Zuther v. State

• Decision Date: 21 December 2000
• Docket Number: No. CV-99-0425-PR.,CV-99-0425-PR.
• Citation: 199 Ariz. 104,14 P.3d 295
• Parties: Reinhold F. ZUTHER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE of Arizona, Arizona Department of Corrections, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

14 P.3d 295

199 Ariz. 104

Reinhold F. ZUTHER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE of Arizona, Arizona Department of Corrections, Defendants-Appellees.

No. CV-99-0425-PR.

Supreme Court of Arizona, En Banc.

December 21, 2000.

Reinhold F. Zuther, In Propria Persona, Yuma and Fennemore Craig, by James D. Burgess, Phoenix.

Janet Napolitano, Attorney General, by Randall M. Howe, Assistant Attorney General, Liability Management Section, Phoenix, Attorneys for Defendant/Appellee.

OPINION

JONES, Vice Chief Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

¶ 1 Reinhold F. Zuther was convicted of a felony in 1992 and sentenced to prison. At the time of the conviction, A.R.S. § 31-228 required the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC) to provide the sum of $50 in "gate money" to each prisoner upon release from prison unless the inmate had more than $250 otherwise available.

¶ 2 On April 22, 1993, the legislature enacted A.R.S. § 31-237, effective immediately, which created a "dedicated discharge account" for each inmate and required ADOC to deposit a percentage of inmate prison wages into the account until it contained $50. The same year, the legislature enacted two amendments to § 31-228. Act of April 22, 1993, ch. 242, § 1 (effective April 22, 1993); Act of April 27, 1993, ch. 255, § 60 (effective January 1, 1994). The first, which also took effect April 22, the day of passage, reduced ADOC's contribution of gate money to the difference between the amount on deposit in the prisoner's discharge account and the statutory amount of $50. The second, enacted five days later on April 27, provided prospectively for release of inmates to community supervision programs or conditional parole and also for gate money to inmates thus released whose crimes were committed after January 1, 1994.¹

¶ 3 Thus, once a prisoner had earned enough to bring the balance in his discharge account to $50, gate money allocated from ADOC funds upon discharge from prison would no longer be required. If, however, a prisoner was released before accumulating $50, the difference would be contributed by ADOC. Zuther objected to this withholding and deposit system and filed this action, pro se, alleging that the changes in the gate money statutes could not be applied to him retrospectively, that the legislature had intended the amendments to be applied only to persons convicted of crimes committed after January 1, 1994, and that application of the new laws to him would violate constitutional due process and the prohibition against ex post facto laws. The trial court dismissed Zuther's complaint because a separate statute, A.R.S. § 31-201.01(L), expressly prevented an inmate from filing an action seeking damages under these circumstances.

¶ 4 The court of appeals reversed, holding Zuther's suit proper to the extent he requested declaratory relief from the application of the new gate money statutes. The court determined that the statutes were being misapplied to Zuther, reasoning that retrospective application would affect Zuther's substantive rights by reason of the specific language of prospective application in the April 27 amendment to § 31-228. The state responded with a Petition for Review in this court. We granted review to determine whether changes to Arizona's gate money statutes, § 31-237 and the April 22 amendment to § 31-228, are applicable to inmates convicted of crimes committed before January 1, 1994 and whether, as a matter of law, the lower courts correctly applied those statutes to Zuther. Jurisdiction attaches pursuant to article VI, section 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution.²

II. DISCUSSION

A. The "Gate Money" Statutes

¶ 5 The issue, one of first impression, is whether the 1993 gate money statutes, § 31-237 and the April 22 amendment to § 31-228, apply only to inmates convicted of crimes committed after January 1, 1994. Section 31-237, which established dedicated discharge accounts for prisoners, reads in relevant part:

§ 31-237. Dedicated discharge accounts

A. Each wage earning prisoner who is committed to the department shall deposit into a dedicated discharge account of the prisoner a percentage of wages earned by the prisoner. The percentage shall be determined by the director except that the amount deposited shall not exceed thirty percent of all wages earned by the prisoner. The department shall continue to deposit the percentage of wages earned by the prisoner in the dedicated discharge account until the account registers a fifty dollar balance.

B. The monies that are accumulated in the dedicated discharge account shall be distributed to the prisoner on the prisoner's discharge from the department or transfer to a community release status or to home arrest.

¶ 6 In the same 1993 session, the legislature enacted the two amendments to § 31-228. The April 22 amendment provided that all monies accumulated in a wage-earning prisoner's discharge account would be furnished to the prisoner upon discharge from prison. Gate money for discharged prisoners would thus continue to be paid, but would be funded in the following manner:

Not less than fifty dollars in cash shall be furnished to each nonwage earning inmate not previously paroled or discharged from the state department of corrections, unless such prisoner has immediately available financial resources in excess of two hundred fifty dollars. Except for prisoners who are committed to the department as a condition of probation, if a wage earning prisoner has accumulated less than fifty dollars in the prisoner's dedicated discharge account, the monies accumulated in the account shall be furnished to the prisoner upon the prisoner's parole or discharge, and the state department of corrections shall furnish the difference in cash up to fifty dollars.

1993 Ariz.Sess.Laws, ch. 242, § 1 (effective April 22). The practical effect of this change was to reduce ADOC's contribution of gate money to the difference, if any, between the amount in a prisoner's discharge account and $50. In other words, the law in effect when defendant was sentenced provided $50 in cash upon discharge. The changes required that a prisoner's personal funds up to $50 be applied as gate money through the prisoner's own discharge account.

¶ 7 Like § 31-237, the April 22 amendment took effect April 22. The legislature gave no express direction for prospective or retrospective application of either statute. 1993 Ariz.Sess.Laws 242, § 4.

¶ 8 In contrast, the April 27 amendment came as part of a more comprehensive statutory scheme known as the "Truth in Sentencing Act," which revised multiple sections of Arizona's criminal and penal codes. 1993 Ariz.Sess.Laws 255, §§ 1 through 101. This change, among other things, modified the sentencing structure for criminal offenses, created new types of conditional release for those serving prison sentences, and extended the application of § 31-228 to prisoners released to these new programs. As enacted, however, the April 27 amendment applied "only to persons who commit . . . felon[ies] after the effective date of this act." 1993 Ariz.Sess.Laws 255, § 99. The effective date was expressly fixed at January 1, 1994.

¶ 9 These same-session amendments (April 22 and April 27) were later blended by the Arizona Legislative Council, pursuant to the state's blending statute, A.R.S. § 41-1304.03, to form a single amendment to § 31-228.³ The court of appeals construed the blending statute and restricted the two § 31-228 amendments and the newly enacted § 31-237 to post-January 1, 1994 application only, by reason of the express language of the April 27 amendment fixing its effective date at January 1, 1994.

¶ 10 The appellate court opined that §§ 31-237 and 31-228 "must logically take effect together, for they are two related pieces of one legislative plan; one statute creates and funds the savings account that the other statute uses as the source of the prisoner's `gate money.'" Zuther v. Arizona, 197 Ariz. 45, 47 ¶ 5, 3 P.3d 965, 967 ¶ 5 (App.2000). The appellate court held, perceiving a cohesive legislative scheme, that since application of the April 27 amendment was restricted to "prospective only," neither the April 22 amendment nor § 31-237 could affect inmates whose crimes were committed before January 1, 1994. Zuther, 197 Ariz. at 47 ¶ 6, 3 P.3d at 967 ¶ 6. Zuther, whose felony was committed at least as early as 1992, was therefore declared exempt from the 1993 amendments. Id. at ¶ 8.

¶ 11 We conclude that the court of appeals incorrectly approved blending under § 41-1304.03 and that it was error to limit § 31-237 and the April 22 amendment to inmates whose crimes occurred after January 1, 1994. The sole statute deserving of such application is the April 27 amendment to § 31-228.

B. Application of the Arizona Blending Statute

¶ 12 The state is correct when it argues the January 1, 1994 effective date of the April 27 amendment should have no effect on either § 31-237 or the April 22 amendment. The April 27 amendment was restricted to felonies committed after January 1, 1994 because the new types of inmate release had not existed under prior statutes. Specifically, prior to the 1993 changes, neither conditional parole nor community supervision was permissible. See A.R.S. § 31-228 (Supp.1992). In addition, the April 27 amendment did not purport to change that part of the April 22 amendment that established the dedicated discharge account as a source of gate money. It merely amended the original 1992 version of § 31-228 to include, as of January 1, 1994, prisoners released "conditionally" and on "community supervision." By the time the April 27 amendment was enacted, the April 22 amendment was already in effect.

¶ 13 We conclude the legislature consciously chose the later start date for the April 27 amendment in order to separate the two in both time and substance. The legislative intent emerging from these provisions, viewed separately, is that the April 22 amendment dealing with gate money should...