By virtue of a 6-1 decision by the Supreme Court of PA, the deadline for the General Assembly to craft a fix on the 2004 gaming law local share assessment (host fee) has been extended out to May 26th. As we wrote last November on the court’s decision to sever the language on the host fee due to problems with the Uniformity Clause, the Court gave the General Assembly 120 days to come up with a fix, which would have expired tomorrow (January 26th).
Members of the Senate petitioned the court on January 12th for an extension, according to the dissenting opinion. The reasons? Not enough session days, the stay coming during lame duck time period, and the disagreements between the Senate and the House on a fix and the expansion of gambling. The dissenting opinion raised the possibility that applications for relief from deadlines “…likely will become the rule rather than the exception”.
While some casinos and host municipalities/counties have come to agreements, it is unclear what happens if a final fix comes five months into the year and what that means, if anything, for obligations on the host fee in places where agreements have not been made.
