Court Opinion

ID: 9667991
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:59:57.624588+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:42.234485
License: Public Domain

STEPHENS, Chief Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
It is a well settled and often repeated principle in Kentucky jurisprudence that “[i]n order to have standing to bring a lawsuit, the plaintiff must have a judicially recognizable interest in the subject matter of the suit and a present or substantial interest therein.” Housing Authority of Louisville v. Service Employees International Union, Local 557, Ky., 885 S.W.2d 692, 695 (1994). In recognition of'the subjective nature of this standard, we have held that “[t]he issue of standing is one which is to be decided on the facts of each case.” Rose v. Council for Better Education, Inc., Ky., 790 S.W.2d 186, 202 (1989).
Utilizing this standard it is readily apparent that AIK has standing to challenge the statutes which affect individual lobbyists; specifically, the prohibition against working as treasurer in KRS 6.811(5), the campaign contribution prohibition of KRS 6.811(6), the contingency fee prohibition in KRS 6.811(9) and the expenditure reporting requirements of KRS 6.821(3)(b). The subject matter of this suit is the constitutionality of the entire Legislative and Executive Code of Ethics. AIK employs individuals who work as lobbyists to further the interests of AIK’s membership. This interest is best furthered by employing lobbyists who will be successful in their lobbying efforts. The success of those lobbyists, as well as AIK’s, will be affected by these restrictions. Moreover, AIK’s ability to attract those best suited to lobbying will be affected as these restrictions will prevent some individuals from working as lobbyists. Since AIK is an ongoing concern, these “judi-dally recognizable” interests are “present and substantial.” For these reasons, AIK has standing to challenge the campaign contribution restrictions and expenditure reporting requirements affecting individual paid lobbyists.
I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the expenditure reporting requirements of KRS 6.821 are constitutional. However, I cannot agree that the prohibitions found in KRS 6.811 pass constitutional muster. Specifically, I refer to KRS 6.811 subsections five (5)1, six (6)2, and nine (9)3. The complete prohibitions found in these sections create a category of second class citizenship based solely on the occupation of an individual. This is intolerable in the face of constitutional protections found in Kentucky Constitution §§ 1,2, and 3.
This Court has interpreted these sections as providing the citizens of the Commonwealth with equal protection under the laws of this state. See, Kentucky Harlan Coal Co. v. Holmes, Ky., 872 S.W.2d 446 (1994); Commonwealth v. Wasson, Ky., 842 S.W.2d 487 (1992). With the enactment of the Code of Ethics, the legislature chose to discriminate between paid and unpaid lobbyists. This choice created “a separate and identifiable class for Kentucky constitutional law analysis because no class of persons can be discriminated against under the Kentucky Constitution.” Wasson, 842 S.W.2d at 500. The exception to that rule arises when “there is a substantial government interest, a rational basis, for different treatment.” Id.
The majority has correctly pointed out that the legislature has a compelling interest in preserving and maintaining the integrity of the government. However, there is no rational basis for denying an individual, whose occupation is as a lobbyist, the opportunity to serve as a campaign treasurer or fundraiser *958for a legislative candidate. There are adequate campaign finance laws in place to safeguard the integrity of campaigns. Further, there is no rational reason why a paid lobbyist is prohibited from contributing to the campaign of a legislative candidate. The ability to participate in the electoral process necessarily includes the ability to financially support the candidate of one’s own choosing. If the legislature wishes to deny this right based on occupational choices, then perhaps the next restrictions will encompass the ability of lawyers to contribute to the campaigns of judicial candidates. In the final analysis, there was no rational basis for these restrictions to fall only on paid lobbyists.
The criminalization of lobbying on a contingent fee basis defies reason. By including KRS 6.811(9) the legislature infers that a contingency fee system automatically implies unethical behavior. As this Court held in U.S. Mining & Exploration Natural Resources Co., Inc., v. City of Beattyville, Ky., 548 S.W.2d 833, 834 (1977):
The regulation of a lawful business is de-pendant upon some reasonable necessity for the protection of health, safety, morality, or other phase of the general welfare, and unless an act restricting the ordinary occupations of life can be said to bear some reasonable relation to one or more of these general objects of the police power, it is repugnant to constitutional guarantees and void.
There can be no “reasonable necessity” for this prohibition especially in the face of the long standing tradition of contingent legal fees.
Finally, these restrictions are violative of § 2 of the Kentucky Constitution as an exercise of arbitrary power. The above noted reasoning applies as well to this analysis. If there is no rational basis for the exercise of power, then it is by definition arbitrary and thus constitutionally infirm. This Court has determined that “arbitrary” consists of “whatever is essentially unjust and unequal or exceeds the reasonable and legitimate interests of the people.” Kentucky Milk Marketing v. Kroger Co., Ky., 691 S.W.2d 893, 899 (1985). Furthermore, if the governmental “action taken rests upon reasons so unsubstantial or the consequences are so unjust as to work a hardship, judicial power may be interposed to protect the rights of persons adversely affected.” Id. These restrictions on paid lobbyists are just such a circumstance and this Court has the duty to invalidate the prohibitions found in KRS 6.811(5), (6), and (9) as an “arbitrary exercise of power.”
For the foregoing reasons, I am dissenting in part and concurring in part from the majority opinion. I would hold that AIK has standing to challenge the statutes which affect their employees and would invalidate the above mentioned sections.

. KRS 6.811(5)—A legislative agent shall not serve as a campaign treasurer, or as a fundraiser as set forth in KRS 121.170(2) for a candidate or legislator.

. KRS 6.811(6)—A legislative agent shall not make a campaign contribution to a legislator, a candidate, or his campaign committee.

.KRS 6.811(9)—No person shall engage any person to lobby in exchange for compensation that is contingent in any way upon the passage, modification, or defeat of any legislation. No person shall accept any engagement to lobby in exchange for compensation that is contingent in any way upon the passage, modification, or defeat of any legislation. Violation of this provision is a Class D felony.