Opinion ID: 1985175
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Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Repeal of Statute.

Text: The repeal of a statute typically destroys the effectiveness of the statute, and the repealed statute is deemed never to have existed. Iowa Dep't of Transp. v. Iowa Dist. Ct. for Buchanan County, 587 N.W.2d 774, 777 (Iowa 1998); see also Sutherland § 23.33, at 424. Several exceptions to this general principle exist, however. In re Hoover's Estate, 251 N.W.2d 529, 530 (Iowa 1977). These include a reenactment of the statute in substantially the same language, the existence of a savings clause or a general statute limiting the effect of a repeal, and the protection of rights which became vested while the statute was in force. Id. We consider the application of each of the exceptions to this case.
The provisions in section 321J.13(4) as they existed prior to the implied repeal were recently adopted in substantially similar language in an amendment to section 321J.13(6). [1] 16 Iowa Legis. Serv. § 22 (West 1999). The legislature specifically referred to the adoption of subsection six as an amendment rather than a reenactment or revival of the former section 321J.13(4). While the language of subsection six is similar to the former subsection four, it is not a verbatim replica of the former subsection four, and contains a more detailed organization of the law. There is a distinction between a simultaneous repeal and reenactment of a statute in substantially the same terms and a simple repeal followed by a subsequent reenactment. See State ex rel. Iowa Air Pollution Control Comm'n v. City of Winterset, 219 N.W.2d 549, 551 (Iowa 1974); State v. Prouty, 115 Iowa 657, 662-63, 84 N.W. 670, 671 (1900); Hancock v. The Dist. Township of Perry, 78 Iowa 550, 551, 43 N.W. 527, 528 (1889); Annotation, Effect of Simultaneous Repeal and Renactment of All, or Part, of Legislative Act, 77 A.L.R.2d 336, 339 (1961). In the event of a simultaneous repeal and reenactment, the reenactment is deemed to carry forward provisions of the repealed statute that are regarded as continuously in force from the date of the original enactment. Prouty, 115 Iowa at 662, 84 N.W. at 671; Iowa Code § 4.10; Annotation, Effect of Simultaneous Repeal and Re-enactment of All, or Part, of Legislative Act, 77 A.L.R.2d 336, 341 (1961). On the other hand, a reenactment of a repealed statute does not carry the repealed statute forward when the reenactment is not simultaneous. In this case, the repeal and reenactment were not simultaneous. A two-year gap occurred. Thus, the reenactment exception to the general rule is inapplicable.
Iowa, like most other states, has a general savings statute which provides for the continuation of repealed statutes for past activities and pending legal actions. Iowa Code §§ 4.1(26), 4.13; Sutherland § 23.37, at 432. These savings provisions exist to alleviate the hardship and injustice which can result from the general rule which considers the repealed statute to have never existed. Sutherland § 23.37, at 432. Although originally a rule of construction, our statutory savings provisions are now considered to be positive legislation which is incorporated into every statute which repeals a substantive right. Id.; see Azeltine v. Lutterman, 218 Iowa 675, 684, 254 N.W. 854, 858 (1934). The past activities and proceedings which are permitted to continue under savings statutes generally involve substantive rights of a private nature, liability, right of action, penalty, forfeiture, or offense which has accrued under the repealed statute. Sutherland § 23.37, at 432-33. Thus, any accrued action predicated upon a repealed statute may be commenced and pursued to a conclusion under the repealed act, just as a proceeding which was commenced prior to the repeal of the statute may proceed to its conclusion without regard to the repeal. Id. The specific provisions in Iowa's general savings statute provide: The re-enactment, revision, amendment, or repeal of a statute does not affect: 1. The prior operation of the statute or any prior action taken thereunder; 2. Any validation, cure, right, privilege, obligation, or liability previously acquired, accrued, accorded, or incurred thereunder; 3. Any violation thereof or penalty, forfeiture, or punishment incurred in respect thereto, prior to the amendment or repeal; or 4. Any investigation, proceeding, or remedy in respect of any privilege, obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture, or punishment; and the investigation, proceeding, or remedy may be instituted, continued, or enforced, and the penalty, forfeiture, or punishment imposed, as if the statute had not been repealed or amended. Iowa Code § 4.13. Additionally, our statutory rules of construction provide that the repeal of a statute does not ... affect any right which has accrued ... or any proceeding commenced, under or by virtue of the statute repealed. Id. § 4.1(26). We have recently examined the application of our savings clauses to the efforts by other motorists whose driver's licenses had been revoked under the operating while intoxicated provisions to seek reinstatement under a statute which was repealed before the application for reinstatement was filed. In Buchanan County, we held that an action by a motorist seeking reinstatement of a revoked license under a repealed statute was not saved because all the events essential to establishing reinstatement had not occurred at the time the statute was repealed. Buchanan County, 587 N.W.2d at 777. We observed section 4.13(2) saves only those privileges that have been acquired, accrued, or accorded under the repealed statute prior to the repeal. Id. at 776. Similarly, in Iowa Department of Transportation v. Iowa District Court for Scott County, 587 N.W.2d 781 (Iowa 1998), we held that an action for reinstatement by a motorist under the same repealed statute was not saved because the steps required by the repealed statute were not accomplished prior to the repeal. We emphasized that the right to file at the time of the repeal for a hearing to establish reinstatement was not enough under section 4.13(2). Scott County, 587 N.W.2d at 783. Instead, the actual underlying claim or privilege must exist at the time of repeal so the court would have authority to grant relief had a petition been filed. Id. Additionally, we held that section 4.13(4) was not triggered unless the steps required by the repealed statute were accomplished before the repeal. [2] Id. at 785. Wieslander claims the savings provisions apply to permit her to file a petition for rescission of the revocation after the repeal of the statute because she had initiated a review of the administrative revocation and was in the process of challenging the reasonableness of the stop in the criminal action at the time of the repeal. She asserts these proceedings were pursued for the purpose of eventually filing her petition to rescind the revocation, and the petition to rescind was part of the procedure available in the administrative process which she acquired at the time she initiated her action. Our comprehensive review of our savings provisions in Buchanan County and Scott County reveals two important general principles. First, the provisions save those rights or privileges acquired, accrued, or accorded under the repealed statute before the repeal. Buchanan County, 587 N.W.2d at 776. Second, they preserve those proceedings actually pending pursuant to the repealed statute at the time of the repeal and those remedies and post-repeal proceedings which could have been sustained at the time of the repeal. [3] Scott County, 587 N.W.2d at 784-85. Although these principles are derived from sections 4.13(2) and 4.13(4), they would generally apply to each savings clause, including section 4.1(26). Thus, in applying the savings clauses, it is important to consider what right or privilege was afforded under the repealed statute and whether it had accrued to the person claiming it because all events had occurred under the statute to sustain the remedy prior to the repeal or whether a proceeding had been commenced under the statute prior to the repeal. The repealed provision in this case permitted the filing of a petition to reopen when new evidence establishing grounds for rescission was discovered. Iowa Code § 321J.13(4). It also mandated rescission when that evidence was a court decision in a parallel criminal case finding the arresting officer had no reasonable grounds to justify a request for a chemical test. Id. In this case, Wieslander makes no claim of new evidence and is unable to claim the existence of a court decision to establish rescission at the time of the repeal. Thus, at the time the statute was repealed, Wieslander could not have utilized section 321J.13(4) to obtain relief. She had only an expectation, dependent upon obtaining a favorable ruling in the criminal case. An expectation, however, is insufficient to trigger our savings clause. Buchanan County, 587 N.W.2d at 776-77. The right or privilege under the repealed statute must have been acquired prior to the repeal. Id. Although Wieslander had initiated administrative and criminal proceedings at the time of the repeal, these proceedings were not brought under the repealed statute. They did not constitute steps taken under the repealed statute. Furthermore, Wieslander had no existing right to rescission of the revocation at the time the statute was repealed which would have enabled her to initiate a proceeding under the statute. Criminal proceedings are separate and distinct from the administrative proceedings for the revocation of a driver's license. See Heidemann v. Sweitzer, 375 N.W.2d 665, 668 (Iowa 1985). While criminal proceedings may enable a motorist to administratively petition for rescission in the future, the filing of a motion to suppress is not a step required by the repealed statute and did not transform the criminal proceeding into a proceeding under the repealed statute within the meaning of our savings statutes. See Eldridge City Utils. v. Iowa State Commerce Comm'n, 303 N.W.2d 167, 170 (Iowa 1981). The repealed statute merely made a court decision outcome determinative in a proceeding to reopen the revocation hearing. See Iowa Code § 321J.13(4) (1997). Likewise, an action to review the license revocation is separate from an action to reopen a revocation hearing. Although both are administrative proceedings, they are based on different evidence and standards, and have different purposes. Neither is derived from the other, and the steps taken to challenge the revocation of a driver's license under section 321J.13(1) do not permit the filing of a petition for rescission under the repealed statute. Additionally, a litigant's interest in a certain procedure is not an accrued right or privilege protected by a savings statute. Scott County, 587 N.W.2d at 783-84. Accordingly, Wieslander did not implicate section 321J.13(4) by filing the motion to suppress or by challenging the revocation. She had no pending action under section 321J.13(4) at the time of the repeal, and our savings clauses cannot apply to save what was not in existence. The future ability to commence a proceeding is insufficient to trigger our savings statutes. Scott County, 587 N.W.2d at 784. We conclude our savings clauses do not apply to this case. We therefore apply the general rule that the repeal of a statute destroys its effectiveness. [4]
To qualify as a vested right, the right must be a contract right, property right, or a right stemming from a contractual transaction which has become perfected to the extent it is not dependent upon the continued existence of a statute. Sutherland § 23.34, at 428-29. It must also be more than a mere expectation and must be fixed or established. Schwarzkopf v. Sac County Bd. of Supervisors, 341 N.W.2d 1, 8 (Iowa 1983). The privilege at issue in this case does not qualify as a vested right, therefore rendering this exception to the general rule that the repeal of a statute destroys its effectiveness inapplicable.