Opinion ID: 1274667
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Challenged Fee Differential under the Commerce Clause

Text: The class contends that two recent Supreme Court decisions require that the different fees charged to residents and non-residents under AS 16.05.480, AS 16.43.160 and 20 AAC 5.240 be analyzed under the Commerce Clause. [8] See Oregon Waste Systems v. Dep't of Envtl. Quality, 511 U.S. 93, ___, 114 S.Ct. 1345, 1350, 128 L.Ed.2d 13 (1994); Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt, 504 U.S. 334, 112 S.Ct. 2009, 119 L.Ed.2d 121 (1992). The class argues that the fee differentials in these statutes and regulations violate the negative Commerce Clause. [9] The class argues AS 16.05.480, AS 16.43.160 and 20 AAC 5.240 are per se invalid under the Commerce Clause. A substantial portion of the class's briefs is devoted to analogizing the different commercial licensing and permit fees charged residents and nonresidents to surcharges the states of Oregon and Alabama imposed on out-of-state waste. The Supreme Court struck down these surcharges. Oregon Waste Systems, 511 U.S. at ___, 114 S.Ct. at 1355; Chemical Waste, 504 U.S. at 334, 112 S.Ct. at 2009. The class contends that under the reasoning employed in Oregon Waste Systems and Chemical Waste, the 3:1 fee differential is tantamount to differential treatment of in-state and out-of-state economic interests that benefits the former and burdens the latter. Oregon Waste Systems, 511 U.S. at ___, 114 S.Ct. at 1350. Oregon Waste Systems does not require that the fee differential challenged herein be evaluated under the Commerce Clause. In both Oregon Waste Systems and Chemical Waste, the Court found taxes imposed on out-of-state waste which were greater than the taxes imposed on in-state waste violated the negative Commerce Clause. In applying the negative Commerce Clause analysis in Oregon Waste Systems, the Court emphasized that the Commerce Clause prohibits states from unjustifiably discriminating against or burdening the interstate flow of articles of commerce. Oregon Waste Systems, 511 U.S. at ___, 114 S.Ct. at 1349. The Court went on to hold that [i]t is well-established, however, that a law is discriminatory if it `tax[es] a transaction or incident more heavily when it crosses state lines than when it occurs entirely within the State.' Oregon Waste Systems, 511 U.S. at ___, 114 S.Ct. at 1350 (quoting Chemical Waste, 504 U.S. at 342, 112 S.Ct. at 2013). Unlike the fee differentials in Oregon Waste Systems and Chemical Waste, the fee differentials at issue in this case are not predicated upon the movement of articles of commerce across state lines, but rather upon the residency status of those applying for permits. The Supreme Court has consistently analyzed statutes which purportedly classify on the basis of residency under the Privileges and Immunities or the Equal Protection Clauses. [10] In Toomer v. Witsell, 334 U.S. 385, 68 S.Ct. 1156, 92 L.Ed. 1460 (1948), the Court evaluated South Carolina shrimping license fees, which were one hundred times greater for non-residents than for residents, under the Privileges and Immunities Clause. There the Court observed that the Privileges and Immunities Clause was designed to insure to a citizen of State A who ventures into State B the same privileges which the citizens of State B enjoy. [11] Toomer, 334 U.S. at 395, 68 S.Ct. at 1162.