Bingo Catering & Supplies, Inc. v. Duncan

699 P.2d 512, 237 Kan. 352, 1985 Kan. LEXIS 386
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMay 10, 1985
Docket57,279
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 699 P.2d 512 (Bingo Catering & Supplies, Inc. v. Duncan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bingo Catering & Supplies, Inc. v. Duncan, 699 P.2d 512, 237 Kan. 352, 1985 Kan. LEXIS 386 (kan 1985).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Miller, J.:

This is an appeal by the defendant, the Secretary of Revenue, from an order of the Shawnee County District Court holding paragraphs (q) and (s) of K.S.A. 79-4706 unconstitutional, and a cross-appeal by the plaintiffs, Bingo Catering and Supplies, Inc., et al., from the same order finding paragraph (r) of the same statute constitutional. The sole issue before us is the constitutionality of those three paragraphs, which were added to the statute in 1984.

Section 3 of Article 15 of the Constitution of Kansas prohibits lotteries. In 1971, the Kansas Legislature amended a part of our criminal code, K.S.A. 1971 Supp. 21-4302, in order to exclude bingo from the gambling laws. In State v. Nelson, 210 Kan. 439, 502 P.2d 841 (1972), we held that the statutory attempt to legalize bingo was inconsistent with the anti-lottery provisions of our constitution. Thereafter, in 1974, the Constitution of Kansas was amended by the adoption of Article 15, section 3a, which reads as follows:

*353 “§ 3a. . . . Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3 of article 15 of the constitution of the state of Kansas the legislature may regulate, license and tax the operation or conduct of games of ‘bingo,’ as defined by law, by bona fide nonprofit religious, charitable, fraternal, educational and veterans organizations.”

The legislature followed in 1975 by enacting statutes providing for the licensing, regulation and taxation of bingo. One of those statutes, 79-4706, provided for extensive restrictions on the conduct of bingo games. That section was amended in 1984 to add the three paragraphs now before us. These read:

“Games of bingo managed, operated or conducted by organizations licensed under the provisions of this act shall be managed, operated or conducted subject to rules and regulations adopted by the secretary of revenue and the following restrictions:
“(q) No premises shall be used for the management, operation or conduct of bingo games on more than three calendar days in any one week.
“(r) No premises shall be subdivided to provide multiple premises where games of bingo are managed, operated or conducted, whether or not the multiple premises have different addresses.
“(s) No game of bingo shall be managed, operated or conducted on leased premises if at any time during tbe immediately preceding 44 hours the premises, or any premises within 1,000 feet of them, have been used for the management, operation or conduct of a game of bingo.”

The 1984 amendments were to become effective July 1, 1984. On June 27, 1984, a petition for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief was filed in this action. The plaintiffs are Bingo Catering and Supplies, Inc.; Tri G & L, Inc.; Bingo Alley, Inc.; Mid America Consulting, Inc.; Bingo Winners, Inc.; B.F.H. Investments, Inc.; Benton Building Company and the Merriam Sertoma Club, Inc. The Merriam Sertoma Club, Inc., is a nonprofit charitable and fraternal organization which leases premises from others and conducts bingo games thereon under a license issued by the Secretary of Revenue. The other plaintiffs are lessors who lease property to various nonprofit organizations, which organizations in turn conduct bingo games on the leased premises. Plaintiffs contend that paragraphs (q), (r) and (s) are unconstitutional in that they constitute an unlawful interference with the rights of the plaintiffs to contract, they interfere with contracts presently in force, and they violate the plaintiffs’ rights to due process and equal protection of the law. Finally, plaintiffs contend that the amendments are unreasonable, oppressive and *354 an invalid exercise of the State’s police power. Plaintiffs attached to and made a part of their petition two affidavits, one by Robert Russell, chairman of the board of the Merriam Sertoma Club, Inc., and the other by Stan Laforet, secretary of Tri G & L, Inc. On the basis of the petition and the affidavits, the trial court entered a temporary restraining order, restraining the Secretary from enforcing paragraphs (q), (r) and (s). That order has not been modified or revoked.

The defendant answered, admitted the factual allegations of the petition, denied any constitutional infirmities of the cited paragraphs of the act, and asked that the petition be dismissed.

The matter was submitted to the court on the basis of the pleadings, the affidavits, oral argument and briefs of the parties. The trial court found paragraphs (q) and (s) to be unconstitutional and upheld paragraph (r). From that order the parties appeal.

The basic principles which an appellate court must apply in determining the constitutionality of a statute are set forth in City of Baxter Springs v. Bryant, 226 Kan. 383, 385-86, 598 P.2d 1051 (1979):

“ ‘The constitutionality of a statute is presumed, all doubts must be resolved in favor of its validity, and before the statute may be stricken down, it must clearly appear the statute violates the constitution. [Citations omitted.]
“ ‘In determining constitutionality, it is the court’s duty to uphold a statute under attack rather than defeat it and if there is any reasonable way to construe the statute as constitutionally valid, that should be done. [Citations omitted.]
“ ‘Statutes are not stricken down unless the infringement of the superior law is clear beyond substantial doubt. [Citations omitted.]
“ ‘The propriety, wisdom, necessity and expedience of legislation are exclusively matters for legislative determination and courts will not invalidate laws, otherwise constitutional, because the members of the court do not consider the statute in the public interest of the state, since, necessarily, what the views of members of the court may be upon the subject is wholly immaterial and it is not the province nor the right of courts to determine the wisdom of legislation touching the public interest as that is a legislative function with which courts cannot interfere. [Citations omitted.]’ State ex rel. Schneider v. Kennedy, 225 Kan. 13, 20-21, 587 P.2d 844 (1978).
“The general rule for reviewing statutes or ordinances enacted pursuant to the police power is stated in City of Wichita v. White, 205 Kan. 408, 469 P.2d 287 (1970), as follows:
“ ‘In reviewing statutes such as these, the court begins with the proposition that all presumptions are in favor of their validity. (State, ex rel., v. Fairmont Foods Co., 196 Kan.

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Bluebook (online)
699 P.2d 512, 237 Kan. 352, 1985 Kan. LEXIS 386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bingo-catering-supplies-inc-v-duncan-kan-1985.