Fowler v. Corlett, 5478
| Decision Date | 29 May 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 5478,5478 |
| Citation | 1952 NMSC 55,56 N.M. 430,244 P.2d 1122 |
| Parties | FOWLER v. CORLETT et al. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
Irwin S. Moise, Albuquerque, Dean S. Zinn, Santa Fe, for appellant.
M. W. Hamilton, Chester A. Hunker, Santa Fe, for appellees.
The appeal is from a judgment entered in a declaratory judgment action sustaining the constitutionality of L. 1951, c. 218, against challenge to the validity of the statute upon various constitutional grounds.
The facts are not in dispute. All facts, not admitted by the pleadings, were covered by stipulation at the trial. The first ground upon which it is said the statute mentioned is bad from a constitutional standpoint is because its subject matter is not expressed or embraced in its title contrary to the requirements of Const. art. 4, Sec. 16. In order to decide this challenge to validity of the act it becomes necessary to quote the title of the act as well as title of L. 1949, c. 114, of which it is amendatory. The title of the later act, L. 1951, c. 218, reads as follows:
'An Act to Amend Section 4 of Chapter 114 of the Session Laws of 1949 (Being Section 61-1204 of New Mexico 1941 Compilation) Relating to Funds for the Commission on Alcoholism.'
The title to L. 1949, c. 114, which the act just mentioned amends, reads as follows:
'An Act Creating a Commission on Alcoholism and Providing for the Appointment of Commission Members and Their Qualifications and Providing for Expenses in Connection With the Work of the Commission; Providing for the Election of Officers of the Commission; Prescribing the Duties and Powers of the Commission; Providing for Funds of the Commission; Providing for Gifts to Funds of the Commission; Prescribing the Appointment, Qualifications and Duties of the Executive Director of Commission; Providing for Custody and Control of Persons Committed Under This Act; Providing for Probation and Discharge of Persons Committed Under This Act; Providing for Voluntary Patients Applying for Treatment; Providing for Assistance Upon Request; Providing for Commitment Proceedings for Mentally Ill Persons in Custody of Commission; Providing for the Cost of Commitment and Support of Any Person Committed Under This Act; Providing for Reports to the Governor and the State Legislature; and Providing for Severability of the Provisions Hereof.'
Although the appellant, who was the plaintiff below, argues earnestly that the statute in question, L. 1951, c. 218, is bad because of a defective title when tested by the constitutional requirement mentioned, we must overrule this claim of error. So much of the governing constitutional provision, art. 4, Sec. 16, as is said to be violated by the questioned act, reads as follows:
'The subject of every bill shall be clearly expressed in its title, and no bill embracing more than one subject shall be passed except general appropriation bills and bills for the codification or revision of the laws; but if any subject is embraced in any act which is not expressed in its title, only so much of the act as is not so expressed shall be void.'
We have in the past so often construed this provision in our constitution that it seems unnecessary to cite more than a few of the cases doing so. One of the earliest was State v. Ingalls, 18 N.M. 211, 135 P. 1177. It was followed a few years later by our decisions in State v. Gomez, 34 N.M. 250, 280 P. 251; State v. Sifford, 51 N.M. 430, 187 P.2d 540; Albuquerque Bus Co. v. Everly, 53 N.M. 460, 211 P.2d 127, and Crosthwait v. White, 55 N.M. 71, 226 P.2d 477.
As pointed out in State v. Ingalls, supra, in a quotation from Cooley's Const.Lim. (7th Ed.) 205, one of the primary purposes of this provision in state constitutions is to prevent fraud or surprise upon the legislature by means of hidden or concealed provisions in bills of which the title gives no intimation and which, accordingly, through inadvertence or carelessness, might be unintentionally adopted. Measured by this test we find no difficulty in inferring from the title to this act read against a background of the act it amends, State v. Sifford, supra, that one is going to find in it provision for levy of a tax for carrying on the work of the commission on alcoholism. The very language of title to the amendatory act reciting it is to amend L. 1949, c. 114, and further that it relates 'to Funds for the Commission on Alcoholism' could leave no one in doubt as to its purpose. The only means by which the legislature can with certainty raise 'funds' being by taxation, it is not a violent assumption that such a means was contemplated here. There is no merit in Point One (1).
The second defect said by the plaintiff to render the questioned Act bad is that it represents an unlawful delegation to the Bureau of Revenue of the taxing power possessed by the legislature. Counsel for plaintiff seize upon certain language in the amendatory act, L. 1951, c. 218, 'That there is hereby authorized the levying and collecting of a tax on alcoholic beverages', etc., as affording conclusive proof that power to levy was conferred on the Bureau of Revenue. Standing alone there might be some merit in the contention. But read in connection with other language found in the amendment such a conclusion is neither compelled nor reasonably warranted. State v. Southern Pac. Co., 34 N.M. 306, 281 P. 29. The closing sentence of the amendment reads:
'That the Bureau of Revenue is authorized and directed to collect said tax above provided for in the manner. now required by law for alcoholic beverages and shall deposit said sums thus received with the State Treasurer to the use and benefit of the Commission on Alcoholism.' (Emphasis ours.)
The language italicized in the quotation strongly reflects an understanding on the part of the legislature that it in fact previously had levied the tax whose collection it here is authorizing and directing. This manifestation of intent is not to be ignored. It is a serious act to strike down a statute as unconstitutional. Axiomatically, the courts are reluctant to do so. State ex rel. Lucero v. Marron, 17 N.M. 304, 128 P. 485; State ex rel. Sedillo v. Sargent, 24 N.M. 333, 171 P. 790; Gallegos v. Ortiz, 28 N.M. 598, 216 P. 502; Southern Pac. Co. v. State Corporation Commission, 41 N.M. 556, 72 P.2d 15; Moruzzi v. Federal Life & Casualty Co., 42 N.M. 35, 75 P.2d 320, 115 A.L.R. 407; Hutcheson v. Atherton, 44 N.M. 144, 99 P.2d 462. And where a statute reasonably is susceptible of two constructions, one of which will sustain its validity whereas the other would render it invalid, the former must be adopted. State ex rel. Clancy v. Hall, 23 N.M. 422, 168 P. 715; ...
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