People v. Burdunice
Decision Date | 20 May 2004 |
Docket Number | No. 96563.,96563. |
Citation | 211 Ill.2d 264,285 Ill.Dec. 191,811 N.E.2d 678 |
Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Melody BURDUNICE, Appellee. |
Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, Springfield, and Edward D. Smith, State's Attorney, Kankakee (Gary Feinerman, Solicitor General, Linda D. Woloshin and Jay Paul Hoffmann, Assistant Attorneys General, Chicago, and Norbert J. Goetten, Lawrence M. Bauer and Sabrina S. Henry, of the Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, Ottawa, of counsel), for the People.
Robert J. Agostinelli, Deputy Defender, and Santiago A. Durango, Assistant Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, Ottawa, for appellee.
In January 2000, the defendant, a correctional officer at the Kankakee County Detention Center, was charged with one count of unlawful delivery of a contraband handgun into a penal institution (see 720 ILCS 5/31A-1.2(c)(1) (West 1998)), one count of unlawful delivery of contraband cellular telephone batteries into a penal institution (see 720 ILCS 5/31A-1.2(c)(1) (West 1998)), one count of aiding escape (see 720 ILCS 5/31-7(b) (West 1998)), and one count of official misconduct (see 720 ILCS 5/31A-1.2(c)(1) (West 1998)). The defendant was convicted of the delivery of contraband cellular telephone batteries charge, acquitted of the other charges, and sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment.
On appeal, the defendant argued that Public Act 89-688, which, among its various provisions, added cellular telephone batteries to the list of contraband prohibited in penal institutions, violated the so-called single subject rule of the Illinois Constitution. See Ill. Const.1970, art. IV, § 8(d). The defendant specifically contended that section 0.5 of the Act, which amended the State Employee Indemnification Act (5 ILCS 350/0.01 et seq. (West 1996)) to allow the Illinois Attorney General to file counterclaims in civil suits against state employees, did not relate to the subject of the remainder of the Act, criminal law. The appellate court agreed with the defendant and reversed her conviction and sentence. The court relied on People v. Foster, 316 Ill.App.3d 855, 250 Ill.Dec. 148, 737 N.E.2d 1125 (2000):
The State appealed. See 177 Ill.2d R. 315(a). On the legal issue before us, our review proceeds de novo. See People v. Sypien, 198 Ill.2d 334, 338, 261 Ill.Dec. 294, 763 N.E.2d 264 (2001).
Article IV, section 8(d), of the 1970 Illinois Constitution states: "Bills, except bills for appropriations and for the codification, revision or rearrangement of laws, shall be confined to one subject." Ill. Const.1970, art. IV, § 8(d). The single subject rule prevents the passage of legislation which, standing alone on its own merits, would fail. See Fuehrmeyer v. City of Chicago, 57 Ill.2d 193, 202, 311 N.E.2d 116 (1974). It also facilitates the passage of legislation in an orderly and informed manner. Johnson v. Edgar, 176 Ill.2d 499, 514, 224 Ill.Dec. 1, 680 N.E.2d 1372 (1997). "In sum, the single subject rule ensures that the legislature addresses the difficult decisions it faces directly and subject to public scrutiny, rather than passing unpopular measures on the backs of popular ones." Johnson, 176 Ill.2d at 515, 224 Ill.Dec. 1, 680 N.E.2d 1372.
We use a two-tiered analysis to determine whether an act violates the single subject rule: Sypien, 198 Ill.2d at 339, 261 Ill.Dec. 294, 763 N.E.2d 264. In short, if the public act addresses a legitimate single subject, the dispositive question becomes whether the individual provisions of the Act have a "natural and logical" connection to that subject. See People v. Boclair, 202 Ill.2d 89, 109, 273 Ill.Dec. 560, 789 N.E.2d 734 (2002); People ex rel. Ogilvie v. Lewis, 49 Ill.2d 476, 487, 274 N.E.2d 87 (1971) (, )quoting People ex rel. Gutknecht v. City of Chicago, 414 Ill. 600, 608, 111 N.E.2d 626 (1953), quoting People ex rel. City of Chicago v. Board of County Commissioners, 355 Ill. 244, 247, 189 N.E. 26 (1934). More eloquently stated:
(Emphasis added.) Co-ordinated Transport, Inc. of Illinois v. Barrett, 412 Ill. 321, 326-27, 106 N.E.2d 510 (1952).
We turn to the Act.
Public Act 89-688 was labeled "An Act in relation to criminal law," a legitimate single subject. See People v. Malchow, 193 Ill.2d 413, 428-29, 250 Ill.Dec. 670, 739 N.E.2d 433 (2000); see also Sypien, 198 Ill.2d at 339,261 Ill.Dec. 294,763 N.E.2d 264; People v. Wooters, 188 Ill.2d 500, 512-13, 243 Ill.Dec. 33, 722 N.E.2d 1102 (1999). Four of its five sections obviously do address criminal law. Section 1 amended the Criminal Code of 1961 by, inter alia, adding a definition of "[e]lectronic contraband" that included cellular telephone batteries, to the list of items which persons cannot bring into a penal institution. See 720 ILCS 5/31A-1.1(c)(2)(xi) (West 1996). Section 1.7 amended the Statewide Grand Jury Act (see 725 ILCS 215/1 et seq. (West 1996)); section 2 amended the Violent Crime Victims Assistance Act (see 725 ILCS 240/1 et seq. (West 1996)), and section 5 amended the Unified Code of Corrections (730 ILCS 5/1-1-1 et seq. (West 1996)). Certainly, "substantive criminal law and correctional system administration fall squarely under the umbrella of the criminal justice system" (Boclair, 202 Ill.2d at 113,273 Ill.Dec. 560,789 N.E.2d 734), and these four sections of the act satisfy the single subject rule. The State aptly frames the issue before us: "The only question is whether section 0.5 [of the act] also relates to criminal or correctional matters."
Section 0.5 provides:
The State argues that the appellate court here, and in Foster, erred in holding that the act violated the single subject rule because those courts "failed to properly examine the purpose behind the amendment contained in section 0.5." The State concedes that section 0.5 provides for counterclaims in civil cases, but asserts that this fact does not end our inquiry. According to the State, the legislative debates show that the General Assembly intended section 0.5 to allow the Attorney General to file counterclaims on behalf of Department of Corrections (DOC) employees sued by inmates. Citing Arangold Corp. v. Zehnder, 187 Ill.2d 341, 240 Ill.Dec. 710, 718 N.E.2d 191 (1999), and People v. Cervantes, 189 Ill.2d 80, 243 Ill.Dec. 233, 723 N.E.2d 265 (1999), the State asserts, "This court has looked to the legislative debates on the act in question in order to determine the purpose of that section."
In Arangold, we briefly noted that "the original bill introduced in the Senate, the subsequent conference committee report, and the final enactment" all pertained to the single subject of the state budget. Arangold Corp., 187 Ill.2d at 352-53, 240 Ill.Dec. 710, 718 N.E.2d 191. In Cervantes, we observed, in obiter dicta, that, even looking beyond the face of the act at issue to the legislative debates, the Senate and House journals, and the legislative digest, we discerned no intent to link welfare benefits to the single subject of the Act, neighborhood safety. Cervantes, 189 Ill.2d at 94, 243 Ill.Dec. 233, 723 N.E.2d 265. In neither Arangold nor Cervantes, however, were we faced with an argument that legislative materials contradicted the plain language...
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