Court Opinion

ID: 9606988
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:54:43.059183+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:36.727564
License: Public Domain

Brailsford, Justice
(dissenting):
*630Being of the view that the 1972 amendment of the retaliatory statute, Section 37-132, Code of 1962, can and should be given retroactive effect, I respectfully dissent. No one has suggested an applicable constitutional limitation on the authority of the legislature to amend this statute with retroactive effectiveness except the separation of powers clause, and no other occurs to me. It is, of course, conceded that the declaratory language of the 1972 amendment cannot be given effect as a construction of the pre-amendment retaliatory statute which was construed differently by this Court in Lindsay v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Ins. Co., 258 S. C. 272, 188 S. E. (2d) 374 (1972). But the statute as amended requires no construction in this respect. The sole question is whether the amendment shall control the calculation of the insurance company’s license tax for years prior to its adoption. The language of the amendment, although inappropriate, leaves no doubt that the legislature intended an affirmative answer to this question. I would give effect to the declaratory language as manifesting the intention of the legislature that the amendment should operate retrospectively and calculate the license tax accordingly. This construction of the amendment would effectuate the legislative will to remit part of the tax due under Section 37-132 as construed in Lindsay without violating any constitutional limitation on legislative power.
Bussey, J., concurs.