Homan v. Branstad

• Decision Date: 16 March 2012
• Docket Number: No. 11–2022.,11–2022.
• Citation: 812 N.W.2d 623
• Parties: Danny HOMAN, William A. Dotzler, Jr., Bruce Hunter, David Jacoby, Kirsten Running–Marquardt, and Daryl Beall, Appellees, v. Terry E. BRANSTAD, Governor of the State of Iowa, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

812 N.W.2d 623

Danny HOMAN, William A. Dotzler, Jr., Bruce Hunter, David Jacoby, Kirsten Running–Marquardt, and Daryl Beall, Appellees,

v.Terry E. BRANSTAD, Governor of the State of Iowa, Appellant.

No. 11–2022.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

March 16, 2012.

Richard J. Sapp and Ryan G. Koopmans of Nyemaster, Goode, West, Hansell & O'Brien, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant.

Mark T. Hedberg, Nathaniel R. Boulton, and Erin G. Benoy of Hedberg & Boulton, P.C., Des Moines, for appellees.

WATERMAN, Justice.

This appeal requires our court to resolve another dispute between the executive and legislative branches of our state government over the scope of the Governor's item veto power.¹ On July 27, 2011, Governor Terry E. Branstad item vetoed several provisions in Senate File 517, an appropriations bill passed in the final days of the Eighty-fourth General Assembly. Primarily at issue is $8.66 million the legislature appropriated in section 15(3) for the operation of Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) field offices. The Governor, without vetoing that appropriation, item vetoed section 15(3)(c), prohibiting the closure of field offices, and section 15(5), defining “field office” to require the presence of a staff person. His accompanying item-veto message noted his purpose was to provide “enhanced benefits through maximum efficiencies” by replacing staffed field offices with numerous additional “virtual access point [computer] workstations” for the delivery of employment services to Iowans throughout our state. The Governor also item vetoed section 20, which restricts IWD from spending any appropriated funds on the National Career Readiness Certificate Program, without item vetoing any of the several appropriations to IWD in Senate File 517. And, the Governor item vetoed similar provisions in the bill for the following fiscal year.

We must decide whether the Governor's item vetoes comply with article III, section 16 of our state constitution, the item-veto amendment ratified by the people of Iowa in 1968. Plaintiffs, Danny Homan, the president of Iowa Council 61 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, a state-employee union, and William A. Dotzler, Jr., Bruce Hunter, David Jacoby, Kirsten Running–Marquardt, and Daryl Beall, legislators in the Eighty-fourth General Assembly, filed this action in district court alleging the Governor unconstitutionally item vetoed “conditions or restrictions” on the appropriations. On December 8, the district court entered a split decision that upheld the item veto of section 20, but declared invalid the item veto of sections 15(3)(c) and 15(5). Both sides appealed, and we granted expedited review.

This is not an easy case. The legislature failed to use language in section 15(3) expressly conditioning the $8.66 million appropriation on the restrictions against closing staffed field offices. Nonetheless, we conclude the definition of “field office” in section 15(5) qualifies or restricts the $8.66 million appropriation in section 15(3)(b) “for the operation of field offices.” Accordingly, the Governor could not veto section 15(5) without vetoing the accompanying appropriation in section 15(3). We further conclude the Governor impermissibly item vetoed the restriction in section 20 on use of IWD appropriations for the national certificate program.

Simply stated, the legislature appropriated funds to IWD with strings attached, and our constitution does not permit the Governor to cut the strings and spend the money differently. The required remedy is to invalidate the following sections of Senate File 517: sections 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20 of division I and sections 61, 63, 64, 65, and 66 of division IV. The other sections of Senate File 517 affirmatively approved by the Governor remain in effect as enacted. In light of this remedy, we need not decide the validity of the Governor's item veto of section 15(3)(c).

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

The Eighty-fourth General Assembly of Iowa passed Senate File 517, “The Economic Development Appropriations Bill,” on June 27, 2011. The bill was sent to Governor Branstad three days later, on the last day of the legislative session. Senate File 517 begins with this description:

An act relating to and making appropriations to the department of cultural affairs, the department of economic development, certain board of regents institutions, the department of workforce development, the Iowa finance authority, and the public employment relations board, and addressing related matters including tax credits and including immediate effective date and retroactive applicability provisions.

All parties agree Senate File 517 is an appropriations bill.

Appropriations and provisions relating to IWD are found in division I, sections 15 through 20 of Senate File 517 for the fiscal year July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012.² On July 27, Governor Branstad item vetoed sections 15(3)(c) and 15(5), as follows:

Sec. 15. DEPARTMENT OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT. There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of workforce development for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011, and ending June 30, 2012, the following amounts, or so much thereof as is necessary, for the purposes designated:

....

3. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONS

a. For the operation of field offices, the workforce development board, and for not more than the following full-time equivalent positions:

......................... $8,671,352

......................... FTEs 130.00

b. Of the moneys appropriated in paragraph “a” of this subsection, the department shall allocate $8,660,480 for the operation of field offices.

c. The department shall not reduce the number of field offices below the number of field offices being operated as of January 1, 2009.

....

5. DEFINITIONS

For purposes of this section:

a. “Field office” means a satellite office of a workforce development center through which the workforce development center maintains a physical presence in a county as described in section 84B.2. For purposes of this paragraph, a workforce development center maintains a physical presence in a county if the center employs a staff person. “Field office” does not include the presence of a workforce development center maintained by electronic means.

b. “Workforce development center” means a center at which state and federal employment and training programs are colocated and at which services are provided at a local level as described in section 84B.1.

Governor Branstad's transmittal letter to Secretary of State Schultz explained:

I am unable to approve the item designated Section 15, subsection 3, paragraph c, in its entirety. This item would prohibit Iowa Workforce Development (“IWD”) from putting forth an enhanced delivery system that broadens access to Iowans across the state in fiscal year 2012. In order to develop a sustainable delivery system, in light of continually fluctuating federal funding, the department must put forth a system that embraces the use of technology while providing enhanced benefits through maximum efficiencies. At this time, IWD has over one hundred ninety virtual access point workstations in over sixty new locations throughout the state in order to increase access to these critical services. Iowans are already utilizing expanded hours of operations, six days a week. At my direction, IWD will have hundreds of additional virtual access points by the end of fiscal year 2012.

I am unable to approve the item designated as Section 15, subsection 5 in its entirety. This item attempts to define a delivery system in such a way as to prevent growth and progress in serving Iowans in fiscal year 2012. IWD has recognized the necessity of delivering services through multiple streams, including technology. As such, IWD is putting forth a plan that delivers more services to Iowans while streamlining government.

Sections 17, 18, and 19 appropriated additional funds to IWD. Section 20 restricts IWD from using appropriated funds for the National Career Readiness Certificate Program. Governor Branstad item vetoed section 20 as follows:

Sec. 20. APPROPRIATIONS RESTRICTED. The department of workforce development shall not use any of the moneys appropriated in this division of this Act for purposes of the national career readiness certificate program.

The Governor's transmittal letter to Secretary Schultz explained:

I am unable to approve the item designated as Section 20 in its entirety. This item would prohibit IWD from using the National Career Readiness Certificate program in fiscal year 2012. The National Career Readiness Certificate program is an Iowa-based product which is an assessment and skill development tool that has been embraced by over 400 Iowa employers as an exceptional tool for demonstrating skills for a potential employee. It is nationally recognized by both the Executive Office of the President and the U.S. Department of Labor as a reliable and portable tool for job seekers to present and certify their skills. I cannot agree with the denial to IWD of the potential use of this program.

Plaintiffs commenced this action in district court on August 24. They alleged these item vetoes exceeded Governor Branstad's constitutional authority and sought a declaratory ruling the vetoes were void and that Senate File 517 became law as presented to the Governor. On September 20, plaintiffs moved for summary judgment. They argued the vetoed provisions were “conditions and restrictions on appropriations” that could not be item vetoed apart from “the accompanying appropriations.” Plaintiffs asked for a declaratory ruling that each attempted item veto is “unconstitutional, illegal, null, [and] void.” Plaintiffs also changed their position on the remedy to seek a ruling that no provision of Senate File 517 became law. Governor Branstad cross-moved for summary judgment. The Governor asked the district court to rule “the item vetoes exercised were...