89 Hawai'i 361, State v. Medeiros

• Decision Date: 11 January 1999
• Docket Number: No. 20778,20778
• Parties: 89 Hawai'i 361 STATE of Hawai'i, Plaintiff, v. Charles C. MEDEIROS, Defendant Charles C. Medeiros, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Roy Amemiya, Jr., in his capacity as Director of Finance for the City and County of Honolulu, and Peter B. Carlisle, in his capacity as Prosecuting Attorney, Respondents-Appellants
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

Page 736

973 P.2d 736

89 Hawai'i 361

STATE of Hawai'i, Plaintiff, v. Charles C. MEDEIROS, Defendant Charles C. Medeiros, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Roy Amemiya, Jr., in his capacity as Director of Finance for

the City and County of Honolulu, and Peter B.

Carlisle, in his capacity as Prosecuting

Attorney, Respondents-Appellants

No. 20778

Supreme Court of Hawai'i.

Jan. 11, 1999.

Deborah L. Kim, Deputy Public Defender, on brief, for petitioner-appellee Charles C. Medeiros. Chris A. Diebling, Deputy Corporation Counsel, on brief, for respondents-appellants Roy Amemiya, Jr., and Peter B. Carlisle.

MOON, C.J., KLEIN, LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA, and RAMIL, JJ.

Opinion of the Court by LEVINSON, J.

The respondents-appellants Roy Amemiya, Jr., in his capacity as Director of Finance for the City and County of Honolulu, and Peter B. Carlisle, in his capacity as Prosecuting Attorney, (hereinafter collectively referred to as "the city") appeal from the order of the first circuit court enjoining the city from implementing or enforcing the provisions of chapter 6, article 52 of the Revised Ordinances of the City and County of Honolulu (ROCCH) (Supp.1998) (hereinafter, the ordinance). ¹ The city argues that the circuit court erred because (1) the city is empowered to enact such an ordinance pursuant to Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 46-1.5(8) (1993), AND (2)² the ordinance has not been preempted by the Hawai'i Penal Code. Inasmuch as the city's first argument is without merit, this court need not address the second. Accordingly, we affirm the order of the first circuit court.

I. BACKGROUND

On December 4, 1996, the petitioner-appellee Charles C. Medeiros was charged by way of complaint with one count of unauthorized entry into motor vehicle, in violation of 1996 Haw. Sess. L. Act 87, § 2, now codified as HRS § 708-836.5 (Supp.1997). ³ On March 5, 1997, Medeiros pled guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement with the prosecution. On May 6, 1997, prior to his sentencing hearing, Medeiros filed a "Motion To Enjoin The Enforcement Of Section 6-52 Of The Revised Ordinances Of Honolulu." The motion listed Amemiya and Carlisle as "respondents" in their official capacities, and the certificate of service indicated that Corporation Counsel and Carlisle had been served. The city filed a memorandum in opposition to the motion on May 12, 1997.

Immediately following Medeiros's sentencing hearing on May 16, 1997, the circuit court heard arguments on his motion with respect to the ordinance. The circuit court then orally granted the motion. The circuit court's written findings of fact (FOFs), conclusions of law (COLs), and order granting Medeiros's motion for an injunction were filed on May 28, 1997. The circuit court's FOFs and COLs included the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

....

9. In enacting the Ordinance, the Honolulu City Council (council) stated the following as its "Finding and Purpose":

The council finds that each year the Honolulu police department conducts thousands of investigations of criminal activities and spends many hours testifying at the criminal trials of individuals arrested for crimes. Although the outcome of these trials may result in convictions of individuals charged with the offenses, and the consequences of such convictions result in the court imposing fines, and/or terms of imprisonment, the city receives none of the funds collected through the judicial process. Yet, it is the city's police force and, in most instances, the city's prosecuting attorney's office, which provide the services needed to arrive at such convictions.

The council further finds that the burden of defraying some of the costs for these criminal investigative services provided by the city should rest on persons convicted of crimes in this state. Therefore, it is the purpose of this ordinance to impose a service fee on persons convicted of certain crimes....

....

12. The City and County of Honolulu (City) generates its revenue primarily from real property taxes, which, among other things, support the police and prosecutorial functions.

....

14. To qualify as a "service" under HRS § 46-1.5(8), the governmental activity must confer some benefit, direct or indirect, to the beneficiary which is separate and apart from any benefit conferred to the public at large.

15. Taken as a whole, the Ordinance is a revenue generating measure that is a tax or a levy of costs based on a conviction. In reaching this conclusion, the Court notes that the Council found that the burden of defraying some of the costs for criminal investigative services provided by the City should rest on persons convicted of certain crimes in this State. To the extent that those costs are also shared by the public at large through real property tax revenues, the assessment under the Ordinance is a tax.

16. The Council has tied the imposition of the assessment to a conviction of a state statute and has also correlated the assessment to fines or charges imposed by the courts. To that extent, the assessment is a cost and not a service fee.

17. Pursuant to the Hawaii Penal Code and HRS Chapter 706, the State of Hawaii has preempted the counties in matters relating to charges imposed as a result of a state conviction.

18. The City may not enact any such assessment without the express permission of the state legislature and the executive.

19. The Ordinance conflicts with Article 8, section 3 of the Hawaii Constitution, HRS Title 37, Hawaii Penal Code, and HRS § 801-4.

20. Although not necessary to the court's ruling, the court further concludes that a state court may, as a part of sentencing, assess costs against an individual defendant for investigative and prosecutorial services, as long as the amounts do not exceed the authorized statutory fine. The courts have the power to direct that such costs be paid to the City.

The city filed a timely notice of appeal on June 18, 1997.

II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

A. Conclusions Of Law

We review the trial court's [COLs] de novo under the right/wrong standard. Raines v. State, 79 Hawai'i 219, 222, 900 P.2d 1286, 1289 (1995). "Under this ... standard, we examine the facts and answer the question without being required to give any weight to the trial court's answer to it." State v. Miller, 4 Haw.App. 603, 606, 671 P.2d 1037, 1040 (1983). See also Amfac, Inc. v. Waikiki Beachcomber Inv. Co., 74 Haw. 85, 119, 839 P.2d 10, 28, reconsideration denied, 74 Haw. 650, 843 P.2d 144 (1992). Thus, a [COL] "is not binding upon the appellate court and is freely reviewable for its correctness." State v. Bowe, 77 Hawai'i 51, 53, 881 P.2d 538, 540 (1994) (citation omitted).

State v. Kane, 87 Hawai'i 71, 74, 951 P.2d 934, 937 (1998) (quoting Aickin v. Ocean View Inv. Co., 84 Hawai'i 447, 453, 935 P.2d 992, 998 (1997)).

B. Interpretation Of A Statute Or Ordinance

"[T]he interpretation of a statute [or ordinance] ... is a question of law reviewable de novo." State v. Arceo, 84 Hawai'i 1, 10, 928 P.2d 843, 852 (1996) (quoting State v. Camara, 81 Hawai'i 324, 329, 916 P.2d 1225, 1230 (1996) (citations omitted)). See also State v. Toyomura, 80 Hawai'i 8, 18, 904 P.2d 893, 903 (1995); State v. Higa, 79 Hawai'i 1, 3, 897 P.2d 928, 930, reconsideration denied, 79 Hawai'i 341, 902 P.2d 976 (1995); State v. Nakata, 76 Hawai'i 360, 365, 878 P.2d 699, 704, reconsideration denied, 76 Hawai'i 453, 879 P.2d 558 (1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1147, 115 S.Ct. 1095, 130 L.Ed.2d 1063 (1995).

Gray v. Administrative Director of the Court, 84 Hawai'i 138, 144, 931 P.2d 580, 586 (1997) (some brackets added and some in original). See also State v. Soto, 84 Hawai'i 229, 236, 933 P.2d 66, 73 (1997). Furthermore, our statutory construction is guided by established rules:

When construing a statute, our foremost obligation is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the legislature, which is to be obtained primarily from the language contained in the statute itself. And we must read statutory language in the context of the entire statute and construe it in a manner consistent with its purpose.

When there is doubt, doubleness of meaning, or indistinctiveness or uncertainty of an expression used in a statute, an ambiguity exists....

In construing an ambiguous statute, "[t]he meaning of the ambiguous words may be sought by examining the context, with which the ambiguous words, phrases, and sentences may be compared, in order to ascertain their true meaning." HRS § 1-15(1) [ (1983) ]. Moreover, the courts may resort to extrinsic aids in determining legislative intent. One avenue is the use of legislative history as an interpretive tool.

Gray, 84 Hawai'i at 148, 931 P.2d at 590 (quoting State v. Toyomura, 80 Hawai'i 8, 18-19, 904 P.2d 893, 903-04 (1995)) (brackets and ellipsis points in original) (footnote omitted). This court may also consider "[t]he reason and spirit of the law, and the cause which induced the legislature to enact it ... to discover its true meaning." HRS § 1-15(2) (1993). "Laws in pari materia, or upon the same subject matter, shall be construed with reference to each other. What is clear in one statute may be called upon in aid to explain what is doubtful in another." HRS § 1-16 (1993).

Ho v. Leftwich, 88 Hawai'i 251, 256-57, 965 P.2d 793, 798-99 (1998) (quoting Korean Buddhist Dae Won Sa Temple v. Sullivan, 87 Hawai'i 217, 229-30, 953 P.2d 1315, 1327-28 (1998)).

III. DISCUSSION ⁴

"Municipal corporations are solely the creation of the State. As such[,] they may exercise only those powers which have been delegated to them by the State legislature." In Re Application of Anamizu, 52 Haw. 550, 553, 481 P.2d 116, 118 (1971) (citations omitted). See also Haw. Const. art. VIII, § 1 (1978) ("Each political subdivision shall have and exercise such powers as shall be conferred under general laws."). Accordingly, if no provision of the Hawai'i Constitution or the HRS empowers the city to enact and enforce the ordinance, the ordinance is...