Tyma v. Montgomery County

Decision Date14 June 2002
Docket NumberNo. 20,20
Citation801 A.2d 148,369 Md. 497
PartiesSteve TYMA, et al., v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Maryland.
CourtMaryland Court of Appeals

Robert W. Ash (Vincent P. McCarthy of the American Center for Law and Justice Northeast, Inc., New Milford, CT; Robert R. McGill, Walkersville), all on brief, for petitioners.

Edward B. Lattner, Associate County Atty. (Charles W. Thompson, Jr., County Atty., and Marc P. Hansen, Chief, on brief), Rockville, for respondent.

Benjamin S. Boyd, Piper, Marbury, Rudnick & Wolfe, LLP, Washington, DC, Jennifer Rohr, Michael C. Hanlon, Piper, Marbury, Rudnick & Wolfe, LLP, Baltimore, brief of the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, the City of Takoma Park, the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Free State Justice, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland, Inc., Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund and the Public Justice Center, Inc., as amici curiae in support of appellee.

Arthur B. Spitzer, American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area, Washington, DC, Deborah A. Jeon, American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Baltimore, of counsel. J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Kathryn M. Rowe, Asst. Atty. Gen., Annapolis, brief of State of Maryland, amicus curiae.

Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, and BATTAGLIA, JJ.

BELL, Chief Justice.

The question this case presents is whether Montgomery County, Maryland, ("the appellee" or "the County"), exceeded its authority under, or otherwise contravened, State and federal law by enacting an ordinance that extends employment benefits to the domestic partners of county employees. The trial court, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, concluded that the Montgomery County Council had authority under the Maryland Constitution and laws to enact such benefits legislation and further, that the ordinance was a local law that did not conflict with, and, therefore, was not preempted by, State or federal law. We agree. Accordingly, we shall affirm the judgment of the trial court.

I.

On November 30, 1999, the Montgomery County Council (the "Council") enacted and the County Executive signed, Montgomery County Bill No. 29-99, the "Employee Benefits Equity Act of 1999 (the "Act")." Generally, the Act, which became effective March 3, 2000 and applies to all active and retired County employees, extends benefits, such as health, leave, and survivor benefits comparable to those afforded the spouses of County employees, to the domestic partners of County employees. In enacting the ordinance, the Council noted the County's "longstanding policy, in law and practice, against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation," as well as its belief that "it is unfair to treat employees differently based solely on whether the employee's partner is legally recognized as a spouse." See § 33-22(a).1 In addition, the Council found that "many private and public employers provide or plan to provide benefits for the domestic partners of their employees" and that "[p]roviding domestic partner benefits will significantly enhance the County's ability to recruit and retain highly qualified employees and will promote employee loyalty and workplace diversity." Id.

The Act amended the definitions of "immediate family" and "relative" in Chapter 19A, Ethics, of the County Code, expanding them to include domestic partners, see id. at §§ 19A-4(i)2 and (n),3 thus, extending to domestic partners "benefits equivalent to those available for an employee's spouse or spouse's dependent," including those benefits available "under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 ("COBRA"), the federal Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), and other federal laws that apply to County employment benefits." Id. at § 33-22(b). To qualify as a domestic partner for purposes of the Act, the County employee and his or her partner must satisfy all of a number of specific requirements or, in the event a domestic partnership registration system exists in the jurisdiction in which the employee resides and the County's Director of Human Resources determines that the legal requirements for registration are substantially similar, legally register the domestic partnership. See § 33-22(c).4 A domestic partnership terminates, § 33-22(e) instructs, by the death of a partner or its dissolution, see subsection (e)(1), or the occurrence of "any other change in circumstances that disqualifies the relationship as a domestic partnership," see subsection (e)(2), either of which the employee is required to notify the County of within 30 days.

The appellants, employees and residents of Montgomery County, filed an action in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, in which they requested the court to enter a declaratory judgment that the Act is invalid and an order enjoining its implementation. In their complaint, the appellants alleged, as they would later argue, that the Act exceeded the County's authority to enact local laws, conflicted with State law, was preempted by federal law, and was unconstitutionally vague.5 The Circuit Court rejected all of these arguments. Thus, it granted the County's motion for summary judgment, denied the appellants' cross-motion, and declared the Act constitutional.6 Dissatisfied with that result, the appellants noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals and filed in this Court a Petition for Writ of Certiorari, which we granted while the appeal was pending in the intermediate appellate court. As indicated, we shall affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court, holding that, despite the challenges presented by the appellants, the County's action in passing the Act is authorized under the constitution and laws of this State and that it conflicts with neither State nor federal law.

II.

The trial court properly grants summary judgment, in accordance with Maryland Rule 2-501 (e), "if the motion and response show that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that the party in whose favor judgment is entered is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Jones v. Mid-Atlantic Funding Co., 362 Md. 661, 675-76, 766 A.2d 617, 624-25 (2001); Hartford Ins. Co. v. Manor Inn of Bethesda, Inc., 335 Md. 135, 144, 642 A.2d 219, 224 (1994); Gross v. Sussex, Inc., 332 Md. 247, 255, 630 A.2d 1156, 1160 (1993). This Court, like any appellate court, reviews the grant of summary judgment to determine whether the trial court was legally correct in entering the judgment. Murphy v. Merzbacher, 346 Md. 525, 530-31, 697 A.2d 861, 864 (1997); Goodwich v. Sinai Hosp., Inc., 343 Md. 185, 204, 680 A.2d 1067, 1076 (1996); Hartford Ins. Co., 335 Md. at 144, 642 A.2d at 224; Gross, 332 Md. at 255, 630 A.2d at 1160. And, because an appellate court has ` "the same information from the record and decide[s] the same issues of law as the trial court,'" its review of an order granting summary judgment is de novo. Green v. H & R Block, Inc., 355 Md. 488, 502, 735 A.2d 1039, 1047 (1999) (quoting Heat & Power v. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., 320 Md. 584, 591-92, 578 A.2d 1202, 1206 (1990)).

III

Article XI-A of the State Constitution, known as the "Home Rule Amendment," enabled counties, like Montgomery County, which chose to adopt a home rule charter, to achieve a significant degree of political self-determination. See McCrory Corp. v. Fowler, 319 Md. 12, 16, 570 A.2d 834, 835 (1990). "Its purpose was to [] transfer the General Assembly's power to enact many types of county public local laws to the Art. XI-A home rule counties." Id. at 16, 570 A.2d at 836, citing generally, Bd. of Election Laws v. Talbot County, 316 Md. 332, 344, 558 A.2d 724, 730 (1989); Griffith v. Wakefield, 298 Md. 381, 384, 470 A.2d 345, 347 (1984); Mayor and Council of Forest Heights v. Frank, 291 Md. 331, 342, 435 A.2d 425 (1981); Cheeks v. Cedlair Corp., 287 Md. 595, 597-598, 415 A.2d 255, 256 (1980). We explained the rationale in State v. Stewart, 152 Md. 419, 422, 137 A. 39, 41 (1927):

"The wisdom of incorporating in the organic law of the state such provisions as are contained in this article had been urged for a number of years prior to its adoption, the reasons assigned by its proponents being that a larger measure of home rule be secured to the people of the respective political subdivisions of the state in matters of purely local concern, in order that there should be the fullest measure of local self-government, and that these local questions should thus be withdrawn from consideration by the General Assembly, leaving that body more time to consider and pass upon general legislation, and to prevent the passage of such legislation from being influenced by what is popularly known as `log-rolling'; that is, by influencing the attitude and vote of members of the General Assembly upon proposed general laws by threatening the defeat or promising the support of local legislation in which a particular member might be peculiarly interested."

Sections 1 and 1A of Article XI-A empower Baltimore City and the counties in Maryland to adopt a charter form of local government. Section 2 requires the General Assembly to provide a grant of express powers for charter home rule counties. Section 3 empowers any county adopting a charter form of government, "[f]rom and after the adoption of a charter," to enact local laws upon all matters covered by the express powers the General assembly was authorized to grant, "except that in the case of any conflict between said local law and any General Public Law now or hereafter enacted the General Public Law shall control."

Md. Ann.Code, Art. 25A (1957, 1985 Repl.Vol., 2001 Supp.), the "Express Powers Act," was the legislative response, given by Ch. 456 of the Laws of Maryland of 1918, to the directive contained in § 2 of Article XI-A. Section 5(S) of the Express Powers Act...

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