Bedke v. Ellsworth

• Decision Date: 26 January 2021
• Docket Number: Docket No. 48268
• Citation: 168 Idaho 83,480 P.3d 121
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court
• Parties: Representative Scott BEDKE, in his official capacity as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Senator Chuck Winder, in his official capacity as Senate President Pro Tempore, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. Julie ELLSWORTH, in her official capacity as The Idaho State Treasurer, Defendant-Appellant.

168 Idaho 83

480 P.3d 121

Representative Scott BEDKE, in his official capacity as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Senator Chuck Winder, in his official capacity as Senate President Pro Tempore, Plaintiffs-Respondents,

v.Julie ELLSWORTH, in her official capacity as The Idaho State Treasurer, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 48268

Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, January 2021 Term.

Opinion Filed: January 26, 2021

Hopkins Rodin Crockett Hansen & Hoopes, PLLC, Boise, for Appellant. C. Timothy Hopkins argued.

Holland & Hart LLP, Boise, for Respondents. B. Newal Squyres argued.

STEGNER, Justice.

This appeal arises out of a dispute between the presiding officers of the Idaho Legislature and the Idaho State Treasurer. The Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives, Scott Bedke, and the President Pro Tempore of the Idaho Senate, Brent Hill,¹ seek to evict Treasurer Julie Ellsworth from her current office on the first floor of the Idaho State Capitol building pursuant to Idaho Code section 67-1602(3).

The parties disagree on the meaning of Idaho Code section 67-1602(3), which authorizes the legislative branch of government to determine the use of and to allocate space on the first floor of the Idaho State Capitol. The office of the Idaho State Treasurer has historically been located in the southeast quadrant of the first floor of the Capitol Building. However, in 2019, Bedke and Hill, as the presiding officers of the Idaho House and Senate respectively, decided to evict Ellsworth and her staff from the Treasurer's historic office, citing the need for more legislative office space as their justification. Ellsworth refused to vacate her office, relying on a purported agreement made between the then-Governor, C.L. "Butch" Otter, and the leadership of the Idaho Legislature in 2007. This suit, brought by Bedke and Hill, followed.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background.

On March 24, 1998, the Idaho Legislature enacted Idaho Code section 67-1602. See H.B. 690, 54th Leg., 2nd Reg. Sess. (Idaho 1998). House Bill 690, which created section 67-1602, stated that its purpose, among others, was "[t]o establish a statute to comprehensively govern all aspects of the use, control, security, operation, and maintenance of the capitol building and its grounds." Id.

Section 67-1602 as enacted provided:

IDAHO STATE CAPITOL—ALLOCATION AND CONTROL OF SPACE. The space within the interior of the capitol building shall be allocated and controlled as follows:

(1) Public space. The interior within the rotunda, the hallways on the first and second floors, the restrooms located adjacent thereto, the elevators, the stairways between the first, second, third and fourth floors (excepting the interior stairways between the third and fourth floors within the legislative chambers), shall be space within the capitol building open to the public ("public space"). Subject to this chapter, the director of the department of administration shall maintain all public space.

(2) Executive department. The governor shall determine the use and allocate the space within the first and second floors. The director of the department of administration shall maintain such space.

(3) Legislative department. The legislative department shall determine the use of the space on the third and fourth floors as well as the basement. All space within the third and fourth floors and the basement shall be allocated by the presiding officers of the senate and house of representatives. The presiding officers shall maintain such space and provide equipment and furniture thereto, provided however, that the presiding officers may contract with the director of the department of administration to maintain such space and provide equipment and furniture thereto.

I.C. § 67-1602 (prior to the 2007 amendment) (italics added).

In 2006 and 2007, efforts began to renovate the Capitol building to include underground atrium wings. See Restoration , IDAHO CAPITOL COMMISSION , https://capitolcommission.idaho.gov/restoration/. In 2006, the Legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution No. 47, which approved the construction of two-story underground wings on either side of the Capitol building for use by the Legislature in conducting its business. See H.R. Con. Res. 47, 58th Leg., 2nd Reg. Sess. (Idaho 2006). Then-Governor Otter did not approve the two-story expansion, so a compromise was reached in which one-story underground wings would be constructed on either side of the Capitol building for legislative use and the Legislature would also be given control over the first, above-ground floor of the Capitol, which had previously been allocated by the Executive department.

In order to implement this compromise, Idaho Code section 67-1602 was amended by House Bill 218 in March of 2007. H.B. 218, 59th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Idaho 2007). As amended, section 67-1602 delegated control of the first floor of the Capitol to the Legislature as follows:

(2) Executive department. The governor shall determine the use and allocate the space within the first and second floors. The director of the department of administration shall maintain such space.

(3) Legislative department. The legislative department shall determine the use of the space on the first, third and fourth floors as well as the basement, which basement shall include the underground atrium wings. All space within the first, third and fourth floors and the basement shall be allocated by the presiding officers of the senate and house of representatives. The presiding officers shall maintain such space and provide equipment and furniture thereto, provided however, that the presiding officers may contract with the director of the department of administration to maintain such space and provide equipment and furniture thereto.

H.B. 218, 59th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Idaho 2007) (deleted text indicated with a strikethrough, added text indicated in bold). House Bill 218 was passed by the Idaho House on March 5, 2007. Id.

Prior to the passage of House Bill 218 by the Senate, a purported agreement was reached between the Legislature's presiding officers and Otter to allow the Treasurer's office to remain on the first floor of the Capitol. This agreement was said to have been reached through a series of letters between Otter and then-President Pro Tempore of the Idaho Senate, Robert Geddes, and then-Speaker of the Idaho House, Lawrence Denney. In a letter to Otter dated March 5, 2007, Geddes acknowledged the historical significance of the "Treasurer's Office preservation area, which includes the Treasurer's Office and the vault area," and stated that the Legislature would "preserve that ... for the State Treasurer as recommended by the Capitol Commission." However, Geddes further stated that the "balance of the Capitol's southeast quadrangle, which is currently occupied by the Treasurer for the banking function, will also be assigned to the Treasurer on a temporary basis, should he choose to remain on the first floor." Geddes reiterated in the letter that the use by the Treasurer for the banking function was "temporary."

In a purported response to Geddes’ March 5 letter, the record contains an unsigned draft letter from Otter dated "March 2007." In this unsigned letter, Otter stated that his understanding of the agreement was that the Treasurer would continue to occupy both the office and vault area as well as office space used for the banking function. The letter concluded, "the State Treasurer shall occupy all the office space located on the south side of the east wing of the first floor. The use of the words ‘temporary basis’ was not and will not be a part of any agreement." Otter submitted an affidavit in this case stating that although his office had been unable to locate a signed copy of the letter, he had in fact signed and sent a "substantially identical" letter on or between March 5 and March 8, 2007.

In an apparent response to that letter from Otter, Geddes sent a letter dated March 9, 2007:

It is our understanding of the agreement reached within the compromise framework for the Capitol Master Plan and adopted by the Capitol Commission that the aforementioned office space described above shall continue to be assigned to the Treasurer, should he choose to remain on the first floor following the Capitol renovation.

Should Treasurer Crane choose to vacate the space at some time subsequent to renovations, it is the Legislature's intent to move the Office of Performance Evaluations into those [sic] office.

On March 9, 2007, a Senate State Affairs Committee meeting took place to discuss House Bill 218, at which Geddes informed the committee that there had been "some concessions, with regard to the space that is currently occupied by the Treasurer on the first floor. That agreement has been negotiated with the Governor and the banking aspects of the Treasurer's Office will remain on the Southeast corner of the first floor." 2007 Senate State Affairs Committee Minutes, IDAHO LEGISLATURE 1, 136 (March 9, 2007), available at https://legislature.idaho.gov/ sessioninfo/2007/standingcommittees/SSTA/. The Idaho Senate then passed House Bill 218 on March 14, 2007. H.B. 218, 59th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Idaho 2007). House Bill 218 became law on March 22, 2007; however, it did so without Otter's signature.

On March 28, 2007, the Idaho State Capitol Commission convened a meeting which dealt with this issue. In discussing updates to the Capitol Master Plan, the Commission noted that the "entire first floor ha[d] been allocated to the Legislative Services Office (LSO), with the exception of the southeast corner, in [sic] which the State Treasurer will continue to occupy." The Capitol renovation was completed in 2010, and then-Treasurer Ron Crane moved back into the historic first floor office. Pursuant to the concessions discussed above, the Treasurer's Office returned to the first floor of the Capitol building.

Crane served as the Idaho State Treasurer from 1999 to 201...