Treadway v. State
| Decision Date | 13 April 1999 |
| Docket Number | 80935 |
| Citation | 988 S.W.2d 508 |
| Parties | This slip opinion is subject to revision and may not reflect the final opinion adopted by the Court. Joseph Treadway, Appellant, v. State of Missouri, et al., Respondents. Case Number: 80935 Supreme Court of Missouri Handdown Date: 0 |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal From: Circuit Court of Cole County, Hon. Thomas J. Brown III
Counsel for Appellant: Robert L. DeVoto and Howard Paperner
Counsel for Respondent: Paul R. Maguffee
Opinion Summary: The clean air act and its accompanying regulations establish standards for ozone pollution and require that areas failing to meet those standards be designated as "nonattainment" areas. 42 U.S.C. sections 7407, 7409, 7511 (1994); C.F.R. part 50 (1997). When air pollution in the St. Louis region exceeded federal clean air standards, Missouri was required to establish a program to bring the region into compliance or face sanctions, which might include loss of federal highway construction funds. To meet the federal requirements, the General Assembly enacted section 307.366 and sections 643.305 et seq. to set up vehicle emission testing programs in the St. Louis region. Joseph Treadway challenges these sections, asserting that they violate the constitutional restriction on local or special legislation, article III, section 40(30) of the Missouri Constitution, and the constitutional provision related to classification of counties in article VI, section 8. The circuit court granted summary judgment in the state's favor.
AFFIRMED.
Court en banc holds: 1. Missouri's vehicle emissions testing statutes are general laws because they are open-ended and rationally related to legitimate purposes. Article III, section 40(30) of the Missouri Constitution provides that "[t]he general assembly shall not pass any local or special law ... where a general law can be made applicable." Sections 307.366 and 643.305 employ open-ended criteria, identifying the counties by factors that change such as by reference to county classification, population, charter status and nonattainment criteria. The fact that currently the statute applies only to the St. Louis metropolitan region does not necessarily make the act a special law because the act can apply to other counties that attain the same statutory criteria in the future. Treadway has not carried his burden to prove that the statutes are arbitrary and without a rational relationship to a legislative purpose.
2. Sections 307.366 and 643.305 were not promulgated as special or local laws. Article III, section 40(30) prohibits the passage of any local or special law "where a general law can be made applicable." The General Assembly perhaps could have enacted the statutes as local or special laws, as the problem affects only the St. Louis area. But sections 307.366 and 643.305 are not promulgated as special or local laws because the General Assembly did not follow the constitutional provision requiring publication of notice in affected localities, article III, section 42. The mere fact that the General Assembly perhaps could have enacted these provisions as local laws does not perforce make them local laws where, as here, the General Assembly chooses to deal with the subject in a general law.
3. Article VI, section 8 of the Missouri Constitution does not apply. In oral argument, Treadway appears to have conceded that it does not apply. Missouri vehicle emission statutes do not affect the organization, classification, and powers of counties.
Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED.
When air pollution in the St. Louis region exceeded federal clean air act standards, Missouri was required to establish a program to bring the region into compliance with the federal standards or to face sanctions, which might include loss of federal highway construction funds. To meet the federal requirements the general assembly enacted section 307.366 and sections 643.305 et seq.1 to set up vehicle emission testing programs in the St. Louis region. Joseph Treadway challenges these sections, asserting that they violate the constitutional restriction on local or special legislation, art. III, section 40(30) of the Missouri Constitution, and the constitutional provision related to classification of counties in art. VI, section 8. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the state and against Treadway. Because of the constitutional question, we have jurisdiction under art. V, section 3. We affirm.
The clean air act and its accompanying regulations establish standards for ozone pollution and require that those areas failing to meet those standards be designated as "nonattainment" areas. 42 U.S.C. sections 7407, 7409, 7511 (1994); C.F.R. part 50 (1997). The classification of the ozone nonattainment areas is based on the amount by which they exceed the standard: marginal, moderate, serious, severe, or extreme. 42 U.S.C. sections 7407, 7511 (1994). The St. Louis area, consisting of three counties in Illinois and Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, and St. Louis counties and the City of St. Louis in Missouri, is designated as a moderate ozone nonattainment area.
Federal law mandates that each state implement a basic vehicle inspection and maintenance program in any moderate ozone nonattainment area. 42 U.S.C. section 7511a(b)(4). Each state must establish a "rate of progress plan" to reduce emissions of certain pollutants in a moderate nonattainment area. 42 U.S.C. section 751 a(b)(1)(A). Additionally, each state must establish an enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program in order to obtain credit for reductions resulting from a vehicle inspection and maintenance program. 42 U.S.C. section 7511a(b)(1)(D)(iv). At the time this program was enacted, the St. Louis region was the only part of the state that needed to have an enhanced vehicle inspection program in order to have its progress recognized.
Section 307.366 provides the authority for Missouri to establish a basic vehicle inspection and maintenance program, while section 643.305 et seq. provides the authority for the air conservation commission to establish an enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program. Section 307.366.1 provides:
This enactment of the emissions inspection program is a mandate of the United States Congress pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 7401, et seq. In any city not within a county, any county of the first classification having a population of over nine hundred thousand inhabitants according to the most recent decennial census, any county of the first classification with a charter form of government and a population of not more than two hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants and not less than two hundred thousand inhabitants according to the most recent decennial census, any county of the first classification without a charter form of government with a population of not more than one hundred eighty thousand inhabitants and not less than one hundred seventy thousand inhabitants according to the most recent decennial census and any county of the first classification without a charter form of government with a population of not more than eighty-two thousand inhabitants and not less than eighty thousand inhabitants according to the most recent decennial census, as a part of the motor vehicle inspection procedure required by sections 307.350 to 307.390, certain motor vehicles shall be tested to determine that the emissions system is functioning within the emission standards as specified by the Missouri air conservation commission and as required to attain the national health standards for air quality.
Section 643.305.1 provides:
The air conservation commission shall adopt a state implementation plan to bring all nonattainment areas of the state which are located within a city not within a county, any county of the first classification having a population of over nine hundred thousand inhabitants, any county of the first classification with a charter form of government and a population of not more than two hundred twenty thousand inhabitants and not less than two hundred thousand inhabitants, any county of the first classification without a charter form of government with a population of not more than one hundred eighty thousand inhabitants and not less than one hundred seventy thousand inhabitants and any county of the first classification without a charter form of government with a population of not more than eighty-two thousand inhabitants and not less than eighty thousand inhabitants, into compliance with and to maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and any regulations promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Clean Air Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 7401, et seq., on the required date or dates as such dates are established under the federal Clean Air Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 7401, et seq., including any extensions authorized pursuant to that act.
Treadway challenges the validity of these two statutes, specifically contending that these statutes violate Missouri Constitution, article III, section 40(30), dealing with prohibitions against passage of a local or special law where a general law could be applicable, and article VI, section 8, dealing with classification of counties.
Article III, section 40(30) of the Missouri Constitution provides that "[t]he general assembly shall not pass any local or special law ... where a general law can be made applicable." Whether a general law could have been made applicable is a judicial question to be judicially determined. Id. The issue of whether a statute is, on its face, a special law or local law depends on the whether the classification is open-ended. Tillis v. City of Branson, 945 S.W.2d 447, 449 (Mo. banc 1997). Classifications...
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