Court Opinion

ID: 9762744
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:30:27.147231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:37.152099
License: Public Domain

HUDOCK, J.,
concurring:
¶ 1 Although I agree with the Majority that Appellant was correctly sentenced for conviction of a misdemeanor of the first degree, I would not decide the case based upon the provisions of the Vehicle Code and the Sentencing Guidelines governing conflicts between the statutory minimum sentences and the Guidelines. Rather, I would hold that where there is a conflict, the statute must always prevail since the statute reflects the basic policy choice of the General Assembly. While the General Assembly may delegate authority to execute or administer the law to an agency such as the Sentencing Commission, the exercise of this delegated power cannot conflict with the basic constitutional power of the General Assembly to make, alter or repeal laws. This power is entrusted to the General Assembly, and cannot be delegated in such a way as to conflict with the basic policy choices, which can be exercised only by the General Assembly in the form of statutes. See Blackwell v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State Ethics Commission, 523 Pa. 347, 567 A.2d 630 (1989). I would invite the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing to revise the offense listing in the Sentencing Guidelines, 204 Pa.Code section 303.15, to remove the erroneous suggestion that a seven-year cut-off applies to the grading of offenses under 75 Pa.C.S.A. section 3731(e)(1), resulting in a misdemeanor of the second-degree conviction, rather than a misdemeanor of the first-degree conviction.