ORDINANCE NO. 169
YEAR 2025
ITALIAN REPUBLIC
IN THE NAME OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
composed of:
President: Giovanni AMOROSO;
Judges: Francesco VIGANÒ, Luca ANTONINI, Stefano PETITTI, Angelo BUSCEMA, Emanuela NAVARRETTA, Maria Rosaria SAN GIORGIO, Filippo PATRONI GRIFFI, Marco D’ALBERTI, Giovanni PITRUZZELLA, Antonella SCIARRONE ALIBRANDI, Massimo LUCIANI, Maria Alessandra SANDULLI, Roberto Nicola CASSINELLI, Francesco Saverio MARINI,
has rendered the following
ORDINANCE
in the constitutional legitimacy review proceeding concerning Article 28, paragraph 16, of the Law of the Sicilian Region of November 18, 2024, no. 28 (Amendments to the Budget Forecast of the Region for the three-year period 2024-2026), brought by the President of the Council of Ministers with an appeal notified and filed with the Registry on January 15, 2025, registered under no. 3 of the appeals registry for 2025 and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic no. 6, special series, of 2025.
Heard in the private session of October 20, 2025, the Reporting Judge Roberto Nicola Cassinelli;
Deliberated in the private session of October 20, 2025.
Whereas, by an appeal notified on January 15, 2025, and filed on the same date (reg. appeal no. 3 of 2025), the President of the Council of Ministers, represented and defended by the State Attorney General’s Office, raised questions of constitutional legitimacy regarding Article 28, paragraph 16, of the Law of the Sicilian Region of November 18, 2024, no. 28 (Amendments to the Budget Forecast of the Region for the three-year period 2024-2026), with reference to Articles 81 and 117, third paragraph, of the Constitution – the latter through the intervening norms set out in Articles 8-quinquies and 8-sexies of Legislative Decree no. 502 of December 30, 1992 (Reorganization of the discipline in the health sector, pursuant to Article 1 of Law no. 421 of October 23, 1992), and Article 2, paragraph 80, of Law no. 191 of December 23, 2009, containing "Provisions for the formation of the annual and multi-year State budget (2010 Finance Law)" –, and to Article 17, first paragraph, letter b), of Constitutional Law no. 2 of February 26, 1948 (Conversion into Constitutional Law of the Statute of the Sicilian Region, approved by Royal Legislative Decree of May 15, 1946, no. 455);
whereas Article 28, paragraph 16, of Regional Law no. 28 of 2024 provides: "The Regional Health Department is authorized, starting from the fiscal year 2024, to recognize the tariff adjustment to rehabilitation facilities for psycho-physically and sensorially disabled persons, to assisted therapeutic communities, to residential health care facilities (RSA), and to day centers for autistic subjects, that apply the sector-specific National Collective Labor Agreements (CCNL), in the amount of 7 percent charged against the regional health service funds, subject to the consolidation and development operational plan. Article 49 of Regional Law no. 3/2024 is repealed";
whereas, in the opinion of the appellant, the challenged provision restates, with minor variations, the content of Article 49 of the Law of the Sicilian Region of January 31, 2024, no. 3 (Miscellaneous and financial provisions), which was declared constitutionally illegitimate by this Court's Sentence no. 197 of 2024;
whereas, the appellant further submits that the aforementioned ruling established that the Sicilian Region, being subject to the constraints of the healthcare deficit recovery plan, by providing for the recognition of the tariff adjustment, in the amount of 7 percent, for services rendered by rehabilitation facilities for psycho-physically and sensorially disabled persons, assisted therapeutic communities, residential health care facilities, and day centers for autistic subjects, had failed to comply with the prohibition on introducing new expenditures affecting the budget items related to healthcare spending;
whereas, therefore, this Court, by the aforementioned Sentence no. 197 of 2024, deemed a violation of Article 117, third paragraph, of the Constitution to be constituted, with the interposition of Articles 8-quinquies and 8-sexies of Legislative Decree no. 502 of 1992 and Article 2, paragraph 80, of Law no. 191 of 2009, absorbing the further claims;
whereas, according to the appellant, the challenged Article 28, paragraph 16, of Regional Law no. 28 of 2024, by replicating the provision for the tariff adjustment under conditions unchanged regarding the constraints of the recovery plan, conflicts with the same constitutional parameters;
whereas the Sicilian Region did not appear in the proceedings;
whereas, close to the public hearing of October 22, 2025, the President of the Council of Ministers, following the favorable resolution of the Council of Ministers dated October 8, 2025, withdrew the appeal with an act filed on October 10, 2025.
Considering that the President of the Council of Ministers withdrew the appeal with an act filed on October 10, 2025, on the grounds that the challenged Article 28, paragraph 16, of Regional Law no. 28 of 2024 was repealed by Article 9, paragraph 5, of the Law of the Sicilian Region of August 12, 2025, no. 29 (Amendments to the Region's budget for the fiscal year 2025 and the three-year period 2025-2027. Miscellaneous financial provisions), without having been applied in the interim, thus rendering the reasons leading to the challenge obsolete;
whereas, pursuant to Article 25 of the Supplementary Provisions for proceedings before the Constitutional Court, the withdrawal of the appeal, in the absence of the appearance of the respondent, results in the extinction of the proceedings (ex plurimis, ordinances no. 92 and no. 29 of 2025, no. 38 of 2023, and no. 44 of 2022).
for these reasons
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
declares the proceedings extinguished.
So decided in Rome, at the seat of the Constitutional Court, Palazzo della Consulta, on October 20, 2025.
Signed:
Giovanni AMOROSO, President
Roberto Nicola CASSINELLI, Rapporteur
Filed in the Registry on November 21, 2025