Court Opinion

ID: 9539443
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:04:23.703711+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:49.444745
License: Public Domain

BROWN, Justice (Retired),
dissenting.
The majority opinion is carefully and skillfully crafted. If the opinion were developed in a vacuum as an academic exercise, I could join same.
Declaring Wyo.Stat. § 31-7-126 (Supp. 1990) and Wyo.Stat. § 31-7-128(f) (Supp. 1990) unconstitutional will result in more people under the age of twenty-one who have a love affair with alcohol driving on the roads and highways. Increased drunken driving will result in more fatalities and injuries. Declaring Wyo.Stat. § 31-7-126 and Wyo.Stat. § 31-7-128(f) unconstitutional will be a boon to those on a waiting list for an organ transplant; however, for appellants, relatives and friends, it is a pyrrhic victory.
In an article, Rosenthal, The Minimum Drinking Age for Young People, 92 Dick. L.Rev. 649, 654-60 (1987-88) (footnotes omitted), sobering statistics are set out:
[T]he great majority of the soundly-designed studies found that raising the drinking age decreased fatal accidents.
* * * * * *
The number of accidents involving drunken driving is quite high. These accidents account for more than one-half of the 45,000 deaths in the United States caused by traffic accidents each year. The effect of mixing driving and alcohol is even stronger on the young. Alcohol-related traffic deaths are the number one killer of fifteen to twenty-four-year olds, and they account for approximately fifty percent of all teenage deaths. In addition, sixteen- to twenty-four-year old drivers represent twenty percent of licensed drivers in the United States and less than twenty percent of total miles driven, yet they account for forty-two percent of all fatal alcohol-related accidents. Further, because of drunken driving, the life expectancy of teenagers has remained constant for the last twenty years even though the life expectancy of every other age group has improved during this period. Young drivers who *183drink are highly dangerous to themselves, as well as to everyone else.
One interesting study measured the fatal auto accidents involving alcohol for each 100,000,000 vehicle miles travelled. Teenage drivers had the highest alcohol-involved fatal accident rate of any age group — a rate of approximately 4.5 per 100,000,000 vehicle miles compared to 3.38 for twenty-year olds, 4.08 for twenty-one-year olds, 3.10 for twenty-two to twenty-four-year-olds and 1.50 for twenty-five to forty-four-year olds. The rates for persons in their early twenties, while less than those for teenagers, are still quite substantial and strongly implicate the involvement of drivers in this group in fatal accidents involving alcohol. The study showed that eighteen-, nineteen-, and twenty-year olds had alcohol-involvement fatal-accident rates very close to the rates of the sixteen- and seventeen-year olds. * * *
******
* * * Raising the minimum drinking age had a positive effect in ten of the thirteen states. The investigators estimated that fatal crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers were reduced by thirteen percent. They also estimated that raising the minimum drinking age to twenty-one nationally would save approximately 550 lives each year.
A study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety measured the effects of raising the minimum drinking age in the twenty-six states that had done so between 1975 and 1984. The researchers estimated that, as a result of the increasing drinking age, “nighttime driver fatal crash involvements” decreased by thirteen percent.
Another study examined nine states that raised the minimum drinking age between September 1, 1976, and January 1, 1980. It estimated that “each year there could be about 730 fewer young drivers involved in nighttime fatal crashes if in all states the drinking age for all alcoholic beverages was raised to twenty-one. It also estimated that any state which raises its minimum drinking age “can expect the nighttime fatal crashes of drivers of the affected age groups to drop by about twenty-eight percent.
******
* * * When the concern is something as important as death or injury by drunken-driving, society should not afford autonomy to eighteen- to twenty-year olds, but should rather be more paternalistic. The alcohol-crash-record of persons in this age group is relatively high compared to other age groups. Its members have not shown that they can be treated like adults in alcohol-related decisions and they have not shown themselves to be responsible.
Professor Rosenthal’s footnotes reference studies to support each statistic quoted and his article shows that the effect of raising the drinking age takes more drunken drivers off the highways. Wyo.Stat. § 31-7-126 and Wyo.Stat. § 31-7-128(f) were designed to keep certain young drivers who keep company with John Barleycorn off the highway and, thus, reduce fatalities and injuries. The fallout of the majority opinion will be to put more young drunks on the highway.
In determining whether the challenged statutes are constitutional, certain general principles must be given effect. Statutes are presumed to be constitutional. Baskin v. State ex rel. Worker’s Compensation Division, 722 P.2d 151, 156 (Wyo.1986). The burden is on whoever attacks constitutionality to show beyond a reasonable doubt that a statute is unconstitutional. O’Brien v. State, 711 P.2d 1144, 1147 (Wyo.1986). When courts can uphold the validity of a statute and further the legislative intent in enacting the measure, they are bound to do so. In re Application for Certificate of Need by HCA Health Services of Wyoming, Inc., 689 P.2d 108, 114 (Wyo.1984). Any reasonable doubts are to be resolved by upholding the statute if possible. Armijo v. State, 678 P.2d 864, 867 (Wyo.1984).
When a statute is challenged on equal protection grounds, as in this case, the burden is upon the party alleging denial of *184equal protection to show that it has been subjected to disparate treatment resulting in denial of equal protection. United States Steel Corporation v. Wyoming Environmental Quality Council, 575 P.2d 749, 754 (Wyo.1978). “Equal protection does not require exact equality. Only discrimination which is arbitrary and invidious is prohibited.” Bell v. State, 693 P.2d 769, 771 (Wyo.1985).
Appellants here have raised claims under both the United States and Wyoming Constitutions. This court has held these respective equal protection provisions are equivalents. Washakie County School Dist. No. One v. Herschler, 606 P.2d 310, 332 (Wyo.1980); O’Brien, 711 P.2d at 1147.
Equal protection issues are determined by applying one of two levels of . judicial scrutiny. If an ordinary interest is involved, the court will determine if there is a rational relationship between the classification and a legitimate state objective. If a fundamental interest is affected, the classification will be subjected to a close scrutiny to determine if it is necessary to achieve a compelling state interest. If the legislature had some arguable basis for choosing the end and the means chosen, then the courts will sustain the law. O’Brien, 711 P.2d at 1147. The inquiry here asks what type of interest is affected by the legislation. It is conceded by appellants that no fundamental right is affected. Therefore, the statutes:
need only bear a reasonable relation to the legislature’s legitimate interest in preserving the economic and social stability of the state. Such a standard is highly deferential to the constitutionality of the statute. That is, if any conceivable basis exists which will reasonably, although arguably, support the enactment, we will assume that the legislature acted in a non-arbitrary and rational manner, and will hold the statute to be constitutional. Hoem v. State, 756 P.2d 780, 782-83 (Wyo.1988); Cheyenne Airport Board v. Rogers, 707 P.2d [717,] at 727 [ (Wyo.1985) ]; Mountain Fuel Supply Co. v. Emerson, 578 P.2d 1351, 1355 (Wyo.1978).
White v. State, 784 P.2d 1313, 1316 (Wyo.1989). Simply stated: Is the classification chosen by the legislature rationally related to achieving a legitimate governmental interest?
The equal protection provision of the constitutions, “guarantees that similar individuals will be dealt with in a similar manner by the government.” Nowak, Rotunda, Young, Constitutional Law, 2nd Ed. Ch. 16, § 1 at 586 (West 1983).
If the government classification relates to a proper governmental purpose, then the classification * * * does not violate the guarantee when it distinguishes persons as “dissimilar” upon some permissible basis in order to advance the legitimate interests of society.
Id. at 586-87.
A court must consider three factors in determining equal protection challenges: (1) Does a class exist? (2) What is the governmental purpose of the legislation at issue? (3) Is the legislation rationally related to the objective? The state agrees that the Act creates a class comprised of licensed drivers under the age of nineteen. Next, the court must inquire as to what is the purpose of the challenged legislation. It is not disputed that the state has a valid interest in generally protecting and improving the safety of Wyoming roads and highways, as well as deterring the illegal possession of alcohol. The third equal protection inquiry is whether the statutes are rationally related to the objective. In this case the objective is to deter and punish underage drinking and drug use. The question is whether suspending the driver’s license of one convicted of an alcohol or drug related offense is rationally related to deterring and punishing underage alcohol and substance abuse.
In the circumstance here the penalty applies even if no motor vehicle is involved with the offense. Appellants contend, therefore, that the penalty is not related to the offense in some situations. The purpose of the questioned statutes is to deter and punish underage alcohol and substance use; the penalty is the driver’s license suspension. The question is: “Does the sus*185pension deter and/or punish underage alcohol and substance abuse?” It seems obvious that it does. Obtaining a driver’s license is one of the most important events in a teenager’s life. It elevates social status in the eyes of peers. It symbolizes freedom and power. It is a sign of responsibility and the beginning of breaking ties with one’s family and being able to set one’s own rules.
A case quite similar to this was recently considered in Pennsylvania. In Commonwealth v. Strunk, 400 Pa.Super. 25, 582 A.2d 1326 (1990), the court was presented with a case where the nineteen-year-old appellant was arrested for underage possession, consumption, transportation and purchase of an alcoholic beverage. Upon conviction, appellant’s driver’s license was suspended for ninety days. Appellant claimed, as in this case, that his drinking violation was not connected to the operation or possession of a motor vehicle, and that the license suspension was not rationally related to the state’s interest in promoting the safe operation of motor vehicles. He contends that this violated his right to due process. Id. 582 A.2d at 1327.
The Pennsylvania court found appellant’s claim to be without merit. “We find that the appellant has failed to introduce any evidence to establish that the statute is either arbitrary or irrational. [The statute] indeed represents a rational means of deterring and punishing underage consumption and possession of alcohol.” Id. at 1330. The court also noted the importance of the driver’s license privilege and why a license suspension is more effective as a deterrent than a monetary fine: “We recognize that a license to drive a car is an important privilege to youths. Their social status, their psychological and physical independence, and their ability fully to participate in peer group activity may all be implicated if this privilege is suspended.” Id.
The threat of losing driving privileges is substantial and an effective deterrent and punishment. I think this court should have adopted the rule and rationale of Strunk.
The idea of suspending driver’s licenses for non-vehicular offenses is not novel. The New Jersey Supreme Court upheld such a law twenty years ago in State v. Smith, 58 N.J. 202, 276 A.2d 369 (1971). In finding that suspension of a driver’s license for possession of marijuana was permissible, the court observed: “It seems to us that addition of a temporary forfeiture of a driver’s license to a stated fine or imprisonment as a preventative regulation clearly represents a reasonable exercise of the legislative power to impose limitations upon highway use.” Id. 276 A.2d at 375.
It is apparent that the state has a valid interest in preserving the safety, health, morals, economic and social stability and general welfare of its citizens. The statutes involved here are rationally related to the legitimate state interests and do not deprive appellants of the equal protection of the laws. Accordingly, they do not violate either the United States or Wyoming Constitutions.
This court has recognized that the prohibition against special legislation does not mean that a statute must affect everyone in the same way; it only means that the classification contained in the statute must be reasonable, and that the statute must operate on all persons or property in the same or similar circumstances and conditions. Mountain Fuel Supply Co. v. Emerson, 578 P.2d 1351, 1356 (Wyo.1978). Article 3, § 27 of the Wyoming Constitution is not violated if there is a reasonable classification. Nehring v. Russell, 582 P.2d 67, 77 (Wyo.1978).
By enacting Wyo.Stat. § 31-7-126 and Wyo.Stat. § 31-7-128(f), the legislature reflected the policy of citizens of Wyoming to reduce drunken driving and highway fatalities. If the majority had approached this case as they should have, with the presumption that the statutes were constitutional, it could easily have justified a holding of constitutionality and upheld state policy; but that was not their wont. Driving has always been considered a privilege rather than a right; however, the majority, without saying so, has elevated this privilege to constitutional proportions. The ma*186jority has determined that the privilege of a few outweighs the policy of the state and its citizens in reducing fatalities and injuries on the highways.
In our society, we are obsessed with rights to the neglect of duties. A society cannot function if everyone has rights and no one has responsibilities. I would uphold the suspension of appellants’ driver’s licenses.