Opinion ID: 1349418
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Effect of APA

Text: The ALC also holds that because DHEC employs the CMP policies like regulations, they must be promulgated in accordance with the APA before they may be enforced. In essence, the ALC holds that S.C.Code Ann. § 1-23-10(4), which provides that [p]olicy or guidance issued by an agency other than in a regulation does not have the force and effect of law, repealed the enactment procedure set forth in S.C.Code Ann. § 48-39-90. Consequently, because the CMP did not comply with the APA, the CMP is not enforceable. We disagree. The General Assembly created a separate and more rigorous procedure for promulgation of the CMP and, because DHEC acted in accordance with the specified procedure, the plan is valid. Repeal by implication is disfavored, and is found only when two statutes are incapable of any reasonable reconcilement. Capco of Summerville, Inc. v. J.H. Gayle Const. Co., Inc., 368 S.C. 137, 141-42, 628 S.E.2d 38, 41 (2006), citing Mims v. Alston, 312 S.C. 311, 440 S.E.2d 357 (1994). Moreover, the repugnancy must be plain, and if the two provisions can be construed so that both can stand, a court shall so construe them. Id., citing City of Rock Hill v. South Carolina DHEC, 302 S.C. 161, 167, 394 S.E.2d 327, 331 (1990). Where there is one statute addressing an issue in general terms and another statute dealing with the identical issue in a more specific and definite manner, the more specific statute will be considered an exception to, or a qualifier of, the general statute and given such effect. Wilder v. South Carolina Hwy. Dep't, 228 S.C. 448, 90 S.E.2d 635 (1955); see also Wooten ex rel. Wooten v. S.C. Dep't of Transp., 333 S.C. 464, 468, 511 S.E.2d 355, 357 (1999) (a specific statutory provision prevails over a more general one). Section 48-39-90 constitutes a specific enactment procedure for the CMP with more rigorous requirements than those in the APA. Under the APA, proposed regulations go into effect 120 days after they are submitted to the appropriate House and Senate Committees upon publication in the State Register unless they are affirmatively vetoed by the legislature. See S.C.Code Ann. § 1-23-120(D). In contrast, § 48-39-90 requires that the General Assembly and Governor affirmatively approve of the CMP before it is effective. See S.C.Code Ann. § 48-39-90. This reading better comports with the history of the CZMA and APA. The two acts were passed in the same year. See 1977 Act No. 123; 1977 Act No. 176. The General Assembly was fully aware of the APA and in fact references it in the CZMA, directing the Coastal Council to promulgate rules and regulations addressing critical areas in accordance with the APA. See S.C.Code Ann. § 48-39-130(B) (2008). The General Assembly would not have established the rigorous enactment requirements of the CMP if it believed that the subsequent enactment of the APA would render it ineffective. We find that the ALC erred in holding that, because the CMP was not promulgated in accordance with the APA, it is unenforceable. The CMP was enacted in accordance with the specific procedures set forth by the General Assembly in § 48-39-90 and, consequently, is valid and enforceable.