Arizona Newspapers Ass'n, Inc. v. Superior Court In and For Maricopa County

• Decision Date: 16 January 1985
• Docket Number: No. 17406-SA,17406-SA
• Citation: 143 Ariz. 560,694 P.2d 1174
• Parties: ARIZONA NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, INC., a non-profit Arizona corporation; Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., an Arizona corporation; and News Sun, Inc., an Arizona corporation, Petitioners, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of the State of Arizona, In and For the COUNTY OF MARICOPA, The Honorable Marilyn Riddel, a Judge thereof; and Maricopa County, a body politic; Maricopa County Board of Supervisors; Hawley Atkinson, Supervisor; Tom Freestone, Supervisor; George L. Campbell, Supervisor; Fred Koory, Jr., Supervisor; Ed Pastor, Supervisor; and Cherie Pennington, Clerk of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, real parties in interest, Respondents.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 1174

694 P.2d 1174

143 Ariz. 560

ARIZONA NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, INC., a non-profit Arizona corporation; Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., an Arizona corporation; and News Sun, Inc., an Arizona corporation, Petitioners, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of the State of Arizona, In and For the COUNTY OF MARICOPA, The Honorable Marilyn Riddel, a Judge thereof; and Maricopa County, a body politic; Maricopa County Board of Supervisors; Hawley Atkinson, Supervisor; Tom Freestone, Supervisor; George L. Campbell, Supervisor; Fred Koory, Jr., Supervisor; Ed Pastor, Supervisor; and Cherie Pennington, Clerk of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, real parties in interest, Respondents.

No. 17406-SA.

Supreme Court of Arizona, In Banc.

Jan. 16, 1985.

Brown & Bain by Paul F. Eckstein, David J. Bodney, C. Timothy Delaney, Phoenix, for petitioners.

Thomas E. Collins, Maricopa County Atty. by Noel J.R. Levy, Phoenix, for respondents.

HOLOHAN, Chief Justice.

On January 23, 1984, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution discontinuing newspaper publication of the full minutes of its proceedings. Petitioners, Arizona Newspapers Association, Inc., Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. and News Sun, Inc., challenged the Supervisors' action in superior court as violative of A.R.S. § 11-217 governing "publication" of county proceedings and the open meeting law provisions of A.R.S. § 38-431 et seq. The superior court upheld the decision of the Board, and this petition for special action challenges the superior court judgment. We accepted jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5 of the Arizona Constitution and Rule 4, Rules of Procedure for Special Actions, 17A A.R.S., as there was no adequate remedy by appeal and the matter was of statewide importance.

On August 3, 1984, during the pendency of this action before this court, an amendment to A.R.S. § 11-217 became effective, indisputably mandating newspaper publication of county boards of supervisors proceedings. At issue then is whether pre-amendment A.R.S. § 11-217 requires the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to publish the full minutes of its proceedings from its suspension date, January 23, 1984 through the effective date of amendment, August 3, 1984. Our disposition of this issue obviates the need to address whether the Board violated the open meeting laws, A.R.S. § 38-431 et seq.

The Board decided on January 23, 1984, by a three-to-two vote, to discontinue publishing the minutes of its proceedings in a newspaper of general circulation. The resolution provided in pertinent part:

BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County, Arizona pursuant to A.R.S. [s] 11-217, shall transcribe, record, and publish its proceedings in full in a book designated the "minute book of the board" and otherwise make minutes available to the public not later than one month after each meeting.

Instead of directing publication of its minutes in a newspaper, the Board interpreted the publication requirement of A.R.S. § 11-217 as sanctioning a more limited manner of publication. In effect, the Board resolved to "publish" by transcribing its minutes in a book which would be available at the clerk's office.

On January 26, 1984, petitioners filed a complaint for special action in the superior court, challenging the action of the Board as violating A.R.S. § 11-217. At the time of filing the special action that statute provided:

Each board shall cause to be recorded in full all proceedings had by it in a book designated the minute book of the board. The full minutes of proceedings shall be published not later than one month after each meeting.

On February 6, after a hearing, Judge Riddel ruled against the petitioners. By minute entry dated February 7, 1984, Judge Riddel clarified her earlier ruling by finding that "[o]n the merits of the application, as a matter of law, the Court finds that A.R.S. 11-217 does not indicate that 'publication of the minutes' means in a newspaper." Formal judgment was entered against petitioners on February 9, 1984. The instant petition for special action was filed in this court on February 14, 1984.

A.R.S. § 11-217 was amended by the legislature on May 3, 1984 to provide publication "in the official newspaper of the county." Laws 1984, Second Regular Session Ch. 368, Sec. 1. The new section became effective August 3, 1984. Our task therefore is to determine whether pre-amendment § 11-217 (hereinafter § 11-217) requires newspaper publication of Board proceedings. The critical determination is the meaning of the term "publish" in § 11-217. If statutory language is not subject to different interpretations, we need look no further than the text of the statute to determine legislative intent. State ex rel. Corbin v. Pickrell, 136 Ariz. 589, 667 P.2d 1304 (1983).

We believe the term "publish" in § 11-217 is subject to a variety of definitions such that reference to the statute alone does not provide clear guidance for disposition of the issue at bar. For example, Webster's Third New International Dictionary lists the following definitions of "publish": "[t]o declare publically: make generally known: disclose, circulate ... to import knowledge to one or more persons ... to officially proclaim ... to make a public evaluation of ... to place before the public (or through a mass medium)." Where ambiguity in statutory terms exists we are free to consider other information in addition to the words of the statute to determine the legislative intent. To find legislative intent, we consider the context of the statute, the language used, the subject matter, the historical background, the effects and consequences, and the spirit and purpose of the law. See Dupnik v. MacDougall, 136 Ariz. 39, 664 P.2d 189 (1983); Mardian Construction Co. v. Superior Court, 113 Ariz. 489, 557 P.2d 526 (1976); State ex rel. Flournoy v. Mangum, 113 Ariz. 151, 548 P.2d 1148 (1976); Sellinger v. Freeway Mobile Home Sales, Inc., 110 Ariz. 573, 521 P.2d 1119 (1974); State v. Rice, 110 Ariz. 210, 516 P.2d 1222 (1973).

In 1901, the Revised Statutes of Arizona Territory, Section 3780 (§ 1 of Title 58) provided that "[t]he minutes of the boards of supervisors of the various counties of the territory shall be published in some newspaper published in the county where said boards are located" (emphasis added). In 1909, the territorial legislature clarified the law:

They [the boards of supervisors] shall cause to be published the full minutes of proceedings so had by them, as aforesaid, in some newspaper or newspapers, as are now provided by law for publishing the proceedings of municipal and county boards. Said publication of said proceedings of said boards shall be made not later than one month after each meeting of said boards and shall be printed in type not larger than that used in the body of the paper.

Section 2414, Title 10, Revised Statutes of Arizona (1913) (emphasis added). During this period, both parties agree that state law specifically required the county boards of supervisors to publish in a newspaper the full minutes of its proceedings.

In 1928, the Arizona Code was recodified, leaving out the language "in some newspaper or newspapers." The 1928 version required the county boards of supervisors to "cause to be published the full minutes of proceedings not later than one month after each meeting." Section 771, Revised Code (1928). The 1939 Arizona Code in Section 17-306 retained the same language as the 1928 version. Finally, in 1956, the most recent version of the provision, the language became "[t]he full minutes of proceedings shall be published not later than one month after each meeting." A.R.S. § 11-217 (1977).

Respondents contend that the 1928 revision of the law, which omitted the phrase "in a newspaper," removed the requirement of newspaper publication. Petitioners argue that the 1928 revision provided no substantive change in the publication requirement but, rather reduced wordiness. We agree with petitioners. We have consistently held that

It was the object of the code commissioner and the legislature in preparing the Revised Code of 1928 to change the legal meaning of the existing law as little as possible, but, as stated in the preface to the official edition of said Code, "to reduce in language" and to avoid redundancy. Chapter 35, Sess. Laws 1925. We should therefore presume that when a word, a phrase, or a paragraph from the 1913 code is omitted from the code of 1928...