Cent. Ala. Fair Hous. Ctr. v. Magee

• Decision Date: 12 December 2011
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 2:11cv982–MHT.
• Citation: 835 F.Supp.2d 1165
• Parties: CENTRAL ALABAMA FAIR HOUSING CENTER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Julie MAGEE, in her official capacity as Alabama Revenue Commissioner, and Jimmy Stubbs, in his official capacity as Elmore County Probate Judge, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

835 F.Supp.2d 1165

CENTRAL ALABAMA FAIR HOUSING CENTER, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.Julie MAGEE, in her official capacity as Alabama Revenue Commissioner, and Jimmy Stubbs, in his official capacity as Elmore County Probate Judge, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 2:11cv982–MHT.

United States District Court,

M.D. Alabama,

Northern Division.

Dec. 12, 2011.

Diana S. Sen, Foster S. Maer, Latino Justice PRLDEF, Lee Gelernt, American Civil Liberties Union, New York, NY, Jamie L. Crook, Stephen M. Dane, Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC, Washington, DC, Justin Cox, ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, Kristi L. Graunke, Southern Poverty Law Center, Atlanta, GA, Karen Cassandra Tumlin, Linton Joaquin, National Immigration Law Center, Los Angeles, CA, Mary C. Bauer, Samuel J. Brooke, Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, AL, for Plaintiffs.

James William Davis, Margaret Lindsey Fleming, William G. Parker, Jr., State of Alabama Office of the Attorney General, Joshua K. Payne, Misty S. Fairbanks, Office of the Attorney General, Montgomery, AL, for Defendants.

OPINION

MYRON H. THOMPSON, District Judge.

This lawsuit is a challenge to the application of § 30 of the Beason–Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act (commonly referred to as “HB 56”), 2011 Ala. Laws 535, which, when combined with another Alabama statute, essentially prohibits individuals who cannot prove their citizenship status from staying in their manufactured homes. The plaintiffs are the Central Alabama Fair Housing Center, the Fair Housing Center of Northern Alabama, the Center for Fair Housing, Inc., and two individuals proceeding under pseudonym as John Doe # 1 and John Doe # 2. The defendants are Julie Magee, in her official capacity as Alabama Revenue Commissioner, and Jimmy Stubbs, in his official capacity as Elmore County Probate Judge. The plaintiffs claim, among other things, that this application of HB 56 violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution (as enforced through 42 U.S.C. § 1983) and the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), 42 U.S.C. § 3604. The jurisdiction of the court has been invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343.

This as-applied challenge to HB 56 is now before the court on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. As explained below, the motion will be granted.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Passage of HB 56

In June 2011, the Alabama legislature passed a comprehensive and far-reaching state immigration law: HB 56. For example: § 7 prohibits an “alien who is not lawfully present in the United States” from receiving any state or local public benefits; § 8 makes it unlawful for an alien not lawfully present to enroll in or attend any public college; § 10 makes it a crime to fail to “complete or carry an alien registration document”; § 11 makes it “unlawful for an unauthorized alien to knowingly apply for work, solicit work in a public or private place, or perform work as an employee or independent contractor”; § 12 requires officers who have “reasonable suspicion ... that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present” to make a “reasonable attempt” to determine the citizenship and immigration status of the person; § 13 makes it unlawful to conceal, “harbor,” or shield an “alien from detection,” which includes “entering into a rental agreement ... with an alien to provide accommodations [ ] if the person knows or recklessly disregards the fact that the alien is unlawfully present in the United States”; § 17 makes it a “discriminatory practice for a business entity or employer to fail to hire a job applicant who is a United States citizen or an alien who is authorized to work in the United States ... while retaining or hiring an employee who the business entity or employer knows, or reasonably should have known, is an unauthorized alien”; § 18 requires police officers to determine the citizenship of drivers pulled over and cited for driving without a valid license; § 27 voids certain contracts between “a party and an alien unlawfully present”; § 28 requires public schools to determine the citizenship and immigration status of their students; § 29 requires evidence of citizenship or lawful residence for voter registration; and § 30 prohibits “business transactions” between an “alien not lawfully present” and the State or a political subdivision. HB 56 (Doc. No. 31–1), available electronically at Ala.Code § 31–13–29 (West 2011).

In sum, as Representative Micky Ray Hammon put it: “This [bill] attacks every aspect of an illegal immigrant's life. They will not stay in Alabama.... [T]his bill is designed to make it difficult for them to live here so they will deport themselves.” Leg. Session (Doc. No. 14–3, at 27).¹

B. Challenge to § 30 of HB 56

On November 18, 2011, after observing how the State was applying HB 56, the plaintiffs filed this lawsuit. Though the statute has many provisions, this litigation focuses exclusively on § 30 as applied to Alabama's manufactured homes statute, Ala.Code § 40–12–255.

Section 30 of HB 56 makes it unlawful for “[a]n alien not lawfully present in the United States” to enter into, or attempt to enter into, “a business transaction with the state or a political subdivision of the state.” HB 56 § 30 (Doc. No. 31–1) at 68.² Under § 30(d) of HB 56, an individual who enters into or attempts to enter into such a transaction commits a Class C felony, id., and can be imprisoned up to ten years. 1975 Ala.Code § 13A–5–6(a)(3).

Meanwhile, in lieu of an ad valorem property tax, § 40–12–255 requires certain owners of manufactured homes pay an annual registration fee to obtain an identification decal that must be visibly displayed on the exterior of their manufactured home. 1975 Ala.Code § 40–12–255(a).³

The registration and fee are due October 1 of each year and considered delinquent if not paid by November 30, at which point a noncompliant owner of a manufactured home can be given a civil fine or face criminal charges for a Class C misdemeanor, id. § ( 1 ), punishable up to three months in jail. 1975 Ala.Code § 13A–5–7(a)(3). In addition, § 40–12–255 requires that the owner of a manufactured home obtain a permit “to move said manufactured home on the highways of Alabama,” and a current registration is required to obtain the moving permit. 1975 Ala.Code § 40–12–255(j).⁴ As above, moving a manufactured home without a permit is subject to civil penalties and criminal prosecution as a Class C misdemeanor. Id.

Defendant Magee is the Revenue Commissioner for the State and oversees the collection of taxes, including the registration fees for manufactured homes. See 1975 Ala. 40–2–11. Manufactured homes are registered through county offices, such as a revenue commissioner's office or a probate office. Defendant Stubbs is the Elmore County Probate Judge and oversees manufactured-home registration in Elmore County. Since HB 56 went into effect, Commissioner Magee has placed information about it on the Department of Revenue's website and provided county officials, such as Judge Stubbs, with training and instruction regarding HB 56 generally and § 30 more specifically.

The phrase “business transaction,” as defined by § 30 in HB 56, appears to be unique in Alabama law and has not previously been used in this manner. Accordingly, there has been considerable debate as to whether a “business transaction” includes any undertaking that involves financial resources going to a state or local official, no matter how mundane. Since this litigation began, the Alabama Attorney General has provided some guidance about the outer limits of the scope of “business transactions” under § 30. See Luther Strange, Guidance Letter from Ala. Atty. Gen., No. 2011–02 (Dec. 2, 2011) (Doc. No. 79–4). Regardless of the outer limits of this term and even with the new guidance letter, it is undisputed that the State's interpretation of § 30 includes the transactions at issue here: the payment of registration fees and other requirements associated with § 40–12–255. Thus, Commissioner Magee's office understands § 30 of HB 56 to apply to § 40–12–255, the Alabama manufactured homes statute, which means, among other things, that individuals who cannot verify their citizenshipor lawful residency are precluded from registering their manufactured homes.

Taken together, therefore, the court finds that the application of § 30 of HB 56 to § 40–12–255 puts aliens who are unable to verify their lawful residency between a rock and a hard place: they face civil and criminal liability for not paying their manufactured home tax, while simultaneously facing civil and criminal liability if they attempt to remove their homes from the State. They can neither stay, nor can they go. In addition, even attempting to pay the registration fee without verification of lawful residence amounts to a felony. This is not mere speculation. As Magee admits, and the court finds as a matter of fact, when § 30 of HB 56 is applied § 40–12–255, “the individual Plaintiffs cannot continue living in Alabama in manufactured homes they own and maintain on certain property without violating either Section 30 or Ala.Code § 40–12–255 or causing others to violate Section 30.” Def. Magee Proposed Facts (Doc. No. 64, at 8).

C. Temporary Restraint of § 30

Following a hearing on November 23, 2011, the court issued a temporary restraining order enjoining enforcement of § 30 as applied to § 40–12–255, with the order to expire on December 7, 2011. Cent. Ala. Fair Hous. Ctr. v. Magee, 2011 WL 5878363 (M.D.Ala. Nov. 23, 2011). Commissioner Magee later filed a motion to dissolve the temporary restraining order, which the court denied on December 1. Cent. Ala. Fair Hous. Ctr. v. Magee, 2011 WL 6010501 (M.D.Ala. Dec. 1, 2011). Also, on December 1, Commissioner Magee agreed to extend the December 1 § 40–12–255 registration deadline to December 31. On December 7, the court extended the temporary restraining order to December 12, 2011. Cent. Ala. Fair Hous. Ctr. v. Magee, 2011 WL 6090125 (M.D.Ala. Dec....