Court Opinion

ID: 9529615
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:52:39.504676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:51.674619
License: Public Domain

GIVAN, Chief Justice,
concurring in part; dissenting in part.
I respectfully dissent to the majority opinion that upholds the constitutionality of IC § 5-20-1-5. The appellant argues that section 5 creates a preferential class, i. e. low income businesses in the area and low income persons who might be employed in either construction or maintenance in connection with the project. Financial status has not joined race, alienage and religious persuasion in the ranks of suspect classes requiring a strict level of scrutiny. Examining the statute with a lower level of scrutiny, I fail to see a rational relationship between the classification and the purpose of the statute.
The express purpose of the statute is to provide suitable housing for low and moderate income families based on the legislatively determined need for such housing. IC § 5-20-1-1. The purpose and needs so stated are not to increase employment opportunities or enhance the financial status of low income businesses nor provide supplemental income to families who may be so employed.
The United States District Court in Vermont in Wright Farms Const., Inc. v. Kreps, (1977) 444 F.Supp. 1023, addressed itself to a situation wherein a plaintiff brought an action to restrain the Secretary of Commerce from enforcing 42 U.S.C. 6705(f)(2), the Minority Business Enterprise provision of the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976, as amended by the Public Works Employment Act of 1977. The act in question addressed itself to the potential for racial discrimination in the letting of public contracts. However, in discussing the acts pertinent in that case, the court held that no discrimination was involved or established and that the application of the act to the established facts was unconstitutional. In so holding, the court pointed out that there had been no legislative finding of discrimination in the construction industry in the State of Vermont and for that reason the court had to determine whether or not the imposition of the racial quota was constitutional when applied to the circumstances of the cases. The court therefore held that the plaintiffs were denied equal protection under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution when they were denied contracts because they were a corporation wholly owned by two Caucasians and thus had no representative of a minority as required under the statute. Thus, even though a statute would purport to address itself to a discrimination problem, the operation of that statute must be open to all equally situated in the absence of a showing of discrimination. I would therefore hold that the provisions in IC § 5-20-1-5, requiring preferential treatment to certain individuals and businesses, are unconstitutional.
PIVARNIK, J., concurs.