Opinion ID: 2135209
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Possible Sources of Justification for the Discrimination.

Text: Hicklin v. Orbeck, 437 U.S. 518 (1978), is controlling on this issue because it establishes a clear rule that a State may not use its control over a resource to create an absolute employment preference for its own residents. There, Alaska had attempted to utilize its control over oil leases on State-owned land to require that Alaska residents be given absolute preference in hiring not only in the oil fields, but also in any activity that benefited from the ripple effect of the energy boom. Id. at 531. The Supreme Court rejected Alaska's claim that ownership of the land in question gave the same authority that any owner might have to place conditions on the lease or sale of a resource. Id. at 528. A significant factor in the Court's holding was that no evidence was presented that nonresidents were a particular source of Alaskan unemployment. Id. at 526. Additionally, the statute was suspect because it swept more broadly than necessary to achieve the goal of increased training and employment of Alaska residents, an end better served by a preference aimed at the unemployed or those in training programs. [17] Id. at 527-528. Since Hicklin forbids the use of State control over a resource to force an absolute preference in hiring by a private contractor, the residents preference provisions of G.L.c. 149, § 26, must fall. The defendants would distinguish Hicklin on two bases. First, that the regulation at issue merely protects the use of a limited resource (jobs), restricting them to State residents and second, by analogy to certain commerce clauses, that as a market participant it may act unfettered by the restrictions of the privileges and immunities clause. See Reeves, Inc. v. Stake, 447 U.S. 429 (1980); Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp., 426 U.S. 794 (1976). 1. Limited resources. There may be a suggestion in older cases that when a State-controlled resource is limited, a preference can be given to residents. See Toomer v. Witsell, supra at 397-398. But there must be some evidence that the services or resources, assuming they involve fundamental rights, are overburdened. Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 200 (1973). The defendants point to a high level of Statewide unemployment. Hicklin, supra, however, clearly rejects such an argument without a clear demonstration that out-of-State residents are a peculiar source of high unemployment. Id. at 526. Such a showing is not made on the record before us. 2. Acting as a market participant. The defendants' second contention is that a residents preference in hiring for construction financed by public funds is substantially different from a preference based on the fortuitous location of a natural resource within a State's borders. The Commonwealth would thus turn to Hughes, supra, and Reeves, supra, in determining the extent to which a State, acting as a purchaser of goods and services, is exempt from the restrictions of the privileges and immunities clause. [18] The Commonwealth is correct that the commerce clause does not prevent a State from preferring resident business in purchasing goods, see Hughes, supra at 810, or services, American Yearbook Co. v. Askew, 339 F. Supp. 719, 723 (M.D. Fla.) (three-judge court), aff'd mem., 409 U.S. 904 (1972), or in the distribution of State-produced materials in a shortage situation, Reeves, Inc. v. Stake, supra at 446-447. One major weakness in such an analogy is that in none of the cases cited was the use of the State's market power extended beyond granting an initial contract or a first sale. The commerce clause cases suggest that Alaska might quite properly have preferred its own residents in granting initial leases on its oil land, but Hicklin, supra, leaves no question that the extension of this power to favor absolutely all State residents in employment was unacceptable. Therefore, the statute before us cannot stand. See Salla v. County of Monroe, 48 N.Y.2d 514 (1979) (overturning on privileges and immunities grounds a New York statute nearly identical to G.L.c. 149, § 26, as enforced). We thus respond Yes to the first issue raised in question 2. We need not consider the additional issues raised therein, nor need we answer question 1.