Pony Lake School Dist. v. State Committee
| Decision Date | 03 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. S-05-1438.,S-05-1438. |
| Citation | 271 Neb. 173,710 N.W.2d 609 |
| Parties | PONY LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT 30, Rock County, Bassett, Nebraska, et al., appellees and cross-appellants, v. STATE COMMITTEE FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS et al., appellants and cross-appellees. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
Jon Bruning, Attorney General, Dale A. Comer, Lynn A. Melson, and Leslie S. Donley for appellants.
Donald B. Stenberg, Omaha, of Erickson & Sederstrom, P.C., and John F. Recknor, Lincoln, of Recknor, Williams & Wertz, for appellees.
Mark D. McGuire, Lincoln, of McGuire & Norby, for amicus curiae Nebraska State Education Association.
This is an appeal from an order of the district court for Lancaster County permanently enjoining the State Committee for the Reorganization of School Districts (the State Committee) from "issuing, enforcing or implementing any orders to dissolve and/or attach the territories of the Class I school districts in the State of Nebraska pursuant to LB 126" until after the results of a referendum election regarding 2005 Neb. Laws, L.B. 126, are certified from the next general election to be held on November 7, 2006.
The district court's judgment was based on its determination that the June 15 2006, effective date of the State Committee's dissolution and attachment orders impermissibly impedes the ability of the people of Nebraska to exercise their referendum rights in a meaningful way. Implicit in this ruling is the district court's determination that the effective date of L.B. 126 is unconstitutional under the referendum provisions of the Nebraska Constitution. Both parties agree that this was the basis of the court's permanent injunction order.
L.B. 126 was passed — over the Governor's veto on June 3, 2005. The act requires the reorganization of school districts so that all Nebraska school districts offer education in grades kindergarten through 12. See Neb.Rev.Stat. § 79-401(1) (Supp.2005). Specifically, the act required the State Committee to dissolve Class I school districts and to attach their territory to one or more Class II, III, IV, and VI school districts with which the Class I district was previously associated with or a part of by December 1, 2005. Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 79-4,113(1) and 79-4,114(1) (Supp.2005). These orders are not effective until June 15, 2006. See §§ 79-4,113(4) and 79-4,114(7).
In response to the passage of L.B. 126, a group of Nebraska citizens identified as the "Nebraskans for Local Schools Committee" sponsored a referendum petition to refer L.B. 126 to the voters for their approval or rejection. See Neb. Const. art. III, § 3. On September 1, 2005, the sponsors timely filed their petition with the Secretary of State. On October 24, the Secretary of State found that of the 1,128,694 registered voters in Nebraska on September 1, the sponsors had collected 87.-006 valid signatures statewide (a little more than 7.7 percent), and the valid signatures of 5 percent of registered voters in 67 out of 93 counties. These signatures constituted an amount and distribution sufficient to satisfy the constitutional requirements for placing the referendum measure on the ballot at the next general election to be held in November 2006. The Secretary of State also found, however, that the sponsors fell short of satisfying the requirement of obtaining the signatures of 10 percent of registered voters in order to suspend the act's operation. See Neb. Const. art. III, § 3. None of the parties contest the number of valid signatures.
On October 25, 2005, several Class I school districts, three individuals who were registered voters and patrons of the Class I school districts, and a Class III school district (collectively plaintiffs) filed a class action suit against the State Committee and its members, seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction. Plaintiffs alleged four "causes of action."
First, plaintiffs alleged that by dissolving Class I school districts with an effective date of June 15, 2006, prior to the referendum election to be held in November 2006, the Legislature has "improperly and unconstitutionally stripped Nebraska voters of the right to vote on this question guaranteed to the voters by Article III, Sections 1, 3 and 4 of the Nebraska Constitution because the repeal of LB 126 . . . would not restore Class I school districts." Second, plaintiffs alleged that the June 15, 2006, effective date of the dissolutions violated their "fundamental right to vote" on "the question of the forced consolidation of Class I school districts" as "guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and by Article I, Section 22 of the Nebraska Constitution." Third, plaintiffs alleged L.B. 126 would render a successful repeal of the act an unauthorized advisory vote because the act's repeal would not reinstate Class I schools. Finally, plaintiffs alleged that the number of signatures they submitted was "more than ten percent of the number of votes cast for Governor at the general election in 2002" and that "therefore[,] the taking effect of LB 126 has been suspended pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Nebraska Constitution."
On October 27, 2005, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, additionally requesting the court to declare unconstitutional all provisions of L.B. 126 that required the dissolution and attachment of Class I school districts before the referendum election to be held on November 7, 2006.
In a written order entered on November 14, 2005, granting plaintiffs' request for a temporary injunction, the district court recognized that the First Amendment prohibits states from impermissibly burdening the right to petition the government by initiative or referendum when the citizens of a state have reserved that right to themselves. However, the court concluded that the First Amendment protections were not violated by L.B. 126.
In addressing Nebraska's referendum provisions, the district court acknowledged that L.B. 126 was not intended or designed to facilitate or impede the operation of the referendum process. Nonetheless, it found the act's "deadline for the dissolution and attachment of the territories of the Class I school districts impedes and hampers, or renders ineffective, the ability of the people to complete their exercise of the referendum power in a meaningful manner," because "at the time of the general election, the effects of the legislation [will] have already been accomplished." The court further found that because Class I districts would be dissolved and reorganized 5 months before the referendum election, the vote would
On November 18, 2005, plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint. The second amended complaint included the additional claim that unless L.B. 126 is enjoined, Nebraska voters and citizens would be denied their right to free speech. Specifically, it was alleged that because the referendum vote would be meaningless without an injunction, discussion of the referendum issues would be curtailed, the supporters of the referendum would be unable to reach a large audience, and their ability to raise money would be "all but impossible" when Class I school districts had already ceased to exist. Plaintiffs' claim for relief again requested a permanent injunction until after the November 7, 2006, election.
On November 22, 2005, the district court conducted a trial on plaintiffs' request for a permanent injunction and declaratory judgment. In a written order granting the permanent injunction, entered on November 29, the district court first determined that the suit could not be maintained as a class action. In regard to plaintiffs' request for a permanent injunction, the district court explicitly incorporated the previous findings from its temporary injunction order. The court restated its conclusion that while L.B. 126 was not intended to interfere with the people's right to exercise their power of referendum, the act nonetheless irreparably harmed the people of Nebraska because a referendum election would be rendered meaningless by the act's June 15, 2006, effective date for the State Committee's orders of dissolution and attachment of Class I schools. The court therefore granted a permanent injunction prohibiting the State Committee from issuing those orders until the results of the referendum election were known.
The district court denied plaintiffs' request for a declaration that L.B. 126 was unconstitutional, concluding that because it had granted plaintiffs' request for a permanent injunction, there was no justiciable issue between the parties. Despite the court's denial of declaratory relief, however, the basis for the court's granting of the injunction was indisputably the purported unconstitutionality of the act's effective date.
The State Committee filed a notice of appeal on November 30, 2005. Given the questions involved, this court has expedited the appeal.
The State Committee assigns the district court erred in (1) determining that L.B. 126 impedes the exercise of the referendum power in violation of Neb. Const. art. III, §§ 1, 3, and 4; (2) granting a permanent injunction when plaintiffs have no clear right to relief under these referendum provisions; and (3) determining that plaintiffs would be irreparably harmed if L.B. 126 were fully implemented before the referendum election to be held in November 2006.
On cross-appeal, plaintiffs assign, restated, that the district court erred in failing to determine that allowing the State Committee to dissolve Class I school districts before...
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