Russell v. Treasurer and Receiver General

• Decision Date: 16 June 1954
• Citation: 120 N.E.2d 388,331 Mass. 501
• Parties: RUSSELL et al. v. TREASURER AND RECEIVER GENERAL et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 388

120 N.E.2d 388

331 Mass. 501

RUSSELL et al. v. TREASURER AND RECEIVER GENERAL et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Argued May 4, 1954.

Decided June 16, 1954.

Henry E. Patnaude, Springfield, (Aldo P. Villani & Robert V. Zlotnick, Springfield, with him) for petitioner.

Hugh Morton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

Before QUA, C. J., and LUMMUS, SPALDING, WILLIAMS and COUNIHAN, JJ.

WILLIAMS, Justice.

This is a petition by twenty-five taxable inhabitants of the Commonwealth to restrain the Commonwealth from expending money to reimburse the cities and towns, which have accepted St.1953, c. 434, forty per cent of the amounts which they have expended for the purposes of this act. G.L.(Ter.Ed.) c. 29, § 63, inserted by St.1937, c. 157.

The respondents are the Treasurer and Receiver General, the temporary State housing rent cordinator, and the comptroller. All respondents have appeared and answered by the Attorney General. G.L.(Ter.Ed.) c. 12, § 3. There is a statement of agreed facts wherein it is stated that the petitioners are taxable inhabitants of the Commonwealth that they bring their petition under G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 29, § 63; that the respondents are respectively the Treasurer and Receiver General, temporary State housing rent cordinator, and comptroller of the Commonwealth; that St.1953, c. 434, was approved as an emergency law on June 2, 1953; that certain cities and towns have made expenditures to control rents as authorized by the act; that it is the duty of the temporary State chousing rent cordinator to certify such expenditures to the comptroller; and that the Treasurer and Receiver General is obliged to disburse public funds in accordance with the certificate.

The case was reserved and reported without decision to the full court by a single justice of this court upon the petition, the respondents' answer, and the statement of agreed facts.

At issue are the validity of the enactment of St.1953, c. 434, as an emergency measure and its constitutionality.

The validity of the enactment is questioned on the ground that the preamble does not conform to art. 48 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, The Referendum, II, as amended by art. 67 of such Amendments, which reads, so far as here material: 'A law declared to be an emergency law shall contain a preamble setting forth the facts constituting the emergency, and shall contain the statement that such law is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or convenience.' The act is entitled 'An Act relative to rent control', and the preamble reads: 'Whereas, the deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose which is, in part, to alleviate the severe shortage of rental housing in certain areas of the commonwealth which shortage has caused a serious emergency detrimental to the public peace, health, safety and convenience, therefore this act is hereby declared on be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, welfare, safety and convenience.' It contains the required statement that the law is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, and convenience, and sets forth as a fact that its purpose is to alleviate the severe shortage of rental housing in certain areas which has caused a serious emergency. Although, technically, it is the purpose of the act which is stated as a fact, the statement amounts to a declaration that there is a severe shortage of rental housing in certain areas which has caused a serious emergency and that the purpose of the act is to alleviate this shortage. That such is the intended meaning is made plain by reference to § 1 of the act which reads in part: 'The general court finds and declares that a serious public emergency exists with respect to the housing of a substantial number of citizens in certain areas of this commonwealth, which emergency has been created by war, the effects of war and the national emergency which presently confronts our nation, and which has resulted in a substantial shortage of rental housing accommodations'. We think the preamble is adequate to validate the act as an emergency measure. See Prescott v. Secretary of Commonwealth, 299 Mass. 191, 197, 12 N.E.2d 462. Compare Payne v. Graham, 118 Me. 251, 107 A. 709, 7 A.L.R. 516.

The act continues under the control of the Commonwealth for a limited period those rents previously controlled under Title II of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, U.S.C.1946 ed., Sup. V., Title 50, Appendix, 1891-1910 [50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, §§ 1891-1910] which, as to its provisions respecting rent control, expired on July 31, 1953. The instant act provides that in any town or city, which between the date of its passage (June 2, 1953) and June 30, 1954, accepts its provisions by a vote which shall include 'a declaration that a substantial shortage of rental housing accommodations exists * * * and that the control of rents therein is necessary in the public interest' § 12, a rent board may be established by the local authorities, to administer the act, § 4(a), the actions, regulations, and orders of which are subject to judicial review, § 6. 'Forty per cent of the amounts expended by the cities and towns for the purposes of this act with the approval of the rent boards shall be reimbursed by the commonwealth upon approval and certification to the comptroller by the co-ordinator' § 4(c). The act shall terminate on June 30, 1954, provided, however, that any city or town may vote to continue its provisions for an additional period of nine months, § 14. A city or town which has accepted the act may at any time rescind its action, § 12.

In § 5 it is provided: '(a) Subject to the provisions hereof, no person shall demand, accept or receive any rent for the use or occupancy of any controlled housing accommodations greater than the maximum rent established therefor by federal rent controls in force immediately preceding the effective date of this act; provided, however, that the city or town rent board shall, by regulation of order, make such individual and general adjustments in such maximum rents with respect to any housing accommodations or any class of housing accommodations as may be necessary to remove hardships or to correct other inequities * * *. (b) The rent board is authorized and directed to remove any or all maximum rents in such city or town or portion thereof or with respect to any class of housing accommodations if in its judgment the need for continuing maximum rents in such city or town or portion thereof or with respect to such class of housing accommodations no longer exists, due to sufficient construction of new housing accommodations or when the demand for rental housing accommodations has been otherwise reasonably met. The rent board may re-establish maximum rents in such city or town or with respect to those housing accommodations referred to in section two (b)(3)(iii) and (iv) if, in its judgment, such action again becomes necessary to carry out the purposes of this act and provided, further, that it finds and declares that a substantial shortage of rental housing accommodations exists in such city or town and that the control of rents therein is necessary in the public interest.'

Section 2(b) provides in part that the following described accommodations are excepted from control: '(3) Any housing accommodations (i) the construction of which was completed on or after February first, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, or which are housing accommodations created by a change from a non-housing to a housing use on or after February first, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, or which are additional housing accommodations created by conversion on or after February first nineteen hundred and forty-seven; provided, however, that any housing accommodations resulting from any conversion created on or after April first, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, shall continue to be controlled housing accommodations unless the city or town rent board issues an order decontrolling them, which it shall issue if it finds that the conversion resulted in additional, self-contained family units as defined by regulations issued by it; or (ii) the construction of which was completed on or after February first, nineteen hundred and forty-five, and prior to February first, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, and which between the date of completion and June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, both dates inclusive, at no time were rented, other than to members of the immediate family of the landlord, as housing accommodations; or (iii) which on the effective date of this act are vacant or later become vacant, except as otherwise provided in section five (b); or (iv) which on the effective date of this act had a rental at the gross monthly rate of more than one hundred and fifty dollars; * * * or (5) Any housing accommodation which was not controlled under any provision of any federal rent control law or regulation in effect immediately preceding the effective date of this act; or (6)...