Court Opinion

ID: 9771117
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:32:50.81832+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:25.302940
License: Public Domain

LAMBERT, Justice,
dissenting.
In my view, the statute under consideration is in clear violation of Sections 27, 28 and 69 of the Constitution of Kentucky. Despite the valiant attempt of the majority to say otherwise, the Legislature has in effect appropriated executive prerogative by conferring upon a trade association the arbitrary power, in violation of Sections 2 and 3 of our Constitution, to limit the pool of persons from which the governor may make his appointment. While it may be unimportant for purposes of constitutional analysis, it should not go unnoticed that only approximately one-third of Kentucky’s licensed real estate agents are members of the trade association to which the Legislature has granted such power.
In defense of its position, the majority observes that the association has a right to include on its list of possible appointees persons who are not its members, and it is noted that the governor would be entitled to refrain from making any appointment until the list submitted included the names of persons whom he believed to be suitable. While such facts may provide enough breathing space to prevent a stalemate, if a test of wills should develop between the executive and the association, the executive would have to yield or have his power of appointment thwarted. As the governor can appoint only from the list submitted, the entity which controls the list controls who shall be appointed.
This Court’s landmark decision in Legislative Research Commission (LRC) v. Brown, Ky., 664 S.W.2d 907 (1984), is believed by many to have inaugurated a new era in the interpretation of Sections 27 and 28 of our Constitution. To borrow a popular phrase, a line was drawn in the sand when we refused to adopt a “liberal construction of the separation of powers doctrine” and stated that such an interpretation would be tantamount to repealing sections 27 and 28. The concept of encroachment by one branch of government upon the functions of another was viewed as contrary to the foundation of our constitutional government in that it would ultimately result in one branch vastly exceeding the rightful power allocated to it. We quoted with approval from Sibert v. Garrett, 197 Ky. 17, 246 S.W. 455, 457 (1922) as follows:
“[T]he Legislature may perform all legislative acts not expressly or by necessary implication withheld from it, but it may not perform or undertake to perform executive or judicial acts-”
It cannot be disputed that the appointment of officials is inherently an executive *218act. LRC v. Brown, at 920-924. As such and in view of the importance we have ascribed to the principle involved, we should not countenance an evasion or circumvention of the rule established.
The majority has emphatically declared, “We do not now retreat from our decision in LRC v. Brown one iota. ” Despite such protestation, there is a great similarity between the statutes held unconstitutional in LRC v. Brown and the statute upheld in this case. The majority attempts to distinguish this case from LRC v. Brown on the grounds that “the General Assembly [has] no voice in the selection of committee members; its reach extends solely to providing a method of selection ... which is independent of legislative control.” Said otherwise, the majority has the view that the General Assembly may, by delegation of authority to a trade association, do what it cannot do directly. Such a distinction is without a difference.
We should take the opportunity provided by this case to reiterate the requirement of Section 27 that each branch of government should be “confined to a separate body of magistracy” and the requirement of Section 28 that no branch of government should “exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others.” (Emphasis added.)
COMBS, J., joins in this dissent.