Along Came Trudy LLC v. OLCC

CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 24, 2024
DocketA178679
StatusPublished

This text of Along Came Trudy LLC v. OLCC (Along Came Trudy LLC v. OLCC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Along Came Trudy LLC v. OLCC, (Or. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

No. 38 January 24, 2024 295

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON

ALONG CAME TRUDY LLC, dba Along Came Trudy, Petitioner, v. OREGON LIQUOR AND CANNABIS COMMISSION, Respondent. Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission OLCC21V003; A178679

Argued and submitted December 5, 2023. Joseph O. Huddleston argued the cause for petitioner. Also on the briefs were Kevin L. Mannix and Kevin L. Mannix, P.C. Inge D. Wells, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. Also on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General. Before Tookey, Presiding Judge, and Egan, Judge, and Kamins, Judge. KAMINS, J. Affirmed. 296 Along Came Trudy LLC v. OLCC Cite as 330 Or App 295 (2024) 297

KAMINS, J. This is a petition for judicial review of an order of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC). Petitioner, doing business as a restaurant and event venue in Lane County, Oregon, challenges the OLCC’s cancella- tion of its liquor license as a sanction for three violations of OAR 845-006-0345(15), an administrative rule of the OLCC prohibiting a licensee from violating “an order issued by the Governor.” The OLCC charged petitioner with violations of Governor Kate Brown’s Executive Order 20-66 (EO 20-66) by permitting indoor dining at its restaurant during a time when indoor restaurant dining was prohibited in Lane County as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Petitioner does not dispute that it violated EO-26 but contends that the OLCC erroneously relied on EO-26’s incorporation of a “guidance” of the Oregon Health Authority that petitioner contends was legally invalid and enforced in violation of the Oregon Constitution. The petition presents questions of stat- utory and constitutional construction that we review under ORS 183.482(8)(a) to determine whether the OLCC “errone- ously interpreted a provision of law.” We conclude that the OLCC did not err and therefore affirm. STATUTORY CONTEXT ORS chapter 401 contains the statutory provisions governing emergencies.1 As relevant here, ORS 401.165(1) (2009)2 provided that the Governor “may declare a state of emergency by proclamation * * * after determining that an emergency has occurred or is imminent.” ORS 401.025(1). A state of emergency declared by the Governor continues until it is terminated either by the Governor or the Legislative Assembly. ORS 401.204(1) (providing that “[t]he Governor shall terminate the state of emergency by proclamation when the emergency no longer exists, or when the threat of an emergency has passed”); ORS 401.204(2) (providing that 1 An “emergency,” as defined in ORS 401.025(1), is “a human created or natu- ral event or circumstance that causes or threatens widespread loss of life, injury to person or property, human suffering or financial loss, including but not limited to * * * disease.” 2 All further references are to the 2009 version of the statute, which was in effect at the relevant time. The statute was amended in 2021, Or Laws 2021 ch 539, § 33, but the amendments do not bear on the issues presented. 298 Along Came Trudy LLC v. OLCC

the state of emergency “may be terminated at any time by a joint resolution of the Legislative Assembly”). The Governor has wide-ranging statutory author- ity during a declared state of emergency. That includes “complete authority over all executive agencies of state gov- ernment and the right to exercise, within the area desig- nated in the proclamation, all police powers vested in the state by the Oregon Constitution in order to effectuate the purposes of this chapter,” ORS 401.168(1), as well as the power to “[r]equire the aid and assistance of any state or other public or quasi-public agencies in the performance of duties and work attendant upon the emergency conditions in such area.” ORS 401.175(5). Additionally, ORS 433.441(4), provides: “If a state of emergency is declared as authorized under ORS 401.165, the Governor may implement any action authorized by ORS 433.441 to 433.452.” The actions authorized by ORS 433.441 to 433.452 include requiring the closure of facilities, regulating goods and ser- vices, and controlling or limiting “entry into, exit from, move- ment within, and the occupancy of premises in any public area subject to or threatened by a public health emergency,” as reasonably necessary to respond to the emergency. ORS 433.441(3)(d). Thus, after the declaration of a state of emergency, within the limits of statutes and the state and federal con- stitutions, the Governor has broad authority under ORS 401.165 to 401.236 to take the actions authorized by those statutes “to effectuate the purposes” of ORS chapter 401. ORS 401.168(1). Most significant to our analysis, ORS 401.192(1) provides: “All rules and orders issued under authority conferred by ORS 401.165 to 401.236 shall have the full force and effect of law both during and after the declaration of a state of emergency. All existing laws, ordinances, rules and orders inconsistent with ORS 401.165 to 401.236 shall be inoperative during the period of time and to the extent such inconsistencies exist.” Cite as 330 Or App 295 (2024) 299

EMERGENCY DECLARATION AND EO 20-66 Pursuant to ORS 401.165(1), on March 8, 2020, the Governor declared a state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the subsequent months, the Governor issued a series of executive orders. In December 2020, the Governor issued EO 20-66, which included a directive to the OHA to develop guidance for the public, employers, and certain sectors of the economy relating to protective measures tied to the spread of COVID- 19 in the community, identified by various risk levels. 3 EO 20-66 stated that the guidance would be subject to approval by the Governor and would be published on the websites of the Governor and the OHA. The executive order further provided:

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Bluebook (online)
Along Came Trudy LLC v. OLCC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/along-came-trudy-llc-v-olcc-orctapp-2024.