CopyPublished | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2017 WL 4583022
...Thoroughbred breeders’ awards were initially set by
statute, see Chapter 63-161, Laws of Florida (establishing section 550.38), but over
the decades, that system evolved into one in which FTBOA is empowered to
decide the amount and distribution of awards. Ch. 92-348, § 31, Laws of Fla.
(establishing section 550.26165 and specifying the percentage of race purses to be
distributed as awards to registered Florida-bred horses, such as up to twenty
percent, but not less than fifteen percent, from available funds); see also Ch. 2000-
354, § 25, Laws of Fla. (amending section 550.26165(1)). Whether set by statute or
by the discretion of FTBOA, the goal of the breeders’ awards are “to encourage the
agricultural activity of breeding racehorses in this state.” § 550.26165, Fla....
...which is the statutory mandate that FTBOA annually create a “uniform rate and
procedure for the payment of breeders’ and stallion awards” that “must provide for
the maximum possible payments within revenues.” §§
550.2625(3)(h),
550.26165(2), Fla....
...(2017). FTBOA “shall make breeders’ and stallion award
it specifies no benefit that is to be received by owners or trainers.”).
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Until 1999, the complete statutes of Florida were published only in odd-years,
supplements in even-years. Because section
550.26165 was enacted in December
1992, after the supplement was published, it first appears in the 1993 statute book.
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payments in strict compliance with the established uniform rate and procedure
plan.” Id. §
550.2625(3)(h). And the fund of undistributed breeders’ awards shall
not be allowed “to grow excessively.” Id. §
550.26165(4).
Monies distributed as breeders’ awards are limited “to breeders of registered
Florida-bred horses winning horseraces” and, under the current statutory structure,
must be within certain parameters....
...For example, “awards shall be given at a
uniform rate to all winners of the awards, shall not be greater than 20 percent of the
announced gross purse, and shall not be less than 15 percent of the announced
gross purse if funds are available.” § 550.26165(1), Fla....
...third place finishes and paying awards “that are greater than 20 percent and less
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than 15 percent of the announced gross purse” and so on. Ch. 2009-170, § 12,
Laws of Fla. (adding subsection (5) to section 550.26165).
FTBOA’s annual plan “must be approved by the [D]ivision before
implementation....
...To begin, the Legislature’s stated purpose of
the statutory framework at issue is to “encourage the agricultural activity of
breeding and training racehorses in this state” by distributing “awards to breeders
of registered Florida-bred horses winning horseraces.” See § 550.26165(1), Fla.
Stat....
...vely addressed
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and resolved. Indeed, the raison d’être for the plan to establish breeders’ awards of
optimal magnitude is to encourage the very activity in which SCF has successfully
engaged. See § 550.26165(2) (annual plan “must provide for the maximum
possible payments within revenues”).
This type of economic interest has been recognized as sufficient to establish
standing in this same industry....
...to be made; instead,
only FTBOA and the Division are allowed to be involved in the approval process.
The finality of the plan once approved, and the statutory admonition that it not be
modified thereafter absent “the most compelling reasons,” section 550.26165,
Florida Statutes, is a two-edged sword....
