Opinion ID: 1250784
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: Intervenor [1] raises certain threshold issues. Concerning jurisdiction, intervenor asserts that the statutory grant to this court of exclusive and original jurisdiction does not, by its terms, extend to a challenge made under Article IV, section 20. Section 18 of SB 1156, the jurisdictional provision at issue, provides: (1) Notwithstanding ORS chapters 28 and 34, ORS 183.400 to 183.484 or any other provision of law, exclusive jurisdiction for the determination of the constitutionality of any provision of sections 1 to 18 of this Act, including but not limited to the determination of whether the light rail lottery bonds authorized by sections 1 to 18 of this Act violate any provision of the Oregon Constitution, is conferred upon the Supreme Court. (2) Any interested person may petition the Supreme Court for a determination of the constitutionality of any provision of sections 1 to 18 of this Act, including but not limited to the determination of whether the light rail lottery bonds authorized by sections 1 to 18 of this Act violate any provision of the Oregon Constitution. Any such petition must be filed within 30 days after the effective date of sections 1 to 18 of this Act. The petition shall name the Director of the Department of Transportation as respondent. If the petition seeks a determination of whether the light rail lottery bonds authorized by sections 1 to 18 of this Act violate any provision of the Oregon Constitution, the petition shall also name the State Treasurer as a respondent. The petition shall comply with the specifications for opening briefs set forth in the Oregon Rules of Appellate Procedure. Within 20 days following the filing of the petition, the respondents may file an answering brief, which shall comply with the specifications for answering briefs set forth in the Oregon Rules of Appellate Procedure. The Supreme Court may hear oral arguments and may provide by order for such hearings and filings as are reasonably necessary for the prompt disposition of the petition. The Supreme Court shall decide the matter with the greatest expediency. We analyze the scope of a statutory grant of jurisdiction in the same manner as we analyze other statutes. We first examine the text and context of the provision to try to ascertain the intent of the legislature and, if the intent is clear from that inquiry, then we proceed no further. PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or. 606, 610-11, 859 P.2d 1143 (1993). We begin with the text, as the best evidence of the legislature's intent. Id. at 610, 859 P.2d 1143. Intervenor asserts that jurisdiction to determine the constitutionality of any provision of sections 1 to 18 means that the court may not consider other provisions of the Act [2] in any way and, therefore, that the court may not consider constitutional contentions based on the title of the Act or on other provisions of the Act, to wit, the challenges brought here pursuant to Article IV, section 20. Contrary to intervenor's position, the text of section 18 contemplates an unlimited range of state constitutional challenges to sections 1 to 17. The grant of jurisdiction is extended to determine  the constitutionality of any provision of sections 1 to 18. (Emphasis added.) Use of the definite article connotes a single, all-encompassing inquiry into the measure's constitutionality. Moreover, at three different times, section 18 speaks of the types of claims that may be brought to determine constitutionality, including but not as being limited to challenges to the light rail lottery bonds. The text of section 18 thus is inclusive, not exclusive, with no limits stated. An inquiry into the context of the jurisdictional provision in section 18 also is instructive. Under this court's methodology, such 849/> an inquiry includes review of other sections of the same Act. See State ex rel. Hall v. Riggs, 319 Or. 282, 287-89, 877 P.2d 56 (1994) (illustrating principle). Section 1(1)(h) of the Act provides: In the autumn of 1995, the Congress of the United States will commence its legislative process for authorizing various mass transit projects throughout the nation, including the South North Line [of the light rail]. In order to be in a position to obtain the needed commitment of federal matching funds for the South North Line, it is necessary for this state to provide, prior to the commencement of such federal legislative process, for the commitment of the state lottery funds needed for this state's share of the costs of the South North Line and to make provision for the prompt final judicial resolution of all constitutional challenges to sections 1 to 18 of this Act.  (Emphasis added.) The import of that section is that the legislature intended that all kinds of state constitutional challenges to the substantive light rail funding provisions be resolved promptly and finally, in order to facilitate the acquisition of federal funds. See also id. at § 18 (singling out claims challenging the light rail funding provisions for direct review and requiring this court to decide the matter with the greatest expediency). [3] The text and context of section 18 manifest a clear legislative intent to facilitate the prompt and complete resolution by this court of all potential constitutional challenges to the light rail funding provisions of the Act. We conclude that this court has jurisdiction to consider petitioners' constitutional challenges to the light rail funding provisions of the Act, based on Article IV, section 20. [4]