Court Opinion

ID: 9687720
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:43:17.745671+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:30.368289
License: Public Domain

*128SNELL, Justice
(dissenting)
I respectfully dissent.
Statutory interpretation begins with the language of the statute itself. Our task is to give effect to the intent of the legislature, and to harmonize interrelated statute's, if possible. State v. Bessenecker, 404 N.W.2d 134, 137 (Iowa 1987). When the statutes are plain, we need not search for meaning beyond their express terms. State v. Iowa Dist. Court, 419 N.W.2d 398, 399 (Iowa 1988). Legislative intent may be expressed by omission as well as inclusion. Casteel v. Iowa D.O.T., 395 N.W.2d 896, 898 (Iowa 1986). Where legislative intent is revealed by specific references to a certain subsection, the court should not overlook this legislative signal and read into the statute the inclusion of other subsections. State v. West, 446 N.W.2d 777, 778 (Iowa 1989).
The State urges that by requiring the exhaustion of administrative remedies in section 663A.2(6), the legislature “likely assumed that it was requiring exhaustion of administrative remedies in all disciplinary reports when it amended 663A.2(6) in 1983. The majority accepts this argument. The problem with this analysis is that section 663A.2(6) is limited specifically to cases in which there has been a loss of good time. This subsection is accorded special treatment throughout chapter 663A. See, e.g., §§ 663A.3, 663A.5, and 663A.7. If the legislature had intended for the exhaustion requirement to apply to subsection 5, it could have amended the language of the statute to reflect that intent. The logical implication of this limited amendment is that the legislature intended it to have limited applicability. I would hold that there is no express 'or implied exhaustion requirement under section 663A.2(5) and would reverse and remand the case.
SCHULTZ, J., joins in this dissent.