Opinion ID: 1089778
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Analysis of Amendments 326 and 360

Text: Amendment 326 provides: Provided that the approval of the act by the qualified electors of Dale county at a referendum election is a prerequisite to the taking effect thereof: 1. The legislature may from time to time, by general or local law, fix, alter and regulate the fees, commissions, percentages, allowances and compensation to be charged and received by any official of Dale county, including the right to place any of such officers on a salary, provide for the operation of their respective offices on such basis, and provide that any and all fees, commissions, percentages or allowances charged or collected by them shall be paid into the county treasury. 2. The legislature may from time to time, by general or local law, provide for the transfer of the duties, or part of the duties, of one county officer of Dale county to another officer of such county; or consolidate any two or more offices of such county into one county office and provide for the abolition of the office or offices left without duties, or create a completely new office in such county and transfer to such office a part of the duties of each of several other offices without abolishing any office in such county; provided that the officer or officers to fill the offices involved will be compensated for the performance of the duties of their offices by a salary fixed according to law. Provided, however, no law enacted prior to the ratification of this amendment putting any officer of Dale county on a salary basis, nor any law providing for the consolidation of any offices of such county shall have any force or effect, even though such act provided that it should become effective upon adoption of an amendment to the Constitution authorizing such act. The legislature may also, from time to time, by general, special or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the cost and charges of courts in Dale county, and the method of disbursement thereof. (Emphasis added.) Amendment 360, which is similarly structured, provides: The legislature may from time to time, by general or local law, fix, alter and regulate the fees, commissions, percentages, allowances and compensation to be charged and received by any official of Coffee county, including the right to place any of such officers on a salary, provide for the operation of their respective offices on such basis and provide that such officers shall continue to collect any and all fees, commissions, percentages or allowances prescribed by law to be charged or collected by them and shall pay all monies so collected into the county treasury. The legislature may also, from time to time, by general, special or local law, fix, regulate and alter the cost and charges of courts in Coffee county, and the method of disbursement thereof. (Emphasis added.) Like Amendment 137 and other Type I amendments, Amendments 326 and 360 combine the phrase costs and charges of court with provisions for regulating the compensation basis of county officials. However, unlike the Type I amendments, in which the phrase costs and charges of court appears immediately adjacent to the reference to county officials' compensation basis, Amendments 326 and 360 sever those provisions and place them in separate paragraphs. The placement of these provisions within the texts of the amendments is a relevant consideration in ascertaining the intent of the framers with regard to the meaning of the phrase costs and charges of court. 73 Am.Jur.2d Statutes § 222, at 412 (1974). In Amendments 326 and 360, the significance of the separation of the phrase costs and charges of court from the provision relating to compensation is amplified by the fact that the phrase is, in each instance, prefixed by the words legislature may also ; thus, indicating something in addition to providing for a change the compensation basis, the authority for which appeared earlier in the text of the amendments. If, in these two amendments, the phrase costs and charges of court is merely synonymous with the antecedent provisions for changing the compensation basis of county officers, at least one entire paragraph in each amendment is wholly superfluous. The rule, however, is to the contrary, for constitutions must be construed to be in harmony, and, as much as possible, each provision must be given effect and a field of operation. Bouchelle v. State Highway Commission, 211 Ala. 474, 100 So. 884 (1924); State v. Court of County Comm'rs of Tuscaloosa County, 173 Ala. 724, 54 So. 763 (1910). The framers of Amendments 326 and 360, through their isolation of the phrase costs and charges of court, have demonstrated more clearly the meaning to be ascribed to the identical phrase in Amendment 137. See State ex rel. Meyer v. Greene, 154 Ala. 249, 46 So. 268 (1908) (repetitious phrase will be interpreted according to its usage in the provision in which its meaning was clear); Lehman, Durr & Co. v. Robinson, 59 Ala. 219, 235-36 (1877). In view of the foregoing discussion and analysis of the use of the phrase costs and charges of court in the various types of amendments, we are compelled to reject the contention that the phrase merely authorizes the legislature through local legislation to convert public officials from a fee basis of compensation to a salary basis. Such a narrow construction would call into question all Type I and Type III amendments, and would cast doubt on the constitutionality of a great body of legislation enacted pursuant thereto, some of which is included in the appendix to this opinion. Instead, we construe the phrase broadly enough to authorize the legislature to regulate the costs and charges of court in Cullman County through the enactment of Act No. 86-113.