Opinion ID: 1274667
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The State's Pro Rata Method of Calculating the Amount Residents Contribute to Fisheries Management

Text: To establish practical equality between residents and nonresidents, the State must demonstrate that the higher fees charged nonresidents are equivalent to the burden borne by residents as measured by the residents' pro rata shares of state revenues to which nonresidents make no contribution. Carlson I, 798 P.2d at 1278. The per capita formula propounded by the class is the correct method for calculating the contribution made by residents. Under the per capita formula the resident contribution is calculated in the following manner: (Fisheries Budget/Alaska Population) X (percentage of State Budget from oil revenues/1.0). See Appendix A. Once this computation is made the resident contribution can be compared to the difference in fees paid by nonresidents to determine if the fee differential is constitutional. The State advocates a different formula for computing the resident contribution. The State's formula utilizes a three-step approach. The State would (1) calculate the expenditures or costs of the commercial fisheries (enforcement and conservation); (2) determine the resident and nonresident commercial fishers' respective pro rata shares of those expenditures; and (3) compare the percentage of its respective pro rata share each group is paying. See Appendix A. The State's formula differs from the class's when it comes to deciding how to determine the numbers to be used in steps two and three. Although the formulae are theoretically different and are calculating different quantities, the significant difference between the two proposed formulae concerns how the residents' pro rata share is calculated. As discussed above, the class argues that the amount used as the divisor of the commercial fisheries expenditures from taxes which only residents pay must be the total number of Alaskans. It correctly asserts that using this number will allow the court to determine the per capita contribution actually being made by each of the resident permit holders. On the other hand, the State argues that the holdings in Toomer and Carlson I mandate that the residents' contribution should be determined by dividing the fisheries' expenditures from taxes by the number of resident permits issued in any given year. [15] The State is wrong. As stated above, in Carlson I we held that the relevant inquiry was whether all fees and taxes which must be paid to the state by a nonresident to enjoy the state-provided benefit are substantially equal to those which must be paid by similarly situated residents when the residents' pro rata shares of state revenues to which non-residents make no contribution are taken into account. Carlson I, 798 P.2d at 1278. Thus, we ordered the superior court to compare the relative burden placed on resident and nonresident commercial fishers. The per capita method does just this. Had Carlson I mandated a comparison of the expenditures made by the State to the contribution made by nonresident fishers, the State's theory would be correct. [16] Resident commercial fishers are paying the license and permit fees they are charged plus their per capita share of oil revenues which are diverted to fisheries management from other benefits or State services. It is this quantity which must be equivalent to the fee differential for the fees to be constitutional under the Carlson I analysis. See Carlson I, 798 P.2d at 1278. [17] As we have concluded that the resident contribution must be calculated using the class's per capita formula, we remand the case for the application of this formula. If under the formula the fee differential exceeds the resident contribution, the State will have failed to demonstrate that the means employed by its statute have a substantial enough relationship to the legitimate interest of the statute to survive Privileges and Immunities Clause review. Conversely, if the superior court finds that the fee differential is not greater than the resident contribution, the State has successfully carried its burden of proving that the means employed by its statutory scheme are substantially related to the legitimate interest served by the statute. On remand the superior court shall address issues relating to the additional budget figures presented by the State. It will need to determine whether to accept these new figures and decide whether it should grant a stay and reopen discovery in order to allow the class to respond to the State's presentation of these new figures.