Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/south-carolina/supreme-court/2011/27069.html
Timestamp: 2019-10-20 06:14:58
Document Index: 626850857

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 17', '§ 17', '§ 17', '§ 17', '§ 17', '§ 17', '§79', '§ 7']

Beaufort County v. SC Election Commission :: 2011 :: South Carolina Supreme Court Decisions :: South Carolina Case Law :: South Carolina Law :: US Law :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › South Carolina Case Law › South Carolina Supreme Court Decisions › 2011 › Beaufort County v. SC Election Commission
Heard November 14, 2011 Filed November 22, 2011
Joel W. Collins, Jr., Christian Stegmaier, and James L. Floyd, III, of Columbia, for Petitioners.
Attorney General Alan Wilson, Deputy Attorney General Robert D. Cook, Assistant Deputy Attorney General J. Emory Smith, and Assistant Attorney General J.C. Nicholson, III, of Columbia, for Respondents South Carolina State Election Commission, Marci Andino, as Executive Director of the South Carolina State Election Commission and as a representative of the South Carolina State Election Commission; Kevin A. Hall, Karl S. Bowers, Jr., and M. Todd Carroll, of Columbia, for Respondents South Carolina Republican Party, Chad Connelly, as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the South Carolina Republican Party and as a representative of the South Carolina Republican Party; John T. Lay, Jr., of Columbia, for Respondents the South Carolina Democratic Party, and Richard A. Harpootlian, as Chair of the Executive Committee of the South Carolina Democratic Party and as a representative of the South Carolina Democratic Party; Michael R. Hitchcock and John P. Hazzard, V, for Respondent-Intervenor Glenn F. McConnell, in his capacity as President Pro Tempore of the South Carolina Senate; and Bradley S. Wright, and Charles F. Reid, of Columbia, for Respondent-Intervenor Robert W. Harrell, Jr., in his capacity as Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
CHIEF JUSTICE TOAL: Petitioners seek a declaration from this Court in its original jurisdiction that the General Assembly has neither authorized the State Election Commission or the County Election Commissions to conduct a Presidential Preference Primary in 2012, nor mandated that petitioners bear the financial burden of conducting the primary. Because we are firmly persuaded that the General Assembly, through passage of Provisos 79.6 and 79.12 for fiscal year 2011-2012, intended to suspend the temporal limitation in S.C. Code Ann. § 17-11-20(B)(2) (Supp. 2010), we enter judgment for respondents.
South Carolina Code Ann. § 17-11-20(B)(2) provides, in part:
We would agree with Petitioners if § 17-11-20(B)(2) were the only expression of legislative intent before us. But, as discussed below, we must consider the operative budget provisos for the current fiscal year, as well as our precedent that speaks to the relationship of a legislative proviso juxtaposed to a permanent statute.
Moreover, we cannot ignore the final provision of the 2011-2012 Appropriations Act in which the General Assembly stated, "All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with any of the provisions of Parts IA or IB of this act are suspended for Fiscal Year 2011-2012." By passing the relevant budget provisos, the General Assembly, thus, has expressly provided that the temporal limitation in § 17-11-20(B)(2) must be suspended during the current fiscal year. See McLeod, 256 S.C. at 26, 180 S.E.2d at 640 ("There is no doubt that the legislature has the power, where there is no constitutional prohibition, to suspend the operation of a statute. When such intention is clearly manifest this court has no choice but to give force and effect thereto.").
Prior to 2008, the taxpayers of South Carolina had never funded the First in the South Presidential Primary instead, the political parties did. As I have made clear throughout the budget process, I believe private dollars are the appropriate way to fund a partisan Presidential Primary. The Attorney General of South Carolina has recognized that the State GOP can contract with the State Election Commission to run the primary. The United States Department of Justice has cleared an election conducted by the Election Commission and funded by a political party. The bottom line is this: South Carolina will host the First in the South Presidential Primary in 2012 and will be as successful as it always has been, but it should not fall on the taxpayers to cover the expense. For these reasons, we are vetoing these provisos.
The Governor clearly understood the intent of the General Assembly to adhere to the 2008 public funding approach in fiscal year 2011-2012 and sought to oppose it.[3] The General Assembly, in turn, clearly understood the import and consequences of overriding the Governor's veto - the effect of the budget provisos was to suspend the temporal limitation in § 17-11-20(B)(2). A contrary construction of legislative intent would mean the Governor and the General Assembly were not aware what was intended by the provisos, a result which would border on frivolity.
Having held the General Assembly has authorized and directed that Presidential Preference Primaries be conducted in South Carolina in 2012 by the State Election Commission and the County Election Commissions, we declare that such Presidential Preference Primaries shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of S.C. Code Ann. § 17-11-20(B)(2) (Supp. 2010) and Provisos 79.6 and 79.12 of Part II of the 2011-2012 General Appropriations Act, Act. No. 73, 2011 S.C. Acts §§79.6 and 79.12.
As a threshold matter, I note that the majority and the parties themselves mistakenly identify the source of the perceived conflict with the provisos as being section 7-11-20(B)(2). As the majority correctly holds, that section by its very terms does not operate past the 2008 election cycle. Thus, the current budget provisos cannot conflict with the language "[f]or the 2008 election cycle"or indeed any language in section 7-11-20(B)(2)because it is not in effect for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. In other words, the notion that the provisos can suspend the temporal limitation in section 7-11-20(B)(2) is spurious because it is impossible to suspend something that is no longer in effect, as a prerequisite to finding a conflict is the existence of something to conflict with. Any conflict therefore must be between the provisos and the law as it currently stands, which is that the political parties themselves are responsible for the primaries.[7] See S.C. Code Ann. § 7-11-20(B)(1) (Supp. 2010).
Not surprisingly, the majority fails to identify just what conflict requires the suspension of the temporal limitation. While an appropriations bill can certainly speak to other issues than salaries, I believe our prior cases are instructive because they illustrate just how irresoluble a conflict must be in order to suspend a general law. Commands to pay different salaries cannot be reconciled or harmonized, and therefore this Court correctly held in all of those cases that the salary provided for in the appropriations bill, be it higher or lower than that already provided by statute, controlled. No such conflict exists here. Had the provisos never been enacted, there would be no authority for either the State or county commissions to conduct the 2012 Presidential Preference Primary since the prior mandate imposed by section 7-11-20(B)(2) was limited to just "the 2008 election cycle." Consistent with years of prior practice and statutory authority, it is therefore the responsibility of the political parties to conduct the upcoming primary. Provisos 79.6 and 79.12, merely authorize the State Commissionand only the State Commission as they do not speak about the county commissions at allto participate. These are readily harmonized, and I decline to read anything more into the provisos or out of the statute.