Court Opinion

ID: 9720682
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:39:24.418571+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:20.602654
License: Public Domain

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
STRUTZ, Chief Justice.
Counsel for the plaintiff have filed a petition for rehearing in which they assert that this court erred in our opinion in that we failed to determine whether the fees established by Section 4-13-10, North Dakota Century Code, were or were not a tax. They point out that the law delegates to the Poultry Improvement Board the power to “reduce” these fees, and that if such fees are a tax, our decision in this case is contrary to prior decisions of this court holding that the power to tax is a legislative power which may not be delegated. They further state that our opinion does not provide guidance for interpretation of the law under consideration.
We believe that our opinion in this matter correctly states the law, even if the fees in question are held to be a tax. Let us suppose that the Legislative Assembly should establish a maximum income tax and delegate to the Tax Commissioner, or to some public board or commission, the power to adjust such tax downward from the maximum rate established by the Legislature in the event such tax produced more than a certain amount of revenue, and providing definite guidelines for such downward revision or adjustment of the tax. Would the delegation of authority to reduce the amount of the tax under such circumstances be valid, or would such power constitute an unlawful delegation of legislative authority?
Pure legislative power never may be delegated by the Legislature to a public officer, board, or commission. Legislative power which may not be delegated includes a determination of whether the law should be enacted, the fixing of a time when the law shall take effect, and a designation of the persons to whom the provisions of the law shall apply. In other words, legislative power which may not be delegated is the power to make a complete law. However, if the law as enacted by the Legislative Assembly furnishes a reasonably clear policy or standard of action which will guide and control the public officer, commission, or board in determining the facts or situations to which the provisions of the law shall apply, so that the law will take effect upon the existence of such facts or situations by virtue of its own terms and not according to the whim, notion, or fancy of the administrative officer, commission, or board, then the power which is delegated by the Legislature to such officer, commission, or board is not legislative, but is administrative.
Applying this rule to the situation before us, we find that the authority delegated to the Poultry Improvement Board is not legislative, even though the fees imposed by the law are a tax. The expediency of the legislation was determined by the Legislative Assembly itself. The time when its provisions were to take effect is fixed in the law, and the determination as to whom its provisions shall apply is made by the Legislature and is not delegated to the Poultry Improvement Board. The amount of the fees is fixed by the Legislature by establishing a maximum fee in each category, and the maximum fee is not left to the discretion of the Board. It is only when a situation arises showing that the amount realized from such fee imposed by the law passed by the Legislature is more than is needed for the purposes for which the law was enacted that the Board is authorized to reduce the fee. Thus the authority given to the Poultry Improvement Board is not, in our opinion, legislative; that is, the Board has no authority to determine when the law shall take effect, nor has it the power to determine to whom the provisions of the law shall apply. Neither is the Board given any authority to *413determine whether the law should or should not be put into effect. All of these matters were determined by the Legislature itself in the enactment of the law. The only power which was delegated to the Board was the authority to reduce the amount of the maximum fees imposed if such fees, fixed in the law by the Legislature, should produce more revenue than is needed to carry out the purposes of the Act.
Obviously the Legislature, in enacting the law, was not in a position to determine the exact amount of fees required by the Poultry Improvement Board to carry out the purposes of the Act. Certain discretionary powers must be permitted under such circumstances. Surely the plaintiff would be in no better position if the Legislature had merely fixed a maximum fee without authorizing the Board to make any reduction even though the fee fixed by the Legislature would produce more revenue than is needed to carry out the purposes of the Act. In such case, the plaintiff would be required to pay such maximum fee until it was reduced by the Legislature. Therefore, although it would be unconstitutional for the Legislature to delegate legislative power, we find that the powers delegated in this case are administrative, and it is not unconstitutional to delegate administrative authority.
While the Legislature may not delegate legislative power, it may delegate functions which are purely administrative or executive in carrying out the purposes of the Legislature as provided by the law. And the Legislature has a large discretion in determining by what agency its laws are to be administered. Visina v. Freeman, 252 Minn. 177, 89 N.W.2d 635, 653 (1958). It is only where a statute purports to vest arbitrary discretion in a public officer, commission, or board, without establishing rules for the guidance of such public officer, commission, or board, that a statute will be declared unconstitutional. Here, the rule for guidance of the Poultry Improvement Board is that where the fees fixed by the Legislature produce more revenue than is required by the Board for carrying out the purposes of the Act, the Board shall reduce such fees, thus performing a clearly administrative function.
For reasons stated herein, the petition for rehearing is denied.
PAULSON, KNUDSON, ERICKSTAD and TEIGEN, JJ., concur.