Adair v. State of Michigan
Decision Date | 23 April 2002 |
Docket Number | Docket No. 230858. |
Parties | Daniel ADAIR, et al., Plaintiffs, v. STATE OF MICHIGAN, Department of Education, Department of Management and Budget and Treasurer of the State of Michigan, Defendants. |
Court | Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US |
Pollard & Albertson, P.C. (by Dennis R. Pollard and Richard E. Kroopnick), Bloomfield Hills, for the plaintiffs.
Jennifer M. Granholm, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, and Jane O. Wilensky, Edith C. Harsh, Elaine D. Fischhoff, Deborah Anne Devine, Gary L. Hicks, Matthew H. Rick, and Darrin F. Fowler, Assistant Attorneys General, for the defendants.
Before: HOLBROOK, JR., P.J., and SAAD and TALBOT, JJ.
Plaintiffs, who have commenced this original action under Const. 1963, art. 9, § 32, MCR 2.605, and MCR 7.216(A)(7), seek a declaratory judgment that the state has failed to honor its funding obligations under the second sentence of Const. 1963, art. 9, § 29 with regard to certain activities and services that state law obligates plaintiff school districts to provide. Defendants have moved for summary disposition with regard to all counts. We hold that those plaintiff districts who participated in the Durant I litigation (hereafter explained), and the taxpayer plaintiffs who currently represent them, are barred from prosecuting their claims, with one exception, by the doctrine of res judicata. We further hold that the remaining plaintiff districts, all of whom executed a statutory release pursuant to M.C.L. § 388.1611f, and the taxpayer plaintiffs representing them, are barred from pursuing these same claims by the principle of release. Finally, with regard to plaintiffs' record-keeping claim set forth in ¶ 22K of count III of their second amended complaint, we hold that neither M.C.L. § 388.1752 nor Executive Order No.2000-6, promulgated on July 28, 2000, as Executive Order No. 2000-9, effective September 28, 2000, mandates a new activity or increases the level of a state-mandated activity within the meaning of art. 9, § 29. Accordingly, we grant summary disposition in favor of the defendants and dismiss plaintiffs' complaint in its entirety with prejudice.
Michigan voters amended the constitution of this state by ratifying article 9, §§ 25-34 of the Constitution of 1963 pursuant to an initiative petition at the general election of November 7, 1978. Durant v. Michigan (On Remand), 238 Mich.App. 185, 193, 605 N.W.2d 66 (1999). These added sections are popularly and collectively known as the "Headlee Amendment," named after the amendment's original proponent and taxpayers' rights crusader, Richard Headlee. Voters intended the Headlee Amendment to limit legislative expansion of requirements placed on local government spending, to limit excessive government spending, and to lower taxes at both the state and local levels. Airlines Parking, Inc. v. Wayne Co., 452 Mich. 527, 532, 550 N.W.2d 490 (1996); Mahaffey v. Attorney General, 222 Mich.App. 325, 341, 564 N.W.2d 104 (1997). Essentially, those who ratified the Headlee Amendment sought to prevent the Legislature from enacting ever-increasing state laws and regulations that create financial burdens on local units of government, unaccompanied by any financial support to alleviate those burdens. Durant v. Dep't of Ed. (On Remand), 129 Mich.App. 517, 525, 342 N.W.2d 591 (1983), aff'd in part and rev'd in part 424 Mich. 364, 381 N.W.2d 662 (1985).
The Headlee Amendment provision at issue in this case, art. 9, § 29, provides:
The state is hereby prohibited from reducing the state financed proportion of the necessary costs of any existing activity or service required of units of Local Government by state law. A new activity or service or an increase in the level of any activity or service beyond that required by existing law shall not be required by the legislature or any state agency of units of Local Government, unless a state appropriation is made and disbursed to pay the unit of Local Government for any necessary increased costs. The provision of this section shall not apply to costs incurred pursuant to Article VI, Section 18.
The first sentence of art. 9, § 29 is commonly referred to as the "Maintenance-of-Support-Clause" (MOS clause). Durant v. Michigan, 456 Mich. 175, 181, 566 N.W.2d 272 (1997). The second sentence is a Prohibition-of-Unfunded-Mandates Clause (POUM clause). Wayne Co. Chief Executive v. Governor, 230 Mich.App. 258, 265-266, 583 N.W.2d 512 (1998). The parameters of art. 9, § 29 have been cogently articulated as follows:
[Judicial Attorneys Ass'n v. Michigan, 460 Mich. 590, 595, 597 N.W.2d 113 (1999), quoting Mayor of Detroit v. Michigan, 228 Mich.App. 386, 396-397, 579 N.W.2d 378 (1998), aff'd in part and vacated in part 460 Mich. 590, 597 N.W.2d 113 (1999) (emphasis added).]
This action is brought pursuant to the POUM clause.
Less than two years after the ratification of the Headlee Amendment, seven taxpayers residing in the Fitzgerald School District filed suit on May 7, 1980, on behalf of themselves and the Fitzgerald School District, under § 32 of the Headlee Amendment. Durant, supra, 456 Mich. at 184, 566 N.W.2d 272; Durant, supra, 424 Mich. at 379, 381 N.W.2d 662. The suit named the Department of Education, the Department of Management and Budget, and the State Treasurer as the defendants. The plaintiffs claimed a violation of the MOS clause of art. 9, § 29, alleging that the state was violating its duty to maintain the state-financed proportion of the necessary costs of activities that state law ordered the plaintiff school district to perform. Durant, supra, 456 Mich. at 184, 566 N.W.2d 272. This suit became popularly known as the Durant I litigation. During the seventeen years that the Durant I litigation remained active, this Court consolidated the original Durant suit with thirty-four additional suits brought by numerous taxpayers and local and intermediate school districts, all of which alleged violations of art. 9, § 29. Durant, supra, 456 Mich. at 186, 188,566 N.W.2d 272. Although the vast majority of the claims advanced in these additional suits were premised on a violation of the MOS clause, some plaintiffs also advanced claims premised on a violation of the POUM clause.1 In 1997, our Supreme Court resolved the Durant I litigation in favor of the plaintiffs by granting a declaratory judgment and awarding monetary damages to the plaintiff school districts for the full amount of underfunding experienced by each plaintiff district during the 1991-92, 1992-93, and 1993-94 school fiscal years resulting from the state's violation of art. 9, § 29. Durant, supra, 456 Mich. at 182, 206,566 N.W.2d 272.
The text of this resolution was established by statute as follows:
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