Case Title: State v. Kent

Citation: 549 P.2d 721, 87 Wash. 2d 103

Docket Number: 

State: washington

Court: Washington Supreme Court

Date: 1976-05-06T00:00:00Z

Document:
87 Wn.2d 103 (1976) 549 P.2d 721 THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. ROSA NATALIE KENT, ET AL, Appellants. No. 43882. The Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc. May 6, 1976. *104 William R. Garland, by J. Steven Thomas, for appellant Kent. Ronald D. Ness, for appellant Hammon. John C. Merkel, Prosecuting Attorney, and Warren K. Sharpe, Deputy, for respondent. HOROWITZ, J. Defendants Rosa Natalie Kent and Paul John Hammon appeal an order of the trial court denying their motions to dismiss proceedings against them under the Washington Habitual Traffic Offenders Act (RCW 46.65) upon the ground the act violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the privileges and immunities provision of the state constitution (Const. art. 1, § 12). The facts are these. On November 3, 1973, Rosa Natalie Kent was charged with being a habitual traffic offender under RCW 46.65. Her driving record shows from November 13, 1968, to September 30, 1973, she accumulated 20 or more convictions or bail forfeitures for various moving violations. None of these violations was alcohol-related. On March 18, 1974, Paul John Hammon was similarly charged with being a habitual traffic offender. His driving record shows three convictions in February 1974, in Kitsap County Superior Court for driving while his license was suspended. None of the offenses was alcohol-related. On October 21, 1974, Hammon was found to be a habitual traffic offender by the Kitsap County Superior Court. The court ordered the defendant's driver's license revoked for 5 years. On November 15, 1974, Hammon moved for an order vacating the judgment on the ground RCW 46.65 violates the equal protection clause of the federal constitution. On November 25, 1974, Hammon appeared in Kitsap County Superior Court to argue the motion. Rosa Natalie Kent also appeared to argue her oral motion to dismiss the charge against her. The court denied the motions on November 29, 1974. On the same day the court found Rosa Natalie Kent to be a habitual traffic offender under RCW 46.65 and revoked *105 her driver's license for 5 years, the order to be stayed pending appeal. On July 19, 1975, the Court of Appeals, Division Two, ordered defendants' appeals consolidated since they present the same constitutional questions. On July 21, 1975, the appeals were certified to this court by the Court of Appeals pursuant to RCW 2.06.030(e). The defendants contend RCW 46.65.060 denies them equal protection of the laws in violation of the equal protection clause of the federal constitution and privileges and immunities clause of our constitution. U.S. Const. amend. 14; Const. art. 1, § 12. A proper understanding of this contention requires a brief review of Washington's Habitual Traffic Offenders Act (RCW 46.65). The provisions of the act, as originally enacted in 1971 (Laws of 1971, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 284, p. 1486), are summarized in State v. Scheffel, 82 Wn.2d 872, 874-76, 514 P.2d 1052 (1973), as follows: In 1972 the Uniform Alcoholism and Intoxication Treatment Act was enacted in Washington. Laws of 1972, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 122, p. 297, codified in RCW 70.96A. This act declares it the policy of this state that treatment replace punishment as the appropriate mechanism for dealing with alcoholics and intoxicated persons. RCW 70.96 A. 010. The *107 act also mandates a comprehensive treatment program for persons with alcohol problems, to be administered by the State's Department of Social and Health Services. RCW 70.96A.030-.050. In accordance with the policy of the alcoholism treatment act, the following provision was added to RCW 46.65.060 in 1973: Laws of 1973, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 83, p. 678. The defendants, as stated, attack the constitutionality of this 1973 proviso. They argue the proviso is constitutionally infirm because it does not "`rest upon some ground of difference having a fair and substantial relation to the object of the legislation, so that all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.'" Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71, 76, 30 L. Ed. 2d 225, 92 S. Ct. 251 (1971), quoting Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415, 64 L. Ed. 989, 40 S. Ct. 560 (1920). The purpose of the act to promote safety on the highways (RCW 46.65.010) is defeated, defendants argue, by permitting those convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses to retain their licenses pursuant to RCW 46.65.060. In addition, defendants argue the proviso discriminates unfairly against other habitual traffic offenders (such as those whose traffic offenses are drug related, due to epilepsy, or to poor driving habits) who are not *108 afforded a treatment option and don't receive a stay of their license revocation. Defendants assert that treatment programs for drivers with poor driving habits are available. RCW 46.81 and 46.83. We disagree with defendants, hold Washington's Habitual Traffic Offenders Act as amended in 1973 to be valid and affirm the judgments below. We first note defendants do not contend that in this case the provision of the federal and state constitutions on which they rely do not mean the same thing. Both constitutional provisions in question may be said here to "have the same import, and we apply them as one." Markham Advertising Co. v. State, 73 Wn.2d 405, 427, 439 P.2d 248 (1968). [1, 2] There are two answers to defendants' contentions. First, even if the proviso were held invalid, this could not affect defendants' status as habitual traffic offenders. The proviso is severable, and the defendants having been adjudicated as habitual traffic offenders under the act in its original form, they would still be subject to the provisions of a statute upheld as valid in State v. Scheffel, supra. The severability clause applicable to RCW 46.65 states: Laws of 1971, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 284, § 17, p. 1492. With this clause, the proviso is severable leaving the original act intact. State v. Grabinski, 33 Wn.2d 603, 612, 206 P.2d 1022 (1949). The statute would also be severable independently of the severability clause, since there can be little question the legislature would have passed the act without the proviso. See Unemployment Compensation Dep't v. Hunt, 17 Wn.2d *109 228, 240, 135 P.2d 89 (1943); 2 C. Sands, Statutes and Statutory Construction §§ 44.09, .13 (4th ed. 1973). In fact, it did so. There is no reason to believe that if the amendment were held invalid the legislature would repeal the act in its original form. A similar result was reached in Unemployment Compensation Dep't v. Hunt, supra, a case involving an equal protection attack upon an exception to the general provisions of the Unemployment Compensation Act. The court states at pages 239-40: Moreover we find no basis for defendants' claim that the proviso in RCW 46.65.060 alone, or in the act with the proviso, is invalid under either the federal equal protection clause or the privileges and immunities provision of the state constitution. [3] The burden of proving the provision in RCW 46.65.060 violates these constitutional provisions is upon defendants. Brewer v. Copeland, 86 Wn.2d 58, 61, 542 P.2d 445 (1975), states: [4] First, defendants have not shown beyond a reasonable doubt RCW 46.65.060 is contrary to the purposes of the act as stated in RCW 46.65.010. RCW 46.65.010(2) states one purpose of the act is to deny licenses to those who have shown "indifference" to the safety of others and "disrespect" for highway laws. Alcoholics, however, are considered by the legislature to be suffering from an illness (RCW 70.96A), and there may be no conscious or voluntary "indifference" or "disrespect" in their behavior. In addition, other purposes of the act are to "discourage repetition of criminal acts", RCW 46.65.010(3), and to provide "maximum safety" for persons who use the public highways. RCW 46.65.010(1). The proviso is not necessarily contrary to these purposes either, since any stay under RCW 46.65.060 continues only "as long as there is no further conviction for any of the offenses listed in RCW 46.65.020(1)." If there is, the "stay shall be removed." RCW 46.65.060. [5] Second, the defendants have not shown RCW 46.65.060 unfairly discriminates against habitual traffic offenders whose violations are not alcohol-related. We are not convinced the proviso is invalid simply because it does not provide an opportunity for these offenders to undergo a treatment program and retain their licenses. That alcoholism is a serious social and health problem requiring special legislation cannot be disputed. Thus the first section of the Alcoholic and Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2688e et seq. (1970) states in part: See generally Note, 50 Wash. L. Rev. 755 (1975). The *111 Washington legislature may have considered the problem of the alcoholic (as defined in RCW 70.96A.020(1)) driver to be a particularly serious one; more so than the problem of the driver whose traffic violations arise from poor driving habits or some other source. Forty percent of fatal automobile accidents in Washington in 1974 were caused by alcohol. Office of Program Planning & Fiscal Management, State of Washington, Pocket Data Book 1975 154 (1976). Specific attention by the legislature to the drinking driver may also have been prompted by the availability of a comprehensive, state-run treatment program for alcohol-related problems. RCW 70.96A.030-.050. There is no comparable program available for drivers with simply poor driving habits. RCW 46.83 provides only for local traffic schools, which a city, town, or county may establish, and RCW 46.81 deals only with high school driver education courses. [6] The problem of the driver whose traffic offenses are related to drug use or epilepsy are not before us since defendants do not contend they come within either category. One cannot urge the unconstitutionality of a statute unless he is harmed by the particular feature of the statute challenged. State v. Lundquist, 60 Wn.2d 397, 374 P.2d 246 (1962). [7] Finally, equal protection does not require that a state choose between attacking every aspect of a problem and not attacking the problem at all. Washington Statewide Organization of Stepparents v. Smith, 85 Wn.2d 564, 571, 536 P.2d 1202 (1975). The legislature has the discretion not to deal with an evil or class of evils all within the scope of one enactment, but to approach the problem piecemeal and learn from experience. McDonald v. Board of Election Comm'rs, 394 U.S. 802, 809, 22 L. Ed. 2d 739, 89 S. Ct. 1404 (1969). Judgments affirmed. ROSELLINI, HUNTER, HAMILTON, UTTER, and BRACHTENBACH, JJ., and HENRY and RUMMEL, JJ. Pro Tem., concur.