Whereas, an inequity exists with regard to the timing of disbursements of funds to supplement harness racing purses; and

Whereas, the inequity will have a negative impact on harness racing purses provided at certain agricultural fairs in the 2006 racing season; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 8 MRSA §298, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 687, Pt. A, §3 and affected by Pt. B, §11, is amended to read:

2. Distribution. On May 30th, September 30th April 30th, July 30th, October 30th and January 30th of each year, all amounts credited to the fund established by this section as of the last day of the preceding month and not distributed before that day must be distributed to each commercial track, as defined in section 275-A, subsection 1, and to each agricultural fair association that during the preceding trimester has conducted live racing with pari-mutuel wagering on dates assigned by the commissioner pursuant to Title 7, section 65, and to each licensed racetrack that conducted an extended meet, referred to in this subsection as a "licensed racetrack," if the licensed race track conducted an extended meet during calendar year 2005, with each commercial track and each, agricultural fair association and licensed racetrack receiving an amount of money determined by multiplying the amount of money available for distribution times a fraction, the numerator of which is the total number of live race dashes conducted by the commercial track or, agricultural fair association or licensed racetrack during the preceding time period and the denominator of which is the total number of race dashes conducted by all commercial tracks and, agricultural fair associations and licensed racetracks during that time period. The payment in January must be adjusted so that for the prior 3 time periods year each commercial track or, agricultural fair association or licensed racetrack entitled to a distribution receives that fraction portion of the total money distributed over the full year from the fund established by this section, the amount that is determined by multiplying the total amount of money so distributed by a fraction, the numerator of which is the