Broward County v. Administration Commission, X--287
| Citation | 321 So.2d 605 |
| Decision Date | 06 May 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. X--287,X--287 |
| Parties | BROWARD COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Florida, Petitioner, v. The ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION of the State of Florida and Edward J. Stack, Sheriff of Broward County, Respondents. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Florida (US) |
William J. Roberts and Wilson W. Wright, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., James D. Whisenand, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry R. Steinhardt, Fort Lauderdale, Clinton H. Coulter and Jack M. Skelding, Jr., Tallahassee, for respondents.
Petitioner seeks certiorari from final action of the Administration Commission in relation to the budget of respondent Sheriff of Broward County. The administrative proceedings leading up to the petition for certiorari were pursuant to § 30.49, Florida Statutes, Chapter 74--103, Laws of Florida, 1974, which became effective on July 1, 1974. That section relates to the fixing of the budget of the sheriff in each of the respective counties and provides for review of the approval of a sheriff's budget by the Board of County Commissioners or the Budget Commission as the case may be. It provides that within 30 days after receiving written notice of the action of the Board or Commission, the sheriff may file an appeal to the Administration Commission and it further provides as follows:
'. . . Such appeal shall be by petition to the Administration Commission, which petition shall set forth the budget proposed by the sheriff in the form and manner prescribed by the Department of Administration and approved by the Administration Commission and the budget as approved by the board of county commissioners or the budget commission, as the case may be, and shall contain the reasons or grounds for the appeal . . .
Respondent sheriff submitted a proposed budget to the petitioner county commission requesting $8,776,147. After hearings, petitioner approved a budget for respondent sheriff in the amount of $7,574,156. Respondent sheriff then appealed the action to the 'Department of Administration.' A hearing was held by the Department and it concluded that respondent sheriff's budget should be as fixed by the petitioner county commission. The appeal then went to the Administration Commission which is composed of the Governor and the Cabinet and after hearing, it increased respondent sheriff's budget by $1,056,038.
Under the old Administrative Procedure Act, Chapter 120, Florida Statutes, which was superseded by the new Administrative Procedure Act, Chapter 74--310, Laws of Florida, 1974, (which became effective January 1, 1975) this court construed the statute to mean that it only had authority to review quasi-judicial administrative orders on certiorari. Bay National Bank and Trust Company v. Dickinson, Fla.App. (1st), 229 So.2d 302. § 120.31, Florida Statutes, 1973, provided:
'(1) As an alternative procedure for judicial review, and except where appellate review is now made directly by the supreme court, the final orders of an agency entered in any agency proceedings, or in the exercise of any judicial or quasijudicial authority, shall be reviewable by certiorari by the district courts of appeal within the time and manner prescribed by the Florida appellate rules.'
That section, however, was repealed by the new Administrative Procedure Act, which became effective January 1, 1975, as aforesaid. This new law does not contain the limitation that this court review only orders entered in the exercise of any judicial or quasi-judicial authority. § 120.68 of the new law provides in part as follows:
'(1) A party who is adversely affected by final agency action is entitled to judicial review. . . .
(2) Except in matters for which judicial review by the supreme court is provided by law, all proceedings for review shall be instituted by filing a petition in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the agency maintains its headquarters or where a party resides. Review proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the Florida appellate rules.'
The action of the Administration Commission in the case sub judice is executive, quasi-executive, or perhaps to some degree quasi-legislative in nature rather than quasi-judicial. The fixing of budgets by its basic nature is not a quasi-judicial function. (The hearing before the Administration Commission merely gave interested persons an opportunity to present facts and argument to assist the Administration Commission in its budget determination and was not a hearing of an adversary nature.) Thus, in spite of our previously having entertained a petition for certiorari in a case of this nature (see Weaver v. Heidtman, Fla.App. (1st), 245 So.2d 295), it does not appear that certiorari was the proper method of review under the old Administrative Procedure Act. It now appears, however, that under the new act a petition for review to the District Court of Appeal is the method of such review.
The old Administrative Procedure Act, which was enacted in 1961, established statutory certiorari review of judicial or quasi-judicial final agency action. Prior to statutory certiorari, the court reviewed judicial or quasi-judicial final action of inferior tribunals by common law certiorari. Justice Campbell Thornal discussed the problem of appropriate review of orders of administrative agencies in De Groot v. Sheffield, Fla., 95 So.2d 912 (1957), an opinion rendered prior to enactment of the Administrative Procedure Act. Speaking for the Supreme Court he said:
'We are here squarely confronted with the problem of determining the appropriate procedure for obtaining review of an order of an administrative agency. Although administrative agencies have been known to the law for many years, it has only been within fairly recent years that a substantial body of jurisprudence has developed with reference to so-called 'administrative law.' Because of the expansion of the number of boards, commissions, bureaus and officials having authority to make orders or determinations which directly affect both public and private rights, there has been an increasing number of cases involving the extent of the authority of these agencies as well as the validity or correctness of their conclusions in particular instances. We are told that in our state government there are over one hundred boards, bureaus and officials engaged in administrative activities affecting the rights and property of individuals as well as the public. See ...
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