Opinion ID: 1242568
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: establishment of an ethics commission

Text: The Plan, which the voters adopted, recommended the creation of an Ethics Commission within the Unified Government, so as to guard against unethical behavior in the Unified Government. The Plan required that the Unified Board of Commissioners draft and adopt a Code of Ethics. Under the Plan, the Ethics Code would apply to all elected officials and any appointed board and/or committee members as the Unified Legislature would include. If a member of the Unified Government is found to have violated the Ethics Code, the Plan gave the Ethics Commission the power to recommend to the Unified Board of Commissioners the action which should be taken against such violator. The Commission also has the power, under the Plan, to subpoena and swear in witnesses and the power to censure those in violation of the Ethics Code. Significantly, the Plan set out that members of the Ethics Commission shall be appointed by the administrative judge of the district court, with the consent of the sitting district judges of Wyandotte County. The judges of the district court, through the administrative judge of the county, not only have the power to appoint the members of the Ethics Commission, but also the power to dismiss them. Courts in Kansas are vested with judicial power, which is the power to hear, consider and determine controversies between rival litigants. State, ex rel., v. Mohler, 98 Kan. 465, 471, 158 Pac. 408 (1916), aff'd 248 U.S. 112, 63 L. Ed. 153, 39 S. Ct. 32 (1918); see U.S.D. No. 380 v. McMillen, 252 Kan. 451, Syl. ¶ 5, 845 P.2d 676 (1993) ([t]he judiciary interprets, explains, and applies the law to controversies.). Courts are limited to the exercise of judicial power in interpreting and applying the law and may not usurp the legislative power of determining policy matters or the executive power of implementing such policy. State v. Brady, 156 Kan. 831, 843, 137 P.2d 206 (1943) (court's role in implementing death penalty and clemency issues). Conversely, while the legislature may enact laws which confer jurisdiction on the court or impose judicial functions on the court, it cannot impose a legislative or administrative function on the courts, except for such functions relating to court administration. To do so would constitute a violation of the separation of powers doctrine by the legislature because it would be requiring the judicial branchthe courtsto exercise legislative or executive power. Copeland v. Kansas State Board of Examiners in Optometry, 213 Kan. 741, 743, 518 P.2d 377 (1974); Lira v. Billings, 196 Kan. 726, 730-31, 414 P.2d 13 (1966). The power of appointment does not exclusively vest in the legislative, executive, or judicial branch. Since the constitution does not assign this power to any particular branch, it falls under the realm of the legislature. Thus, the legislature may delegate this power of appointment to the judicial branch without violating the separation of powers doctrine. Leek v. Theis, 217 Kan. 784, 539 P.2d 304 (1975); see also K.S.A. 19-601 and K.S.A. 19-620 (providing for the judicial appointment of a county auditor through a legislative act). In Sartin v. Snell, 87 Kan. 485, 125 Pac. 47 (1912), this court addressed the constitutionality of a legislative enactment which created the office of county auditor and delegated to the district court in the county the power to appoint a person to fill the office. This court held that the act was a valid exercise of legislative authority. In so holding, the court stated: The constitution contains no inhibition upon the power of the legislature to provide as it may deem best the method for the appointment of officers whose election or appointment is not otherwise provided for. On the other hand, the constitution expressly declares that `all officers whose election or appointment is not otherwise provided for, shall be chosen or appointed as may be prescribed by law.' (Const. art. 15, § 1.) It will thus be seen that the constitution has placed in the legislature the power to regulate the mode of appointing officers not otherwise provided for. In view of the power thus expressly conferred upon the legislature it seems unnecessary to refer specially to cases from other states, though numerous decisions might be cited where, under constitutions similar to ours, the authority of the legislature to confer upon judges and courts the power to appoint inferior officers whose duties have no connection with the functions of courts is recognized. [Citations omitted.] Upon the question whether the power to appoint to office is a legislative, executive, or judicial function the late Mr. Freeman, in a monographic note to People v. Freeman, 80 Cal. 233, 22 Pac. 173, used the following language: `The truth is, that the power of appointing or electing to office does not necessarily and ordinarily belong to either the legislative, the executive, or the judicial department. It is commonly exercised by the people, but the legislature may, as the law-making power, when not restrained by the constitution, provide for its exercise by either department of the government, or by any person or association of persons whom it may choose to designate for that purpose. It is an executive function when the law has committed it to the executive, a legislative function when the law has committed it to the legislature, and a judicial function, or at least a function of a judge, when the law has committed it to any member or members of the judiciary.' (13 Am. St. Rep. 122, 130.) It is apparent, therefore, that it is a valid exercise of legislative authority to impose upon the judge of the district court the power of appointing a county auditor. 87 Kan. at 494-95. Here, the Plan's delegation of appointment power to the court was not proper because it was done through a city-county enactment. However, the appointment provision is severable from the Plan. Sedlak v. Dick, 256 Kan. 779, 803, 887 P.2d 1119 (1995), discussed the rules for severability: In Thompson v. KF.B. Ins. Co., 252 Kan. 1010, 1023, 850 P.2d 773 (1993), we stated the test to be applied: `Whether the court may sever an unconstitutional provision from a statute and leave the remainder in force and effect depends on the intent of the legislature. If from examination of a statute it can be said that the act would have been passed without the objectional portion and if the statute would operate effectively to carry out the intention of the legislature with such portion stricken, the remainder of the valid law will stand. Whether the legislature had provided for a severability clause is of no importance. This court will assume severability if the unconstitutional part can be severed without doing violence to legislative intent.` (Quoting Felten Truck Line v. State Board of Tax Appeals, 183 Kan. 287, 300, 327 P.2d 836 [1958]). We further quoted State, ex rel., v. Consumers Warehouse Market, 185 Kan. 363, 372, 343 P.2d 234 (1959): `The rule is stated very clearly in the early case of Central Branch U.P.R. Co. v. Atchison, T. & S.F.R. Co., 28 Kan. 453 (1882), in which it was held: `While it is undoubtedly true that a statute may be constitutional in one part, and unconstitutional in another, yet this rule obtains only where the two parts are separate and independent; and where they are so related that the latter is a condition of, a compensation for, or an inducement to, the former, or where it is obvious that the legislature, having respect to opposing rights and interests, would not have enacted one but for the other, then the unconstitutionality of the latter avoids the entire statute. (Syl 1.)' 252 Kan. at 1023-24[, 850 P.2d 773.] Here, the appointment provision was not so important that the Act, and the Plan as a part of it, would not have been passed by the legislature or approved by the voters without it. The Plan's provision, which required the court to delegate members to the Ethics Commission, was not an inducement for consolidation. Even without this provision, the Act, with the Plan, would have still operated to effectively carry out the intention of the legislature and the votersthat being consolidation of the local governments of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Plus, the Plan still would have provided for the Ethics Commission in the Unified Government; it simply would have provided a different method for appointment of the Ethics Commission members. The provision of the Plan at issue, which delegated an Ethics Commission appointment power to the court, is separate and independent from the rest of the Plan and can be severed without doing violence to the legislative intent behind the Plan and the Act. This provision is severed, and this issue fails. The relator's petition in quo warranto is denied. K.S.A. 1997 Supp. 12-340 et seq. is upheld as constitutional.