Deltona Corp. v. Florida Public Service Commission, 38171
| Decision Date | 02 April 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 38171,38171 |
| Citation | 220 So.2d 905 |
| Parties | The DELTONA CORPORATION, a Delaware corporation, Petitioner, v. FLORIDA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
John P. Mudd and Wayne L. Allen, Miami, for petitioner.
R.M.C. Rose, Tallahassee, for Florida Public Service Commission, respondent.
By petition for a writ of certiorari we are requested to review an order of the Florida Public Service Commission finding that Ch. 65--2355, Laws of Florida, grants to the Commission full regulatory authority over water systems and sewer systems in Volusia County, Florida, pursuant to the provisions of Ch. 367, Fla.Stats., F.S.A., and requiring petitioner, The Deltona Corporation, to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity for its water system and sewer system in Volusia County, Florida.
Petitioner Deltona operates such a system exclusively in the unincorporated areas of Volusia County, Florida.
Ch. 367, Fla.Stats., F.S.A., which was enacted in 1959 as Ch. 59--372, gives the Florida Public Service Commission jurisdiction to regulate water and sewer utilities not owned or operated by a municipality or governmental agency in any Florida county which, by virtue of a resolution of its Board of County Commissioners, desires to come under said law.
The Board of County Commissioners of Volusia County adopted such a resolution on September 3, 1959. The Legislature by a special Act, Ch. 59--1958, vested in the County Commissioners of Volusia County the exclusive jurisdiction to regulate rates, grant franchises, and determine the qualifications of those operating water and sewer utility systems in the unincorporated areas of Volusia County. Ch. 59--1958 became a law on June 20, 1959, two days after Ch. 367, Fla.Stats., F.S.A., became effective.
In Orange City Water Company v. Mason (Fla.1964), 166 So.2d 449, this Court construed these two statutes as denying to the Florida Public Service Commission jurisdiction over privately owned water companies in the unincorporated areas of Volusia County. The Court pointed out that the Legislature, by a special Act, removed from the regulatory jurisdiction of the Florida Public Service Commission all water companies operating in the unincorporated areas of Volusia County and gave such authority to the Board of County Commissioners.
At the next session of the Legislature Ch. 65--2355 was enacted and provided as follows:
'An Act transferring all the power and duties of the board of county commissioners of Volusia county, Florida, under any and all laws pertaining to the establishment, review or changing of water rates charged by water companies and sewer rates charged by sewer companies in Volusia county, Florida, to the Florida public utilities commission.
'Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
In July 1968, the Florida Public Service Commission entered a Show Cause Order against The Deltona Corporation requiring Deltona to show cause why it should not be penalized for an alleged violation of Ch. 367, Fla.Stats., F.S.A., in that it failed to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity for operation of its water system or sewer system in Volusia County, Florida. Deltona filed a motion to dismiss contending that the respondent was without jurisdiction to require such a certificate and that Ch. 65--2355 was unconstitutional. It was further contended that even if this statute were constitutional it only granted rate-making powers to the Commission and did not authorize the requirement of a certificate of public convenience and necessity. The Commission denied the motion and Deltona seeks a review of this order.
It is a cardinal rule that a statute should be construed so as to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the Legislature as expressed in the statute. In Beebe v. Richardson, 156 Fla. 559, 23 So.2d 718 (1945), the Court said:
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