Opinion ID: 2360355
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Retroactive Operation

Text: Next, Appellants argue that Act 779 is unconstitutional because it operates retroactively. Appellants assert that Act 779 could impair a city's rights on bond issues, and that when a statute impairs a city's rights in property, that statute may not be applied retroactively. Specifically, Appellants argue that this law goes back and affects their tax base as far as their ability to meet municipal debt. The general rule is that all legislation is presumed to apply prospectively unless the legislature expressly declares, or necessarily implies by the language used, an intent to give a statute retroactive effect. Woodhaven Homes, Inc. v. Kennedy Sheet Metal Co., 304 Ark. 415, 803 S.W.2d 508 (1991); Arkansas Rural Med. Pract. Student Loan & Scholarship Bd. v. Luter, 292 Ark. 259, 729 S.W.2d 402 (1987). A statute will not be given a retroactive application when it takes away a vested right unless such is the unequivocal and inflexible import of the terms and the manifest intention of the legislature. Id. at 262, 729 S.W.2d at 403 (quoting United States v. Security Indus. Bank, 459 U.S. 70, 103 S.Ct. 407, 74 L.Ed.2d 235 (1982)). Here, there is nothing explicit or implicit in the language of Act 779 to indicate that it is to apply retroactively. This Act simply creates a mechanism by which landowners may obtain basic municipal services. Again, Appellants attempt to support their argument on this point by asserting some type of fundamental right in property owned by private landowners. It is true that the city has an interest in maintaining their borders, but as previously pointed out, this right is also subject to legislative control. This court previously rejected an argument that one city's annexation of land located in a contiguous city amounted to a taking without due process of law and just compensation. See Little Rock, 72 Ark. 195, 79 S.W. 785. There, this court recognized that a statute allowing annexation did not deal with property interests, but rather with the territory of cities and towns that, under certain circumstances, may be annexed to other corporations of that kind. Thus, we reject Appellants' argument that this Act provides for an unconstitutional retroactive application.