Opinion ID: 2222232
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the validity of the multiplier law

Text: The plaintiffs contend that the provision of the Revenue Act of 1939 establishing the multiplier (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 120, par. 627) is invalid as violative of the requirements of the Illinois Constitutions of 1870 and 1970 that an act of the legislature must have a title and single subject matter. (Ill. Const. 1870, art. IV, § 13; Ill. Const. 1970, art. IV, § 8(d).) As the plaintiffs correctly note, legislation enacted while the 1870 Constitution was in force and before the 1970 Constitution was adopted must be valid under both constitutions. People ex rel. Hanrahan v. Caliendo (1971), 50 Ill.2d 72, 76. The 1870 Constitution provided: No act hereafter passed shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. But if any subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be so expressed. Ill. Const. 1870, art. IV, § 13. The 1970 Constitution has a parallel provision, stating: Bills, except bills for appropriations and for the codification, revision or rearrangement of laws, shall be confined to one subject. Ill. Const. 1970, art. IV, § 8(d). The full title of the Revenue Act of 1939 states: An Act to revise the law in relation to the assessment of property and the levy and collection of taxes, and to repeal certain Acts herein named. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 120, par. 482. The plaintiffs say the provisions of the Revenue Act that establish the multiplier are outside the scope of the title of the Act. The plaintiffs say that equalization is beyond the scope of the Act's title, as it is neither the levy nor collection of taxes, and equalization is a separate function from the assessment of property taxes. If the legislature chooses a specific title, as the plaintiffs claim it did here, then provisions that are not within the scope of the specific subject chosen are not included in the Act. The equalization process, the plaintiffs acknowledge, is part of the whole property tax process, but they contend the title of the Revenue Act is more limited than the whole field of property taxation and, thus, excludes equalization. The Department responds that a prior decision of this court, People ex rel. McDonough v. Beemsterboer (1934), 356 Ill. 432, addressed the same constitutional challenge, as raised against the Tax Commission Act of 1919, and is dispositive here. The Act at issue in Beemsterboer was the predecessor of the Revenue Act of 1939. It was entitled, An act in relation to the assessment of property for taxation. It was contended there that the Act violated the 1870 Constitution's requirement that each legislative act embrace only one subject, as it contained more than one subject and included a subject not expressed in the title. The court rejected the contention, stating, The act deals with the powers and duties of the tax commission with reference to the assessment of property, its power to order reassessments, the procedure to be followed and the procedure in equalizing assessments. All these matters relate to the assessment of property for taxation and are embraced within the subject of the enactment expressed in the title. (Emphasis added.) 356 Ill. at 436. We consider that the title of the Revenue Act is general enough to include equalization without violating the constitutional mandate of one subject per legislative act under both the 1870 and 1970 Constitutions. Many comprehensive acts, as the court noted in Beemsterboer, have general titles with numerous provisions not expressed in the title, but the title is sufficient when they are related and have some connection, more or less direct, with the subject of the legislation. (356 Ill. at 436.) Legislation does not run afoul of the subject requirements of the 1870 Constitution's section 13 of article IV if the subjects covered by the Act are germane to it and fall within the general designation. ( Rouse v. Thompson (1907), 228 Ill. 522, 533; Sutter v. People's Gas Light & Coke Co. (1918), 284 Ill. 634, 642.) There is a common purpose expressed by the various provisions of this act toward the single subject of real property taxation. Equalization is distinct from assessment, but both are part of the real property taxation system set up by the Revenue Act. Assessment is performed by the local assessor within each county (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 120, par. 511 et seq. ), while equalization is a statewide process, performed by the Department, to adjust the aggregate assessed valuations of each county to a level at which property is taxed uniformly throughout the State. By statute, taxes are not extended within a county until after the Department certifies the multiplier to be used in each county. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 120, par. 632.) Assessment, then, is the valuation of individual properties, while equalization is the valuation of the properties collectively within a county. (See, e.g., People ex rel. Tennyson v. Texas Co. (1950), 406 Ill. 120.) The title of the Act complies with the constitutional mandate, as it fairly points to the subject matter of the Act.