Court Opinion

ID: 9615027
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:30:33.076377+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:43.935511
License: Public Domain

Justice KIRSHBAUM
concurring in part, specially concurring in part, and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority’s conclusion that H.B. 91S-1005, in conjunction with S.B. *89091S-1009 (hereinafter H.B. 1005), does not facially violate article II, section 11; article V, section 25; or article XI, section 3 of the Colorado Constitution. I specially concur in Part 111(A)(1) of the majority opinion to the extent it concludes that on its face H.B. 1005 does not authorize a grant or a donation. However, because I disagree with the majority’s analysis of the public purpose doctrine expressed in Parts 111(A)(1) and (2) of its opinion, and because I conclude that H.B. 1005 on its face violates prohibitions on the exercise of legislative power established by article V, section 34, of the Colorado Constitution, I respectfully dissent to Part 111(A)(2) of the majority opinion.
I
Article V, section 34, of the Colorado Constitution states as follows:
Appropriations to private institutions forbidden. No appropriation shall be made for charitable, industrial, educational or benevolent purposes to any person, corporation or community not under the absolute control of the state, nor to any denominational or sectarian institution or association.
House Bill 1005 appropriates funds for the benefit of industrial corporations not under the absolute control of the state. While the initial recipient of the appropriation is a special fund, that entity is a mere conduit. The fund must ultimately pay all appropriated sums to one or more qualifying corporations. Thus H.B. 1005 on its face violates the express language of article V, section 34.
Apparently conceding this structural analysis of the bill, the majority holds that the public purpose doctrine articulated by this court constitutes an exception to the prophylactic provisions of article V, section 34, and that the doctrine applies to this bill. Op. at 883-884. I conclude that the laudable and quite beneficial legislative desire to create many well-paying jobs in Colorado does not satisfy the public purpose exception to the prohibitions of article V, section 34.
Our constitution was crafted by delegates to a constitutional convention who exercised the authority and therefore the will of the citizens of the Territory of Colorado. As emphasized by article II, section 2, the Constitution represents grants of authority from the governed to the three departments of government.1 See Hudson v. Annear, 101 Colo. 551, 75 P.2d 587 (1938). The plenary authority of the legislative department is limited initially by the terms of that article V, section 1.
Article V, section 1, of the Colorado Constitution establishes the scope of the plenary power of the General Assembly as follows: “The legislative power of the state shall be vested in the general assembly_” Colo. Const., art. V, § 1. The principle that the only power exercisable by the General Assembly is the “legislative power” vested in the legislative department by the Constitution is reinforced by the provisions of article V, section 1, reserving to the People the power of initiative and referendum. Colorado Project-Common Cause v. Anderson, 178 Colo. 1, 495 P.2d 220 (1972); In re Legislative Reapportionment, 150 Colo. 380, 374 P.2d 66 (1962); Burks v. City of Lafayette, 142 Colo. 61, 349 P.2d 692 (1960); Baker v. Bosworth, 122 Colo. 356, 222 P.2d 416 (1950); Brownlow v. Wunsch, 103 Colo. 120, 83 P.2d 775 (1938).
The plenary legislative power vested in the General Assembly is quite broad in scope. In re Interrogatories, 97 Colo. 587, 52 P.2d 663 (1935); In re Senate Resolution No. 4, 54 Colo. 262, 130 P. 333 (1913). There are, however, limits to this grant of plenary power. Olin Mathieson Chem. Corp. v. Francis, 134 Colo. 160, 301 P.2d 139 (1956). Some such limits are inferable from the concept of separation of powers expressly embodied in article III of Colorado’s Constitution. See, e.g., Colorado Gen*891eral Assembly v. Lamm, 700 P.2d 508 (Colo.1985); In re Interrogatories Propounded by Senate Concerning House Bill 1078, 189 Colo. 1, 536 P.2d 308 (1975); People v. Davis, 186 Colo. 186, 526 P.2d 312 (1974); Colorado State Bd. of Medical Examiners v. District Court, 138 Colo. 227, 331 P.2d 502 (1958); Kolkman v. People, 89 Colo. 8, 300 P. 575 (1931). This doctrine requires delineation and therefore definition of the distinct powers allocated to the separate departments of government. Colorado State Bd. of Medical Examiners, 138 Colo. at 232, 331 P.2d at 505; Smith v. Miller, 153 Colo. 35, 40, 384 P.2d 738, 741 (1963); City and County of Denver v. Lynch, 92 Colo. 102, 106, 18 P.2d 907, 909 (1932).
The sine qua non for the exercise of government authority, whether that authority be legislative, executive or judicial, is that the authority be exercised in furtherance of public purposes. The general purpose to be served by the exercise of plenary legislative power has been characterized as the health, safety, morals and welfare of the general public. See, e.g., City and County of Denver v. Denver Buick, Inc., 141 Colo. 121, 127, 347 P.2d 919, 924 (1959), overruled on another issue, Service Oil v. Rhodus, 179 Colo. 335, 347, 500 P.2d 807, 813 (1972); Eachus v. People, 124 Colo. 454, 458-59, 238 P.2d 885, 888 (1951). Assuming that a particular statute furthers a public purpose and is therefore the product of what appears to be a valid exercise of article V, section 1, legislative power, a separate constitutional provision that in effect nullifies such legislative conduct may be viewed as a modification of the very definition of “legislative power” or as a constitutional caveat that legislative power may not be exercised in certain circumstances. While these two perspectives might command different results in various contexts, they may be collapsed for purposes of this analysis. Constitutional limitations on the exercise of plenary legislative power in effect prohibit the General Assembly from furthering the broad public purposes for which the challenged legislation was necessarily designed, however important or beneficial such purposes might be.
II
The legislative purpose articulated by H.B. 1005 is the purpose to create numerous well-paying jobs for Coloradoans, thereby enhancing the economic climate of the state. While the opponents of H.B. 1005 have voiced disagreement with the wisdom of such legislation, no one has suggested such purpose is not a public purpose justifying the exercise of plenary legislative power under article V, section 1, of the Constitution.
It also appears to be undisputed that one effect of H.B. 1005 will be to provide a benefit to one or, arguably, several private industrial corporations. The plain language of article V, section 34, prohibits the exercise of article V, section 1, plenary legislative power to appropriate state funds for industrial purposes to a private corporation.
Supporters of H.B. 1005 assert that such literal construction of the language of article V, section 34, has long been disavowed by this court in a series of opinions establishing a “public purpose” exception that has substantially narrowed the scope of that constitutional provision. The attorney general submitted a brief that in essence agrees with that argument but suggests that the public purpose doctrine is in need of fine tuning. My review of our past decisions compels the conclusion that the public purpose doctrine is not applicable in the circumstances of this case and that, therefore, article Y, section 34, renders H.B. 1005 unconstitutional on its face.2
*892This court first explored the history and scope of article V, section 34, in In re Relief Bills, 21 Colo. 62, 39 P. 1089 (1895), and In re Constitutionality of Substitute for Senate Bill No. 83 (In re Benedictine Sisters Bill), 21 Colo. 69, 39 P. 1088 (1895).3 In In re Relief Bills, the Governor submitted an interrogatory to the court requesting an opinion as to whether a bill adopted by the General Assembly and submitted to the Governor for executive action was prohibited by article V, section 34. The bill appropriated the sum of $32,250 from the state treasury for disbursement by county commissioners of specified counties to farmers reduced to “destitution and want” by drought-induced crop failure. In re Relief Bills, 21 Colo, at 64-65, 39 P. at 1089-90. Noting that few state constitutions contained language similar to article V, section 34, we reviewed the history of the adoption of this provision as revealed by the proceedings of our constitutional convention and concluded that the proposed legislation was prohibited by article V, section 34, and therefore was not within the plenary power of the General Assembly. In so doing, we stated as follows:
We have not reached this conclusion without much reluctance. The condition of the people sought to be benefited by this act appeals to all to overlook the rules and principles established by our state constitution, but the question presented must be determined by the court without reference to the hardships the conclusion may work in individual cases.
In re Relief Bills, 21 Colo. at 69, 39 P. at 1091.
In In re Benedictine Sisters Bill, 21 Colo. 69, 39 P. 1088 (1895), this court rejected a challenge based on article V, section 34, to a bill adopted by the General Assembly appropriating funds to permit the state board of penitentiary commissioners to compensate a religious order for any damages caused by a state construction project. Observing that the institution allegedly benefited by the legislation was entitled to just compensation for any of its property taken by the state under other constitutional provisions, we held that the specific purpose of the legislation was to further a constitutionally required legislative responsibility. In In re Relief Bills we found no distinct public purpose for the legislation. In In re Benedictine Sisters Bill we found a distinct constitutionally required purpose for the legislation, that being just compensation for the taking of private property.
Colorado Central R.R. Co. v. Lea, 5 Colo. 192 (1879), is another early and relevant decision. In Lea, this court reviewed a trial court judgment enjoining the Board of County Commissioners and a railroad company from carrying out a transaction which in substance involved the donation of shares of the railroad company’s stock owned by the county to the railroad company. We held that the transaction was barred by article XI, section 2, of the Colorado Constitution.4 Although the case did *893not require construction of article V, section 34, the following language from that opinion is generally instructive with regard to the effect of constitutional provisions curtailing the General Assembly’s exercise of its plenary legislative power:
That the construction of the proposed line of railroad would be of great benefit to the county and its citizens; that it would give them increased and superior facilities for traffic and commerce with both the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards, do not make it any the less a donation within the intent of the inhibition.
These and similar considerations of public benefit and advantage, had constituted for years, under our territorial government, the basis of appeals for and grants of county and municipal aid to railroad companies, and it was undoubtedly the intention of the framers of the Constitution, whether wisely or not, to prohibit, by the fundamental law of the new State, all public aid to railroad companies, whether by donation, grant or subscription, no matter what might be the public benefit and advantages flowing from the construction of such roads. I understand the framers of the Constitution and the people who adopted it, to have intended by this provision the declaration of a broad policy of prohibition, forbidding State, county and municipal aid to railroad and other companies in any of the modes specified.
If the existence of a public benefit is to give such an agreement the character of a sale of the stock, and take it out of the constitutional prohibition, then the prohibition is utterly nugatory and valueless, as such consideration would exist in every probable case. We consequently regard the agreement as within the constitutional prohibition, and as without validity.
Colorado Central R.R. Co., 5 Colo, at 196-97. The court clearly recognized that article XI, section 2, limited the exercise of plenary legislative power even when the purpose sought to be achieved was a public purpose.
In Lord v. City and County of Denver, 58 Colo. 1, 143 P. 284 (1914), the City and County of Denver adopted ordinances creating a commission to participate in the construction of a trans-mountain tunnel and authorizing the issuance of bonds and the imposition of tax levies to assist in financing the project. This court held those ordinances and a contract executed pursuant thereto by the city to be prohibited, inter alia, by article XI, section 2, of the Colorado Constitution. Emphasizing the broad language of the section, we observed that the declarations of public necessity and convenience set forth in the ordinance “cannot prevail as against an express constitutional prohibition of the power attempted therein to be exercised.” Lord, 58 Colo, at 26, 143 P. at 292. Citing with approval Colorado Central R.R. Co. v. Lea, 5 Colo. 192 (1879), we made the following observations concerning the adoption of article XI, section 2:
Prior to the adoption of our constitution, the policy of extending public aid to private corporations, had grown to be alarming. Judge Dillon in his work on Municipal Corporations, 1 Dill. § 313 and [§] 318, points out the evil effects arising therefrom. This policy he suggests had become a mania, particularly in the west; that it had resulted in attempted repudiation upon the part of both states and municipalities, and says:
‘The most noted of extraordinary or extra-municipal powers conferred upon municipal and public corporations, is the authority to aid in the construction of railways by subscribing to their stock, issuing negotiable bonds as a means of paying their subscription, and taxing the inhabitants or the property within their limits to pay the indebtedness thereby incurred * * * regarded in the light of its effects, whatever may be thought of its constitutional soundness, there is little hesitation in affirming that this invention to aid the enterprise of private corporations has proved itself baneful in the last degree.’
To prevent this evil, there began the adoption of constitutional amendments by many of the states, denying the right *894of the legislature to grant such powers. Our constitution was adopted at a time when the subject was much in the public mind. An examination of the proceedings of the constitutional convention shows the introduction of several resolutions upon the subject, and repeated redrafts of these sections, with the result that sections 1 and 2 of art. XI are broader in scope, and more specific in the matter of restriction, than any similar constitutional provision considered or brought to our attention. Indeed, it would seem that language could not make plainer the intent of the framers of the constitution, to utterly prohibit the mingling of public moneys with those of private persons, either directly or indirectly, or in any manner whatsoever.
Lord, 58 Colo, at 15-16, 143 P. at 288 (omission in original).
The construction of article V, section 34, assumed additional complexity as the result of this court’s decision in Bedford v. White, 106 Colo. 439, 106 P.2d 469 (1940). In that case, the state auditor refused to authorize pension payments to two retired supreme court justices on the ground, inter alia, that the statute providing for such payments violated article V, section 34, because it made appropriations for charitable or benevolent purposes to persons not under the absolute control of the state. A bare majority of the court concluded, over a vigorous dissent, that the constitutional proscription did not render the statute in question invalid.
The court framed the principal issue for decision as follows: “Under [article V, section 34] of the Colorado Constitution is the General Assembly in all cases barred from exercising the power to grant a pension to a judge who has served on the Supreme Court?” Bedford, 106 Colo. at 448, 106 P.2d at 473 (emphasis added). The majority initially concluded that legislative bodies possessed general plenary power to establish pension programs for government employees and distinguished pension payments from charitable or benevolent payments in that the former were in fact a form of compensation for meritorious service rendered to the public. The majority then stated that “if it may reasonably be held that the recognition of such merit by the grant of a pension will serve a public purpose it is within the power of the General Assembly so to recognize it.” 106 Colo. at 450-51, 106 P.2d at 474. The majority thus acknowledged that in some circumstances article V, section 34, would prohibit the General Assembly from exercising its plenary power to establish pension plans.
It is in this context that the majority stated that “it is universally held that if such payments are for a public purpose, the incidental fact that the recipients are private persons does not violate this constitutional provision.” Id., 106 Colo, at 454, 106 P.2d at 476. The majority also stated:
That pensions are not granted primarily for the benefit of the recipients thereof, but for the benefit of the state, in other words for the public good, may be admitted. If a pension has no reasonable relation to the public good it is of course a mere private grant and void. But if it serves a present public purpose it is not a mere private grant even though as an incident to the accomplishment of the public purpose the recipients thereof may be personally benefitted.
Id., 106 Colo, at 454-55, 106 P.2d at 476. The dissent responded to the majority’s analysis as follows:
The sole issue here is, [d]oes the [statute] violate [article Y, section 34], in so far as it authorizes payment of pensions to former judges of this court who were not on the bench when it, or any similar act then applicable to them, was in force? It is conceded in the court’s opinion that said sections forbid all purely private grants and that those here in question can only be upheld on the theory of public benefit. The conclusion is that the legislature must have considered the benefit public or it would not have passed the [statute]. If that theory be good all constitutional restraints on legislation are abolished. If these pensions are forbidden by the Constitution they are void. If not so forbidden they are clearly within the discretion of the legislation.
*895My position is that there must be some reasonable theory of public benefits. If there be such the soundness of it rests with the legislature. If, as here, there is no such theory, the grant is purely private and the constitutional inhibition stands....
Id., 106 Colo, at 460, 106 P.2d at 478.
These passages of Bedford launched the “public purpose” doctrine. Both the majority and the dissent distinguished the “public purpose” which, if present, would be sufficient to sustain legislation otherwise arguably prohibited by article V, section 34, from the general public benefit purpose necessary for the exercise of plenary legislative power under article Y, section 1. The majority found such a present public purpose in the public benefits derived from appropriately compensating government employees and thereby encouraging meritorious service by such employees. The dissent disagreed that such benefits were in fact public benefits.
This court has had few occasions to consider the public purpose doctrine in article V, section 34, challenges to legislation since Bedford,5 In In re Interrogatories H.B. No. 1247, 193 Colo. 298, 566 P.2d 350 (1977), we responded to a request by the Colorado Senate that we consider whether a bill appropriating funds to the Colorado Housing Finance Authority violated, inter alia, both article XI, section 2, and article V, section 34, of the Colorado Constitution. We held that article XI, section 2, was inapplicable because the recipient of the funds was a political subdivision of the state, id., 193 Colo, at 307, 566 P.2d at 356, and also because “the public purpose doctrine ... applies.” Id. In that case we also determined that article XI, section 1, of the Colorado Constitution was inapplicable “because the appropriation furthers a valid public purpose,” 193 Colo. at 306, 566 P.2d at 356, and described this public purpose as follows:
The legislative declaration ... emphasizes that it was compelled to establish the authority to meet critical needs in the areas of low and middle-income housing and to conserve scarce energy resources being consumed in inadequately designed and constructed housing.
Id., 193 Colo, at 307, 566 P.2d at 356. The public purpose thus recognized as sufficient to satisfy the article XI challenges to the legislation was immediate, clear and distinct from the general public benefit purpose required for the exercise of plenary legislative authority.
In addressing the article V, section 34, challenge in In re Interrogatories H.B. No. 1247, we first held that the bill did not violate that section because the recipient of the appropriations was under the absolute control of the state. Id., 193 Colo. at 307, 566 P.2d at 357. We then observed that the bill did not violate article V, section 34, because the appropriation was “designed to promote the public purpose of providing housing for low- and moderate-income persons — a valid public purpose.” In re Interrogatories H.B. No. 1247, 193 Colo. at 308, 566 P.2d at 357. This public purpose was clearly articulated and is distinct from the general public benefit purpose validating plenary legislative conduct.
We also addressed the public purpose doctrine in Americans United v. State, 648 P.2d 1072 (1982), wherein an organization asserted, inter alia, that the Colorado Student Incentive Grant Program, § 23-3.5-101 to -106, 9 C.R.S. (1981 Supp.), facially violated article V, section 34. We rejected this claim on the basis of the public purpose doctrine, citing Bedford v. White, 106 Colo. 439, 106 P.2d 469 (1940). Id., 648 P.2d at 1085. However, we carefully distinguished the nature of the public purpose necessary to avoid the proscriptions of article Y, section 34, as follows:
We do not mean to imply that because a public purpose may be presumed from *896the passage of a legislative enactment, any statutory appropriation would pass muster under Article V, Section 34. On the contrary, the legislation must evince a discrete and particularized public purpose which, when measured against the proscription of Article V, Section 34, preponderates over any individual interests incidentally served by the statutory program. ...
Id. at 1086. The discrete and particularized purpose referred to is distinct from the broad public purpose requirement essential to the valid exercise of plenary legislative power.
In sum, our cases have established a narrow exception to the broad language of article V, section 34, prohibiting the exercise of plenary legislative power by the General Assembly. The General Assembly’s authority under article V, section 1, to act in furtherance of the public health, safety, welfare and morals is admittedly broad in scope. However, section 34 of that same article V specifically prohibits the exercise of such plenary legislative power to make appropriations for industrial purposes to any private corporation unless the power is exercised in furtherance of a distinct, immediate and clearly defined public purpose. The prohibition was designed to ensure that public funds of the state would not be used to further private enterprise of any type. The public purpose exception cannot be equated with the broad public benefit standard by which all valid exercise of plenary legislative power is measured.
In this case, there is no such distinction. The stated purpose of H.B. 1005 is to enhance Colorado’s economic climate by encouraging the development of many well-paying jobs in the state. The majority states that the General Assembly has identified two discrete and particularized public purposes: developing new and expanding existing businesses and benefiting the state aviation system. Op. at 884. Such goals are simply examples of the broad purposes of furthering the health, safety, welfare and morals of the state validating the exercise of plenary legislative power. Every legislative effort to encourage economic growth in fields such as aviation, agriculture, banking or manufacturing may be deemed an effort to benefit the public— precisely the broad public purpose the General Assembly serves whenever it chooses to act. The prohibitions on the exercise of such admittedly broad authority contained in article V, section 34, may not be circumvented by mere linguistic legerdemain.
Assuming the purpose of creating additional well-paying jobs in Colorado may be deemed a public purpose sufficiently distinct from the general public benefit purpose required for the valid exercise of article V, section 1, legislative power to satisfy the public purpose doctrine exception to the prohibition of article V, section 34,1 concur with the conclusion of Justice Quinn that the industrial purpose of H.B. 1005 clearly preponderates over such public purpose. Dissent of Quinn, J, at p. 903.

. The section states in pertinent part as follows:
Section 2. People may alter or abolish form of government — proviso. The People of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign and independent state....
Colo. Const., art. II, § 2.

. The doctrine has also been applied in several cases wherein legislation has been challenged as violative of article XI, section 2, of the Colorado Constitution. See, e.g., McNichols v. City and County of Denver, 131 Colo. 246, 280 P.2d 1096 (1955) (citing Bedford v. White, 106 Colo. 439, 106 P.2d 469 (1940), for the principle that this court had adopted a liberal policy toward pension legislation); Allardice v. Adams County, 173 Colo. 133, 476 P.2d 982 (1970) (statute authorizing counties to issue revenue bonds and lease agreement permitting county to sell agricultural feed plant to private developer not a donation); Witcher v. Canon City, 716 P.2d 445 *892(Colo.1986) (amendment to lease governing private company’s operation of bridge and park not a donation); Denver Urban Renewal Authority v. Byrne, 618 P.2d 1374 (Colo.1980) (proposed bond issuance by city urban renewal authority not a grant or donation in aid of individuals or corporations); City of Aurora v. Public Utils. Comm’n, 785 P.2d 1280 (Colo.1990) (Public Utilities Commission rule adopted for calculation of construction allowance not a donation and supported by public purpose doctrine).

. We first addressed the language of art. V, sec. 34, in The People ex rel. Richardson v. Spruance, 8 Colo. 530, 9 P. 628 (1885), wherein we sustained a demurrer by the state auditor to a petition by the Colorado State Horticultural Society seeking a judicial order requiring the auditor to pay certain sums to the Society pursuant to a statute. We held that the statute in question failed to appropriate any funds for payment to the Society. We also observed that were payments to be made, they would not violate art. V, sec. 34, of the Colorado Constitution because the Society was in fact under the control of the state.

. The provision states in pertinent part as follows:
Section 2. No aid to corporations — no joint ownership by state, county, city, town, or school district. Neither the state, nor any county, city, town, township, or school district shall make any donation or grant to, or in aid of ... any corporation or company ... except as to such ownership as may accrue to the state by escheat, or by forfeiture, by operation or provision of law....
Colo. Const, art. XI, § 2.

. In Lyman v. Town of Bow Mar, 188 Colo. 216, 533 P.2d 1129 (1975), residents of a municipality asserted that a local ordinance establishing an improvement district to buy overhead lines of two utilities violated, inter alia, article XI, section 2, and article V, section 34. We held that the ordinance did not authorize a grant or a donation prohibited by article XI, section 2, and that article V, section 34, did not apply to municipalities. Lyman, 188 Colo, at 227, 533 P.2d at 1134-36. The public purpose doctrine was not considered.