In The Matter Of The Verified Petition For Issuance Of A Writ Of Prohibition
| Decision Date | 01 December 2010 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 37528,2010 Opinion No. 128 |
| Parties | IN THE MATTER OF THE VERIFIED PETITION FOR ISSUANCE OF A WRIT OF PROHIBITION. HON. LAWRENCE G. WASDEN, the Attorney General of Idaho, ex rel. the STATE OF IDAHO, Petitioner, v. IDAHO STATE BOARD OF LAND COMMISSIONERS, and GEORGE BACON, in his official capacity as Director of the Idaho Department of Lands, Respondents. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Stephen Kenyon, Clerk
Petition for Issuance of Writ of Prohibition filed by Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General.
The motion to dismiss is granted.
Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General, Boise, for petitioner. Melissa N. Moody argued.
Hawley, Troxell, Ennis & Hawley, Boise, for respondents. Merlyn W. Clark argued.
This matter comes before this Court on a petition for issuance of a writ of prohibition, filed by Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. Wasden seeks a writ of prohibition to stop the Director of the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) George Bacon from executing new lease agreements on recreational home sites located on Priest Lake and Payette Lake (cottage sites). Wasden argues that the proposed lease agreements (cottage leases) for the cottage sites violate both the Idaho Constitution and I.C. § 58-310A by: (1) failing to secure the maximum long-termfinancial return for the beneficiaries of the Idaho public lands trust; and (2) failing to generate market rent. Respondents have moved to dismiss the petition, arguing that the decision of the Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners (the Land Board) regarding rental rates was not in excess of its discretion and that issuance of a writ of prohibition is inappropriate due to the availability of other remedies. Because we find that there is a plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law, we do not reach the question of whether the State Board of Land Commissioners (the Board) is attempting to act in excess of its jurisdiction, and dismiss the petition for writ of prohibition.
The federal government granted federal lands to the Idaho Territory, later the State of Idaho, through § 4 of the Idaho Admission Bill of 1890, for the purpose of supporting public education. Article IX, section 7 of the Idaho Constitution established the State Board of Land Commissioners, comprised of the governor, superintendent of public instruction, secretary of state, attorney general and state controller. The Board is given "the discretion, control and disposition of the public lands of the state, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law." Id. Article IX, section 8 of the Idaho Constitution states, inter alia:
It shall be the duty of the state board of land commissioners to provide for the location, protection, sale or rental of all the lands heretofore, or which may hereafter be granted to or acquired by the state by or from the general government, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, and in such manner as will secure the maximum long-term financial return to the institution to which granted or to the state if not specifically granted....
Idaho Code § 58-304 governs the leasing of state lands, and provides, inter alia, "[t]he state board of land commissioners may lease any portion of the state land at a rental amount fixed and determined by the board." Idaho Code § 58-310(1) states:
When two (2) or more persons apply to lease the same land, the director of the department of lands, or his agent, shall, at a stated time, and at such place as he may designate, auction off and lease the land to the applicant who will pay the highest premium bid therefore, the annual rental to be established by the state board of land commissioners.
However, the cottage sites were specifically exempted from the conflict auction requirement by I.C. § 58-310A, wherein the legislature determined that the stability gained by continuing to lease the cottage sites to existing long-term lessees was the best means of achieving the maximum long-term financial return to the beneficiaries. Specifically, I.C. § 58-310A providesthat "[i]n the absence of the conflict application and auction procedure in the single family, recreational cottage site and homesite lease, and lease renewal process, the board shall insure that each leased lot generates market rent throughout the duration of the lease."
Idaho Code § 58-101 established the IDL as the executive agency charged with assisting the Board in carrying out its constitutional duty of administering state endowment lands. IDL's powers and responsibilities are set forth in I.C. § 58-119. George Bacon is the Director of IDL (Director). The Director of IDL is tasked with countersigning leases issued by the president of the Board for rental of state endowment lands, pursuant to I.C. § 58-121.
Section 20.03.13 of the Idaho Administrative Procedure Act (IDAPA) provides the specific structure that is employed in the leasing of the state endowment lands. IDAPA 20.03.13.027 is titled "equity sharing premium rental" and states that:
Equity sharing premium rental shall be required through December 31, 1992 or until contract rents have been increased to full market rents, whichever comes first, and is due and payable prior to lease assignment and/or transfer and shall be computed as follows: Assignment Payment. All assignments and/or transfers shall pay a rate of ten percent (10%) of the leasehold value as determined under Section 025.
Each cottage site is owned in fee simple by the State of Idaho, and held in trust for the benefit of the public schools, normal schools (Idaho State University, Department of Education, and Lewis-Clark State College), and the state hospital (collectively "the Beneficiaries"). The Board began renting cottage sites in Idaho in 1924, but the majority of lots were not leased until sometime between the mid 1940's and early 1950's. The State originally leased the cottage sites as bare land, and the cottage site lessees (Lessees) themselves constructed homes and other structures and improvements upon the land for their own use and benefit. From 1945 to 1988 cottage sites were leased for flat rates, with sporadic adjustments (generally rates were adjusted every three-to-five years, with an extreme of fourteen years between adjustments).
The Board has long allowed the Lessees to sell or assign their leasehold interests to others for profit. IDAPA 20.03.13.10.06, defines "Leasehold Value" as "[t]he value which accrues to a leasehold estate when the contract rent is below the market rent." This proposition has also been recognized by IDL and its former and current directors, former and current members of the Board, and professional appraisers. Leasehold values are determined bysubtracting the value of improvements and personal property from the total sales price. IDAPA 20.03.13.25.
As leasehold values grew it became clear to the Board that it was not achieving market rent, and in 1981 the Board invented the concept of "premium rent" to try to decrease the amount of profit the Lessees were reaping from the gap between actual and market rent. The term "premium rent" is a misnomer; it would be more accurate to refer to this mechanism as a "leasehold transfer fee." Premium rent requires that the lessee pay the State a certain percentage of the value that the lessee receives from selling his leasehold interest in a cottage site.1 In 1981 this percentage was set at 10%. So, for example, if a lessee sold his leasehold for $160,000 and had placed $60,000 of improvements and personal property on the land, the leasehold value would be $100,000. Of that $100,000 the State would be entitled to $10,000 and the remaining $90,000 would go to the selling lessee. Premium rent was conceived of as a temporary measure, the utility and impact of which would disappear as rents reached fair market value. In fact the IDAPA provision establishing premium rent-IDAPA 20.03.13.027-reproduced above, expired on December 31, 1992. Nevertheless the Board and IDL have continued to apply premium rent to leasehold sales.2
In 1986, a study by IDL showed that the State was receiving a rate of return on the cottage sites of approximately.67% per year. In an attempt to increase the return for the Beneficiaries the Board abandoned the flat rental rates and instead adopted a rental rate target at 2.5% of each cottage site's appraised value, to be phased in (incrementally increased) over a ten-year period.
From 1905 until 1991 the cottage sites were subject to conflict auctions pursuant to I.C. § 58-310, and its statutory predecessors. Idaho Code § 58-310 provides that, when a lease term expires and more than one party makes application to lease the property, an auction is held amongst the applying parties to determine which is willing to pay the most to lease the property. Despite having been subject to this provision, no conflict auction had been carried out on a cottage site until 1990. It is likely that this apparent lack of interest was attributable to lack of public awareness, largely due to the fact that the Board had a policy against advertising whencottage leases were expiring, and posted notices of availability only on the local court house bulletin board. In 1990 the Board received conflicting applications for two different cottage sites, where both the existing lessees and an outside party applied to lease. Instead of holding a conflict auction as I.C. § 58-310 required, IDL requested that the legislature draft legislation exempting cottage sites from I.C. § 58-310. As a result, I.C. § 58-310A was passed, eliminating conflict auctions as a means of establishing the maximum long-term financial return and instead requiring that the Board ensure that the cottage leases generate market rent throughout their duration.
Following the passage of I.C. § 58-310A in 1991, the Board reexamined the rental rates charged for cottage...
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