Court Opinion

ID: 9655568
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:15:44.826089+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:20.078722
License: Public Domain

Stephan, J.,
dissenting.
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,107(3) (Reissue 1999) authorizes certain actions to be taken with respect to an offender’s “good time” if the offender is guilty of misconduct while in the custody of the Department of Correctional Services. The statute provides that good time may be “forfeited, withheld, and restored by the chief executive officer of the facility with the approval of the director after the offender has been consulted regarding the charges of *43misconduct.” (Emphasis supplied.) From the plain language of the statute, I understand this is to be a two-step procedure, with each step occurring at a different level of the administrative structure. The initial decision to take away an offender’s good time is to be made at the facility level by the chief executive of the facility. That decision must then be approved at the departmental level by the Director of Correctional Services (Director).
I agree with the general principle that under Fulmer v. Jensen, 221 Neb. 582, 379 N.W.2d 736 (1986), and applicable statutory authority, certain administrative powers may be lawfully delegated to subordinates. I do not question the delegation of the chief executive officer’s responsibility under § 83-1,107 to the disciplinary committee at the facility under 68 Neb. Admin. Code, ch. 6, §§ 005, 007, and 008 (2000). That delegation involves the first step of the good time forfeiture process, i.e., the initial determination that good time should be forfeited. In my view, as long as this determination is made at the facility level, it does not matter whether it is made personally by the chief executive officer or by the disciplinary committee of that facility pursuant to a delegation of authority.
However, the second step of the process is problematic in this case. Under § 83-1,107(3), the Director must approve a forfeiture of good time that has been determined at the facility level. I agree that the Director could not be expected to review each case personally and that thus delegation to someone is permissible under Fulmer. Moreover, as the majority correctly notes, the Director has specific authority to delegate statutory responsibility to subordinates. But such authority is not carte blanche. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-173(4) (Reissue 1999), the Director may delegate “appropriate powers and duties” to the chief executive officer of each facility. A separate subsection of that statute, § 83-173(5), authorizes the Director to delegate “appropriate powers and duties” to “employees of the department.” The fact that the statute makes a distinction between delegation of authority to chief executive officers of correctional facilities and delegation to other department employees indicates that some powers and duties of the director may be appropriately delegated to a chief executive officer under § 83-173(4), while others may not and *44must be delegated, if at all, to some other departmental employee pursuant to § 83-173(5).
I agree with the district court that the Director’s power to approve a forfeiture of good time is not an appropriate power for delegation to the chief executive officer of the facility where the prisoner is in custody. Such a delegation would alter the statutory scheme of determination of forfeiture at the facility level subject to approval at the departmental level by placing the entire process at the facility level. In effect, the chief executive officer would be given authority to approve his or her own actions. An administrative agency may not employ its rulemaking power to modify, alter, or enlarge provisions of a statute which it is charged with administering. City of Omaha v. Kum & Go, 263 Neb. 724, 642 N.W.2d 154 (2002); Spencer v. Omaha Pub. Sch. Dist., 252 Neb. 750, 566 N.W.2d 757 (1997). It logically follows that administrative officers may not delegate their statutory powers and duties to subordinates in such a manner as to modify a specific statutory procedure.
In my opinion, the judgment of the district court is correct and should be affirmed. I therefore respectfully dissent.
Connolly, J., joins in this dissent.