City of Seattle v. Burlington NR Co.

• Decision Date: 07 March 2002
• Docket Number: No. 70884-3.,70884-3.
• Citation: 41 P.3d 1169,145 Wash.2d 661
• Parties: The CITY OF SEATTLE, a municipal corporation, Petitioner, v. BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, Respondent.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court

41 P.3d 1169

145 Wash.2d 661

The CITY OF SEATTLE, a municipal corporation, Petitioner, v. BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, Respondent.

No. 70884-3.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued November 8, 2001.

Decided March 7, 2002.

Reed, McClure, Marilee C. Erickson, Seattle, amicus curiae on behalf of Ass'n of American Railroads.

Maureen Madion, Asst. Seattle City Atty., Seattle, for Petitioner.

Kroschel & Gibson, Daniel Louis Kinerk, Sarah Ellen Hall, Bellevue, Lane, Powell, Spears, Michael Barr King, Seattle, for Respondent.

IRELAND, J.

This court granted review of a Court of Appeals' decision reversing a Seattle Municipal Court finding that Burlington Northern Railroad Company violated Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) ordinances regulating railroad switching and blocking on city streets. The Court of Appeals' decision is affirmed because the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA) and the Federal Rail Safety Act of 1970 (FRSA) unambiguously express a clear congressional intent to regulate railroad operations as a matter of federal law. Both federal acts preempt the City's railroad switching and blocking ordinances, SMC 11.66.080 and SMC 11.66.100.

FACTS

Since 1903, the Burlington Northern Railroad Company has operated its railroad through the City of Seattle under a franchise ordinance. Ordinance No. 9119 (franchise ordinance) grants to Burlington "the right, privilege and authority to lay down, construct, maintain and operate ... tracks" within the city. Seattle City Ordinance No. 9119 at 1 (1903); Clerk's Papers (CP) at 73. Section 3 First of the franchise ordinance also reserves the City's right:

to regulate the speed of locomotives and trains within the limits of the rights of way herein granted, and the maximum period of time for which locomotives, cars or trains shall be allowed to blockade travel along or across the streets embraced in this grant, or intersecting streets, and shall have such further control and police powers over such right of way as the City Charter and State laws permit.

Seattle City Ordinance No. 9119 § 3 First at 5 (1903); CP at 93.

In 1979, the City of Seattle promulgated SMC 11.66.080 and 11.66.100 (ordinances). Between May 1996 and May 1997, the City issued 19 citations to Burlington for violating the ordinances by blocking traffic for time periods in excess of four minutes. Each citation carried a penalty of $1,000.

In 1997, Burlington challenged the constitutionality of the ordinances, arguing the ordinances are void for vagueness and they violate the due process and commerce clauses of the United States Constitution. Burlington also argued the ordinances are preempted by the ICCTA and the FRSA.

Following a hearing on the merits, the municipal trial court found federal preemption did not apply because the City had exercised valid police powers reserved to itself through its franchise ordinance. On appeal, the superior court affirmed. Burlington obtained discretionary review of the superior court's decision at the Court of Appeals, which concluded federal law preempted SMC 11.66.080 and 11.66.100 and reversed the trial court.

ISSUE

Whether a city can control switching activities on city streets of a railroad engaged in interstate and intrastate commerce.

ANALYSIS

Standard of Review

Whether the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act and the Federal Rail Safety Act of 1970 preempt local regulation of railroad activities turns on this court's interpretation of those statutes. "Construction of a statute is a question of law which is reviewed de novo." Rettkowski v. Dep't of Ecology, 128 Wash.2d 508, 515, 910 P.2d 462 (1996).

ICCTA

Under 49 U.S.C. § 10501(b) of the ICCTA, Congress has designated jurisdiction over railroad operations to the Surface Transportation Board (STB)¹ as follows:

(b) The jurisdiction of the Board over—

(1) ... rates, classifications, rules (including car service, interchange, and other operating rules), practices, routes, services, and facilities of such carriers; and

(2) the construction, acquisition, operation, abandonment, or discontinuance of spur, industrial, team, switching, or side tracks, or facilities, even if the tracks are located, or intended to be located, entirely in one State,

is exclusive. Except as otherwise provided in this part, the remedies provided under this part with respect to regulation of rail transportation are exclusive and preempt the remedies provided under Federal or State law.

49 U.S.C. § 10501(b)(1984 & Supp.I 1995)(Emphasis added).

When the ICCTA was adopted in 1996, the federal regulatory scheme for interstate railroad operations was "changed significantly." Flynn v. Burlington N. Santa Fe Corp., 98 F.Supp.2d 1186, 1188 (E.D.Wash.2000). "The purpose of the Act was to ... significantly reduce regulation of surface transportation industries." Id. (referring to S.Rep. No. 176, 104th Cong., 1st Sess. (1995)). The ICCTA placed with the STB "`complete jurisdiction, to the exclusion of the states, over the regulations of railroad operations.'" Id. (quoting CSX Transp., Inc. v. Ga. Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 944 F.Supp. 1573, 1584 (N.D.Ga.1996)).

The City argues it is entitled to local regulatory authority over railroad activities and urges this Court to distinguish economic interests from local police authority. The City argues that federal regulation over interstate railroads is exclusively for economic concerns. The City cites Congressional legislative history as authority:

The original House Report demonstrates that the ICCTA focused on economic regulation and was

Intended to standardize all economic regulation (and deregulation) of rail transportation under Federal law, without the optional delegation of administrative authority to State agencies to enforce the Federal standards, as provided in the relevant provisions of the Staggers Rail Act.

Suppl. Br. of Pet. at 12. (citing H.R.Rep. No. 104-311 (reprinted in 1995 U.S.C.C.A.N. 793, 807)).

"[W]hile `[l]egislative history can be a legitimate guide to a statutory purpose obscured by ambiguity ... in the absence of a clearly expressed legislative intention to the contrary, the language of the statute itself must ordinarily be regarded as conclusive.' " City of Auburn v. U.S., 154 F.3d 1025, 1029 (9th Cir.1998) (first alteration added) (quoting Burlington N. R.R. v. Okla. Tax Comm'n, 481 U.S. 454, 461, 107 S.Ct. 1855, 95 L.Ed.2d 404 (1987)).

Congress granted exclusive jurisdiction to the STB over "transportation by rail carriers, and the remedies provided in this part with respect to ... rules (including car service, interchange, and other operating rules), practices, routes, services, and ... switching." 49 U.S.C. § 10501(b)(1) and (2) (emphasis added).

We next compare the ICCTA to the city's ordinances under which the citations were issued.

SMC 11.66.080 provides:

No person who is responsible for the operation of any railroad train or car which is engaged in switching shall direct the operation of or operate the same in such a manner as to prevent or interfere with the use of any street or alley for purposes of travel, or impede property access, for a period of time longer than four (4) consecutive minutes.

SMC 11.66.080(A) (emphasis added).

SMC 11.66.100 provides:

No switching movement shall be made on or across any arterial streets, between the hours of seven a.m. (7:00 a.m.) to nine a.m. (9:00 a.m.) and four p.m. (4:00 p.m.) to six p.m. (6:00 p.m.), except on Sundays and public holidays.²

SMC 11.66.100 (emphasis added).

The ICCTA unambiguously reserves jurisdiction over railroad switching to the STB. The City's reliance on legislative history is misplaced. The City's ordinance attempts to regulate railroad switching activities. Comparing the ordinances with the ICCTA, it is clear that jurisdiction over switching activities is solely within the purview of the STB.

Federal Preemption Precedent

Federal preemption is required when Congress conveys an intent to preempt local law by: (1) "express preemption", where congress explicitly defines the extent to which its enactments preempt laws; (2) "field preemption", where local law regulates conduct in an area the federal government intended to exclusively occupy; and (3) "conflict preemption", where it is impossible to comply with both local and federal law. S. Pac. Transp. Co. v. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 9 F.3d 807, 810 (9th Cir.1993).

The express language of the ICCTA indicates the STB has "exclusive" jurisdiction over rail carriers as to "switching," and "[e]xcept as otherwise provided in this part, the remedies provided under this part with respect to regulation of rail transportation are exclusive and preempt the remedies provided under Federal or State law." 49 U.S.C. § 10501(b)(1994 & Supp.I 1995). Congress explicitly designated switching activities as falling within the jurisdiction of the STB under the ICCTA; "express" federal preemption applies to the City's ordinances.

That federal preemption applies to local ordinances is supported by case law. In CSX Transportation., Inc. v. Georgia Public Service Commission, 944 F.Supp. 1573 (N.D.Ga. 1996), a railroad service provider challenged the Georgia Public Service Commission's authority, first established in 1897, to regulate its activities subsequent to the enactment of the ICCTA. In holding the commission's authority was preempted, the court gave deference to the STB's finding that "`the underlying state regulatory role no longer exists' and the `exclusive jurisdiction of the [STB] extends to transportation between a place in a State and a place in the same state as part of the interstate rail network.'" Id. at 1584 (citing STB Public Notice, Ex Parte No. 388, Apr. 3, 1996).

In City of Auburn, local regulation was also preempted by the ICCTA. In that case, the City of Auburn (Auburn) sought review of an STB decision finding federal preemption of local environmental review laws. Auburn objected to the reopening...