Court Opinion

ID: 9552824
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:17:44.388856+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:06.319962
License: Public Domain

COATS, Judge,
dissenting.
The Alaska Constitution provides broad powers for a home rule borough or city. It provides in Article X, Section 11 that “[a] home rule borough or city may exercise all legislative powers not prohibited by law or by charter.” Furthermore, Article X, Section 1 provides that “A liberal construction shall be given to the powers of local government units.” From these constitutional provisions I conclude that AS 28.01.010(a), which provides that a municipality may not enact an ordinance that is “inconsistent” with the state motor vehicle code or regulations, should be given a narrow reading. Cremer v. Anchorage, 575 P.2d 306 (Alaska 1978) and Adkins v. Lester, 530 P.2d 11 (Alaska 1974), seem to be consistent with this view. The Adkins case involved a direct conflict between a state traffic regulation and a municipal ordinance. The state traffic regulation specifically permitted the driver of an emergency vehicle to respond to an emergency call without using a red *1209light and siren when responding to a burglary in progress or other emergency when the use of the red light and siren might “prevent or hamper the apprehension or detection of a violator of a statute, ordinance or regulation.” The city ordinance required an emergency vehicle responding to an emergency to use audible signals at all times. 530 P.2d at 14. The court held that the city ordinance was inconsistent with the state regulation and that the state regulation governed. The court said, “We therefore hold the Fairbanks city ordinance, to the extent it is in conflict with the state traffic regulations, constitutes an exercise of home rule power expressly prohibited by the legislature.” 530 P.2d at 15 (emphasis in the original).
In Cremer v. Anchorage, 575 P.2d 306 (Alaska 1978), the defendant was convicted under an Anchorage ordinance of driving in a large, privately owned lot while his state operator’s license was suspended. A state statute provided that a person could not drive while his operator’s license was suspended “on a public highway in this state.” The court held that it was permissible to convict Cremer, even though he was not driving on a highway, under a municipal ordinance which provided that a person could not drive a vehicle while his operator’s license was suspended. The court held this ordinance was not inconsistent with the state statute. The court said, “In order to hold that the ordinance is prohibited by law, it would have to be found that it directly or indirectly impeded implementation of a statute which sought to further a specific statewide policy.” 575 P.2d at 307 (footnote omitted).
Therefore, reading Adkins, Cremer, and the provisions of the Alaska Constitution, I conclude that any inconsistency between AMO 9.28.030 and the state motor vehicle statutes must be a significant conflict in order to invalidate the city ordinance. I do not see such a conflict in this case. A state statute in effect at the time these cases arose, AS 28.35.033(a), provided that a person with a .10 blood alcohol reading was presumed to be under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Although it was not in effect at the time these cases arose, AS 28.35.030(a)(2) now provides, similarly to AMO 9.28.030, that “[a] person commits the crime of driving while intoxicated if he operates or drives a motor vehicle when there is 0.10 percent or more by weight of alcohol in his blood . . . . ” Given this statutory background, I see no reason to conclude that the state has any policy that is furthered by requiring the city to prove that a person is impaired at a .10 blood level before he can be convicted of driving while intoxicated. I perceive this case as being similar to Cremer, where the city ordinance merely carried state policy one step further.1 I recognize that there is a strong need for uniformity in traffic regulation. I also believe this is a close and difficult issue. However, because of my reading of the Alaska Constitution and the Alaska cases, and because I do not see a significant conflict between the ordinance and any policy of the state motor vehicle code, I respectfully dissent.2

. In Cremer v. Anchorage, 575 P.2d at 308, the court approved the city ordinance making it illegal to drive with a suspended license in places other than a public highway, stating:
The ordinance accomplishes the same object as the statute, and then a bit more by covering the driving in areas that are not public highways.

. Since the majority opinion disposes of this case by deciding this issue in favor of the appellants, I do not address the other issues raised in these appeals.