Opinion ID: 746291
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The reasonableness of the means used

Text: 36 The landowners also argue that, between 1987 and 1990, the price of condominiums in Hawaii increased by 66%. However, the price of single-family dwellings--which were subject to the Act's lease-to-fee provision--increased by 98%. Dep't of Business and Economic Dev., The State of Hawaii Databook 1990: A Statistical Abstract 549 (1990). Thus, the landowners argue that even if a lease-to-fee statute was reasonably related to eliminating a land oligopoly at the time of Midkiff, such means are not rationally related to remedying a failure in the real estate market and strengthening the economy in light of recent history. 37 Deference to the legislative body's public use determination is required  'until it is shown to involve an impossibility.'  Midkiff, 467 U.S. at 240, 104 S.Ct. at 2329 (quoting Old Dominion Co. v. United States, 269 U.S. 55, 66, 46 S.Ct. 39, 40-41, 70 L.Ed. 162 (1925)). Any departure from this judicial restraint would result in courts deciding on what is and is not a governmental function and in their invalidating legislation on the basis of their view on that question at the moment of decision, a practice which has proved impracticable in other fields. United States ex rel. T.V.A. v. Welch, 327 U.S. 546, 552, 66 S.Ct. 715, 718, 90 L.Ed. 843 (1946). Additionally, in Midkiff the Court noted that whether the statute actually succeeds is irrelevant. 38 But whether in fact the provision will accomplish its objectives is not the question: the [constitutional requirement] is satisfied if ... the ... [state] Legislature rationally could have believed that the [Act] would promote its objective. When the legislature's purpose is legitimate and its means are not irrational, our cases make clear that empirical debates over the wisdom of takings ... are not to be carried out in the federal courts. 39 Midkiff, 467 U.S. at 242-43, 104 S.Ct. at 2330 (brackets in original) (quoting Western & Southern Life Ins. Co. v. State Bd. of Equalization, 451 U.S. 648, 671-72, 101 S.Ct. 2070, 2084-85, 68 L.Ed.2d 514 (1981)) (internal citations omitted). 40 Under the rational basis test, we hold that the Ordinance is constitutional under both the United States and Hawaii constitutions. Regardless of what has occurred with single-family dwellings, the City rationally could have believed that, if the supply of condominiums increased (through the lease-to-fee measure of Ordinance 91-95), the price of those condominiums would decrease. Additionally, although the price of single-family houses increased dramatically between 1987 and 1990, there is no indication that the price would not have gone up even more without the Act's lease-to-fee mechanism. Finally, even if the price of condominiums does not decrease as a result of the Ordinance, some of the public purposes of the Ordinance will be served. If a family is allowed to purchase its condominium, that family will not risk being thrown out of its home in 25 years because the family cannot afford the renegotiated rent. The City rationally could have concluded that the lease-to-fee mechanism would remedy defects in the housing market and stabilize Oahu's economy.