Commonwealth v. McClure

593 S.W.2d 92, 1979 Ky. App. LEXIS 501
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedSeptember 14, 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 593 S.W.2d 92 (Commonwealth v. McClure) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. McClure, 593 S.W.2d 92, 1979 Ky. App. LEXIS 501 (Ky. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

LESTER, Judge.

On October 10,1978, the Franklin County Grand Jury charged Russell R. McClure with a violation of KRS 45.360(7) because of the manner in which he transferred two state vehicles. The indictment also charged Melvin Young with complicity, as proscribed by KRS 502.020, in connection with the transfer of one of the vehicles.

From among the various grounds asserted by McClure and Young in their motion to dismiss the indictment, the Franklin Circuit Court determined that two of these grounds, each of its own force, required dismissal. The Commonwealth has taken this appeal from the order of dismissal in which the trial court concluded that KRS 45.360 did not carry a valid penalty because the assignment of a penalty to that statute, for the first time, through the process of revision, created a change of substance which exceeded the scope of the revisory bill of 1966. Additionally, the court ruled that the one-year statute of limitations for offenses other than felonies had expired because KRS 45.990(3), which provides the penalty for violation of KRS 45.360, did not describe a felony. The trial court did not consider the merits of the other contentions raised in defendant’s motion to dismiss. The appellees urge that we explore in this opinion bases for finding the indictment defective other than those relied on by the court below; however, we decline to follow the appellees’ suggestion because we can resolve this appeal on the issues dealt with by the trial court.

Chapter 7 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes sets up a procedure whereby the statutes can be revised and corrected. KRS 7.140 entrusts the duties of preparation of statutory revisions to a reviser appointed by the Legislative Research Commission upon the recommendation of the director. The reviser inserted KRS 45.990(3) as the penalty for violation of KRS 45.360 in performance of his statutory revision function. KRS 7.123 explains the effect of revisory acts. KRS 7.123(4) provides that

[n]othing in any act to revise and correct the Kentucky Revised Statutes adopted by the general assembly shall be construed to effect any substantive change in the statute law of Kentucky and if any substantive change appears to be effected, it shall be disregarded and the law as it existed prior to the effective date of the revisory act shall be given full force and effect.

[94]*94The portion of the court’s order which declared KRS 45.990(3) ineffective as the penalty for violation of KRS 45.360 rested on the premise that since KRS 42.060, the predecessor of KRS 45.360, did not have a penalty, the act of revision which made a course of conduct a crime that had not been previously punishable, impermissibly resulted in a substantive change.

The Commonwealth’s attack on the court’s reasoning in relation to the viability of KRS 45.990(3) involves a discussion of the evolution of the statutes pertaining to state purchasing. We shall begin our review of these statutes with KRS 42.060 and KRS 42.070, because as the Commonwealth has observed in its brief, the legislature’s enactment of KRS 42.060 and KRS 42.070 in 1942 did not significantly alter the prior law.

KRS 42.060 established the Division of Purchases and described in general terms how the Division would oversee the property acquisitions for all state agencies. The statute also contained this statement as to the Division’s role in the disposal of surplus property:

It [the Division] shall sell all property (including real estate) of the state determined, with the approval of the Commissioner of Finance and the Governor, not to be needed for public use or to have become unsuitable for such use. KRS 42.060(2).

No statutory provision imposed criminal sanctions for a violation of KRS 42.060.

KRS 42.070 delineated the procedures to be followed by the Division of Purchases before it let a contract for materials, supplies or equipment. The statute called for the submission of bids by businesses interested in selling to the state. The bidding requirement sought to insure that the departments of government would have their supply needs fulfilled at the lowest price. The Division had wide discretion in selecting the “lowest and best bidder”; the statutory language indicated that the legislature contemplated that the Division, in making its choice, would take into account factors other than just the cheapest price. See R. G. Wilmott Coal Co. v. State Purchasing Commission, 246 Ky. 115, 54 S.W.2d 634 (1932).

KRS 42.990 listed the penalties which applied to certain violations of state contracting methods. The section of the statute which related to transgressions of KRS 42.-070 expressed the penalty in the following terms:

Any violation . . . shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or by a prison sentence of not more than five (5) years, or by both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the jury.

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Bluebook (online)
593 S.W.2d 92, 1979 Ky. App. LEXIS 501, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-mcclure-kyctapp-1979.