Graham v. Haridopolos

• Decision Date: 31 January 2013
• Docket Number: No. SC11–2453.,SC11–2453.
• Citation: 108 So.3d 597
• Parties: Bob GRAHAM, et al., Petitioners, v. Mike HARIDOPOLOS, etc., et al., Respondents.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

108 So.3d 597

Bob GRAHAM, et al., Petitioners,

v.Mike HARIDOPOLOS, etc., et al., Respondents.

No. SC11–2453.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Jan. 31, 2013.

Robin Gibson of Gibson Law Firm, Lake Wales, FL, for Petitioners.

Daniel Cramer Brown and Christine Davis Graves of Carlton Fields, P.A., Tallahassee, FL, for Respondents.

PARIENTE, J.

The issue presented to the Court in this case is one of constitutional construction: whether the Legislature or the constitutionally created Board of Governors has the power to control the setting of and appropriating for the expenditure of tuition and fees for the Florida university system under article IX, section 7(d), of the Florida Constitution. In 2007, the Legislature passed several statutes and included a provision in the 2007–2008 General Appropriations Act that exerted control over the setting of and appropriating for the expenditure of tuition and fees.¹ The Petitioners challenge these statutes as unconstitutional, contending that the 2002 constitutional amendment creating the Board of Governors transferred the authority over tuition and fees to the Board, divesting the Legislature of any power over these funds.

Although the question in this case is whether the challenged statutes are constitutional, the answer hinges on our interpretation of the Florida Constitution. Specifically, we address whether the 2002 amendment to the Florida Constitution creating the Board of Governors and transferring to the Board the power to “operate, regulate, control, and be fully responsible for the management of the whole university system,” art. IX, § 7(d), Fla. Const., carried with it the power to control tuition and fees and thereby divested the Legislature of that authority. The First District Court of Appeal held that this constitutional amendment did not transfer to the Board the authority to set and appropriate for the expenditure of tuition and fees and, therefore, that the challenged statutes were valid. Graham v. Haridopolos, 75 So.3d 315, 321 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011). Because the district court expressly declared a state statute valid, this Court has jurisdiction.²

For the reasons more fully explained below, we hold that the constitutional source of the Legislature's control over the setting of and appropriating for the expenditure of tuition and fees derives from its power under article VII, sections 1(c) and (d), of the Florida Constitution to raise revenue and appropriate for the expenditure of state funds. The language of the 2002 amendment, now contained in article IX, section 7, is devoid of any indication of an intent to transfer this power to the Board of Governors. Accordingly, we conclude that the challenged statutes by which the Legislature has exercised control over these funds are facially constitutional and approve the First District's decision.

FACTS AND BACKGROUND

Prior to 2001, the Board of Regents, a statutorily created entity, managed the state university system under the control and supervision of the State Board of Education. The Board of Regents was abolished as of July 1, 2001, by the Legislature and its powers were transferred to a new entity known as the Florida Board of Education.³

In apparent response to the Legislature's actions, a constitutional amendment was proposed by citizen initiative that “sought to amend the Florida Constitution to create a system of governance for the state university system.” In re Advisory Op. to Atty. Gen. ex rel. Local Trustees, 819 So.2d 725, 727 (Fla.2002). In November 2002, the voters approved the proposed amendment to article IX of the Florida Constitution, establishing “a system of governance for the state university system of Florida” and creating the Board of Governors to “operate, regulate, control, and be fully responsible for the management of the whole university system.” Seeart. IX, § 7(a), (d), Fla. Const. The amendment, which had been proposed by a citizen initiative petition and is now contained in article IX, section 7, of the Florida Constitution, provided in pertinent part as follows:

SECTION 7. State University System.—

(a) PURPOSES. In order to achieve excellence through teaching students, advancing research and providing public service for the benefit of Florida's citizens, their communities and economies, the people hereby establish a system of governance for the state university system of Florida.

(b) STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM. There shall be a single state university system comprised of all public universities. A board of trustees shall administer each public university and a board of governors shall govern the state university system.

....

(d) STATEWIDE BOARD OF GOVERNORS. The board of governors shall be a body corporate consisting of seventeen members. The board shall operate, regulate, control, and be fully responsible for the management of the whole university system. These responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, defining the distinctive mission of each constituent university and its articulation with free public schools and community colleges, ensuring the well-planned coordination and operation of the system, and avoiding wasteful duplication of facilities or programs. The board's management shall be subject to the powers of the legislature to appropriate for the expenditure of funds, and the board shall account for such expenditures as provided by law....

Art. IX, § 7, Fla. Const.

In 2007, the Legislature enacted the challenged statutory provisions involving tuition and fees. See§ 1011.41, Fla. Stat. (2007) (stating that funds provided to state universities in the General Appropriations Act were contingent upon each university complying with tuition and fee policies established by the Legislature); § 1011.4106, Fla. Stat. (2007) (stating that any appropriations provided in the General Appropriations Act from the Education/General Student and Other Fees Trust Fund are the only budget authority for the universities to expend tuition and out-of-state fees and that the expenditure of tuition and fee revenues from local accounts by each university shall not exceed the authority provided in the General Appropriations Act unless otherwise approved); § 1011.91, Fla. Stat. (2007) (stating that except as otherwise provided in the General Appropriations Act, all monies received by universities from, among other things, student fees authorized in section 1009.24 are appropriated to the use of the universities collecting the same, to be expended by the university board of trustees pursuant to detailed budgets filed with the Board of Governors). In addition, the Legislature included similar language in the 2007–2008 General Appropriations Act.⁴

Shortly thereafter, the Petitioners in this case,⁵ as individually named plaintiffs in their capacity as citizens and taxpayers, sought a declaratory judgment that the above-referenced statutes were unconstitutional because they violated article IX, section 7, of the Florida Constitution. The Board of Governors itself is not a party to this case.⁶ The Petitioners do not allege that any of the specific tuition and fee policies set by the Legislature are unconstitutional as applied, but rather broadly assert that the Legislature no longer has the power to control tuition and fees. In other words, the Petitioners contend that while the Legislature retains appropriations authority over the portion of university funding derived from general revenue, the Legislature was divested of authority over the funding stream generated by tuition and fees.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the Legislature, ruling that the statutes in question were constitutional because article IX, section 7, of the Florida Constitution “does not reveal an intent to remove the Legislature's historic revenue-raising and appropriations authority over tuition and fees at public universities granted in Article VII, Section 1, and Article IX, Section 1, of the Constitution.”

On appeal, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that the statutes were constitutional. The First District rejected the Petitioners' attempt to “draw a distinction between general revenue funds, which they concede still fall within the Legislature's constitutional appropriation power, and tuition and fees, which they categorize as ‘agency’ funds within the Board's exclusive control.' ” Graham, 75 So.3d at 317. The First District reasoned that “[t]he legislative power to raise funds is not limited to the imposition of taxes; it includes the power to impose fees necessary to offset the costs of using state government services. Likewise, the power of appropriation is not limited to certain types of funds; it extends to all funds in the State Treasury from whatever source.” Id. at 318. With respect to university tuition and fees, the First District held that they “are unquestionably state funds; they are collected by state universities for the use of their services and the monies collected are deposited into the State Treasury.” Id.

The First District therefore framed the issue as whether the constitutional amendmentestablishing the Board divested the Legislature of its “power of the purse” over state tuition and fees by vesting that authority in the Board. Id. at 319. Addressing this question, the First District held:

[W]e see nothing in the language of [the amendment] or its history that would suggest that such a fundamental change in the Legislature's power was intended or effectuated.

Article IX, section 7(d) provides that the Board is “fully responsible for the management of the whole university system.” But this provision also makes clear that the Board's management of the university system is “subject to the powers of the legislature to appropriate for the expenditure of funds.” Id. This express subrogation of the Board's management authority to the Legislature's appropriation power, coupled with the absence of any language in article IX, section 7 referring to...