Opinion ID: 853063
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Subsection (g) Addresses Conditions Where a General Law Can be Made Applicable

Text: We agree with the Court of Appeals that the statute is presumed constitutional. The Court of Appeals noted the general principle that [a]ny reasonable interpretation of a statute is sufficient if it evokes a finding of constitutionality. 751 N.E.2d at 812. This doctrine calls for adopting one among multiple meanings of the statute if that interpretation renders the legislation valid. Here there is no issue as to what the subsection means. More relevant is the point that the challenging party must negate every conceivable basis which might have supported the classification. Id. (quoting Am. Legion Post # 113 v. State, 656 N.E.2d 1190, 1192 (1995)). This may be done by presenting evidence establishing the lack of distinct characteristics, or, as in Williams, the relevant facts may be subject to judicial notice. In this case, several different explanations were offered to justify the subsection's application only in counties of 200,000 to 300,000 population. But these reasons were all couched in terms of characteristics of St. Joseph County, not necessarily those possessed by a county of this population size. They ranged from the need to preserve rural land around urban areas (South Bend), which the trial court judicially noticed, to preventing competing cities (South Bend and Mishakwaka) within the same county from annexing each other's land, which the Attorney General advanced in the trial court. But none of these justifications are inherent in the population range and none turn on facts unique to St. Joseph County. Preserving rural land near urban areas or preventing competing annexation by different municipalities may indeed be legitimate concerns, but there is no basis to conclude they are unique to St. Joseph County. Although the trial court took judicial notice of the fact that St. Joseph County is largely urban but contains significant rural areas, the same is true of Lake and Allen Counties. Several counties have multiple municipalities capable of exercising annexation powers. In short, we are directed to nothing in the record and no relevant facts susceptible of judicial notice that are unique to St. Joseph County. Accordingly, this legislation is unconstitutional special legislation. In contrast to this record, in Hoovler, Tippecanoe County's unique Superfund site needs were well-documented. Thus, the proponents of that special legislation had a factual basis upon which to rest their assertion that a general statute could not apply. [8] In Moseley, the makeup of Lake County, where most of the land contiguous to Lake Michigan is occupied by cities of significant size, justified a voting procedure different from that employed in other counties eligible to adopt dockside gambling. [9] Similarly, in Williams, the specific judicial needs of Lake County supported specific legislation providing for the appointment of magistrates in that county alone. Thus, the statute in each case was constitutional special legislation by reason of facts of record or judicially noticeable. Justice Sullivan is mistaken in claiming that we apply an Article I, Section 23 equal privileges test to this case. We have noted the historical similarity of some but not all aspects of Article IV issues to Article I analysis, but our decision is based on Article IV alone. [10] We also disagree with Justice Sullivan's description of this Court's Article IV, Section 23 precedent as uniformly deferring to the legislature's judgment. Although the cases described by Justice Sullivan all upheld the legislative action, they did so on the merits. They also plainly found that the issues presented by an Article IV, Section 23 challenge were within the province of the judiciary to decide. Indeed that is what judicial review means. Justice Sullivan in substance argues for a doctrine of nonjusticiability of Article IV issues. But for over seventy years precedent has uniformly rejected that view. We think Article IV presents a powerful case for judicial enforcement of a constitutional provision. Forty years ago, judicial intervention was necessary in the area of legislative reapportionment to correct massive imbalances in representation occasioned by the legislature's inability or unwillingness to recognize the need to redistrict. [11] In simple terms, the legislators and their constituents who were overrepresented had no interest in remedying the situation. Special legislation presents a similar issue because it eliminates the normal pressures of constituent objection to unwise policy. This is less debilitating than the paralyzing effect of unremedied malapportionment. But the appropriateness of entertaining claims of unconstitutional special legislation is fortified by the express constitutional provision found in Article IV, Section 23. Moreover, both the 1816 and 1851 constitutions were adopted at a time when judicial review of legislation for conformity to constitutional text was well established. As we held in Dawson v. Shaver, 1 Blackf. 204, 206-07 (1822), citing Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803): The task is delicate and unpleasant, but the duty of the Court is imperative, and its authority is unquestionable, to declare any part of a statute null and void that expressly contravenes the provisions of the constitution, to which the legislature itself owes its existence. This case adds no new doctrine to the analysis of Moseley, Hoovler, and Williams, and the legislature has taken no steps to eliminate Article IV, Section 23 in the years since those cases were decided. Because special legislation doctrine derives solely from Article IV, Section 23, it can readily be repealed if two sessions of the General Assembly approve that decision and the voters ratify it. We neither advocate nor oppose the wisdom of Section 23. Rather, the Constitution makes that decision for us.