Regional Transp. Dist. v. Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment, Div. of Labor

• Citation: 830 P.2d 942
• Decision Date: 26 May 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91SA393,91SA393
• Parties: REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT, a political subdivision of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, DIVISION OF LABOR, David D. Mitchem, in his official capacity as Director of the Division of Labor, and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Supreme Court of Colorado

Page 942

830 P.2d 942

REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT, a political subdivision of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, DIVISION OF LABOR, David D. Mitchem, in his official capacity as Director of the Division of Labor, and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 91SA393.

Supreme Court of Colorado,

En Banc.

May 26, 1992.

Eiberger, Stacy, Smith & Martin, Raymond W. Martin, Rodney L. Smith and Roy A. Adkins, Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.

Gale A. Norton, Atty. Gen., Raymond T. Slaughter, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Timothy M. Tymkovich, Sol. Gen., and John D. Baird, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for defendants-appellants Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment, Div. of Labor, and David M. Mitchem, in his official capacity as Director of the Div. of Labor.

Donald P. MacDonald and Lynne L. Hicks, Denver, for defendant-appellant Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001.

Justice ERICKSON delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This appeal is from an order issued by the Director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Labor, (Director) under sections 8-3-112(2), 3B C.R.S. (1986), and 8-3-113(3), 3B C.R.S. (1986), directing Regional Transportation District (RTD) to submit unresolved collective bargaining issues to binding arbitration. RTD contends that the provisions of sections 8-3-112(2) and 8-3-113(3) that require binding arbitration of unresolved collective bargaining issues constitute an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority. Consequently, RTD refused to submit to arbitration and appealed the Director's order. The district court reversed the Director's order and granted summary judgment for RTD. The Division of Labor (Division), the Director, and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001 (ATU) appealed. We hold that, consistent with the nondelegation provisions of both article V, section 35, and article XXI, section 4, of the Colorado Constitution, RTD can be required by legislation to submit to binding interest arbitration to resolve a labor dispute with its employees' representative, the ATU. Accordingly, we reverse the summary judgment and remand to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I

The facts are not disputed. The Labor Peace Act regulates the conduct of the parties to a labor dispute. §§ 8-3-101 to -123, 3B C.R.S. (1986 & 1991 Supp.); City of Golden v. Ford, 141 Colo. 472, 348 P.2d 951 (1960). Sections 8-3-112 and 8-3-113 govern mediation and arbitration between an authority, such as RTD, ¹ and its employees.

ATU is a collective bargaining unit that represents the employees of RTD. On December 4, 1990, ATU, pursuant to section 8-3-113(3), ² filed a notice of intent to strike after the expiration of its labor agreement with RTD on February 28, 1991. At the request of the Director, RTD and ATU engaged in negotiations and mediation from February 1991 to June 1991. When the parties failed to resolve their dispute, the Director held a hearing to determine whether to allow the strike. On August 20, 1991, the Director held that a strike would interfere with the preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, denied ATU's request to strike, and ordered ATU and RTD to submit their dispute to an arbitrator in accordance with section 8-3-112(2). ³ RTD appealed the order to the district court and sought injunctive relief. In the interim, arbitration was held ⁴ and, on October 14, 1991, the arbitrator issued an award within the parameters of each party's last bargaining offer. RTD refused to implement the award.

On appeal of the Director's order to arbitrate, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of RTD, concluding that RTD has standing to challenge the constitutionality of sections 8-3-112(2) and 8-3-113(3) ⁵ and that the interest arbitration provisions are unconstitutional. The district court determined that RTD is a quasi-municipal corporation and performs municipal functions. Therefore, it found that the General Assembly's provision for binding arbitration upon the order of the Director constitutes "[t]he delegation of decision-making authority to a nongovernmental arbitrator so that that individual can determine the terms and conditions of public employment" and is "an unlawful delegation of legislative authority." The district court also found that there was insufficient governmental oversight to safeguard the arbitrator's acts and cited Greeley Police Union v. City Council, 191 Colo. 419, 553 P.2d 790 (1976), City & County of Denver v. Denver Firefighters Local No. 858, 663 P.2d 1032 (Colo.1983), and City of Aurora v. Aurora Firefighters' Protective Association, 193 Colo. 437, 566 P.2d 1356 (1977), for the proposition that "Colorado courts have consistently held that binding interest arbitration is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority."

On October 31, 1991, the district court certified its order as a final judgment, which permitted an immediate appeal pursuant to C.R.C.P. 54(b), and stayed RTD's remaining claims pending our resolution of the constitutional issue. ATU and the Division appealed to this court.

II

RTD contends and the district court found that the provisions of sections 8-3-112(2) and 8-3-113(3) that authorize the Director to order arbitration constitute an unconstitutional delegation of legislative responsibilities.

A statute is presumed to be constitutional and will be upheld unless the party attacking the statute proves that the statute is unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt. E.g., Renteria v. Colorado State Dept. of Personnel, 811 P.2d 797, 799 (Colo.1991); Colorado Ass'n of Pub. Employees v. Board of Regents, 804 P.2d 138, 142 (Colo.1990). A statute should be construed, if possible, to be constitutional. See, e.g., Colorado Ass'n of Pub. Employees, 804 P.2d 138; Colorado Springs Fire Fighters Ass'n, Local 5 v. City of Colorado Springs, 784 P.2d 766 (Colo.1989); People v. Schwartz, 678 P.2d 1000 (Colo.1984) (courts have duty to interpret statutes to uphold their constitutionality). If the statutes in issue may be reasonably given a constitutional interpretation, we must do so.

This case was concluded with the entry of summary judgment in favor of RTD. Summary judgment is appropriate only if "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." C.R.C.P. 56(c); see, e.g., Churchey v. Adolph Coors Co., 759 P.2d 1336 (Colo.1988); United States v. Jesse, 744 P.2d 491 (Colo.1987). Thus, even if the underlying historical facts are undisputed, summary judgment must be denied if application of the law to the facts lends itself to different inferences that create an issue of fact. Mt. Emmons Mining Co. v. Town of Crested Butte, 690 P.2d 231 (Colo.1984).

A

RTD asserts that the provisions in sections 8-3-112(2) and 8-3-113(3) that require it to engage in arbitration upon the order of the Director violate article V, section 35, because RTD is a municipality or, alternatively, because setting the terms and conditions of employment for its employees is a municipal function. We disagree.

Article V, section 35, of the Colorado Constitution provides:

The general assembly shall not delegate to any special commission, private corporation or association, any power to make, supervise or interfere with any municipal improvement, money, property or effects, whether held in trust or otherwise, or to levy taxes or perform any municipal function whatever.

In determining whether article V, section 35 applies to RTD, we must first look to the language contained in the constitution. City of Durango v. Durango Transp., Inc., 807 P.2d 1152, 1155 (Colo.1991); Colorado State Civil Serv. Employees Ass'n v. Love, 167 Colo. 436, 445, 448 P.2d 624, 628 (1968). "Where the language of the Constitution is plain and its meaning clear, that language must be declared and enforced as written." Colorado Ass'n of Pub. Employees v. Lamm, 677 P.2d 1350, 1353 (Colo.1984). Summary judgment was proper only if RTD is a municipality or the setting of terms of an employment contract to which RTD is a party constitutes a municipal function.

The term "municipal" as used in article V, section 35, of the Colorado Constitution is not limited to cities and towns. See Durango, 807 P.2d 1152 (acknowledging that the Colorado Constitution does not define the term "municipal"). In Durango we stated that the purpose of article V, section 35, is to protect the right to local self-government over local services. Id. at 1157 (citing Town of Holyoke v. Smith, 75 Colo. 286, 226 P. 158 (1924)). We adopted a "functional" approach for determining whether a unit of government is a municipality and a particular service is a municipal service within the meaning of article V, section 35. In holding that the term "municipal" applies to counties when engaged in providing mass transit entirely within county boundaries, we noted that the "county residents have the power to effect change in the governing board responsible for the quality of service provided by a county owned mass transit system operating within county boundaries." Durango, 807 P.2d at 1157-58. Similarly in Holyoke, we held that article V, section 35, prohibits Public Utility Commission regulation of rates charged by a municipally owned utility providing electric service to customers within the boundaries of the municipality. Holyoke, 75 Colo. at 298, 226 P. at 162. Because the only parties affected by the utility rates were "the municipality and its citizens, and, since the municipal government is chosen by the people, they need no protection by an outside body." Id. at 296, 226 P. at 161. The affected citizens were fully able to remedy any perceived problems in the setting of utility rates through the regular election process or exercise of the right of recall. Id. When a city supplies utility services outside its municipal...