned, subsection (3) has no point if the funding provisions are stricken. While subsection (3), standing alone, may promote the interests of the appellant, it does not promote the legislative purpose for enacting section 550.2614. We accordingly also agree with the trial court’s conclusion that the membership provision is not severable. The final summary judgment is affirmed. LAWRENCE and BENTON, JJ., CONCUR. Section 550.2614, Florida Statutes, in its entirety reads: 550.2614 Distribution of certain funds to a horsemen’s association.— (1) Each licensee that holds a permit for thoroughbred horse racing in this state shall deduct from the purses required by s....
