Louisville & Jefferson County Board of Health v. Haunz

451 S.W.2d 407, 1969 Ky. LEXIS 16
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedDecember 12, 1969
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 451 S.W.2d 407 (Louisville & Jefferson County Board of Health v. Haunz) 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
Louisville & Jefferson County Board of Health v. Haunz, 451 S.W.2d 407, 1969 Ky. LEXIS 16 (Ky. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

WADDILL, Commissioner.

Appellee, who owns houses located in Jefferson County, instituted this action in the Jefferson Circuit Court to prevent the enforcement of Rule 4, Chapter VIII of the Sanitary Code of the Louisville & Jefferson County Board of Health which Rule is a set of regulations that provide minimum standards for habitable housing in Jefferson County outside of any municipality. Hereinafter the Louisville and Jefferson County Board of Health will be referred to as the board.

The circuit court found that the board had unlawfully usurped the lawmaking power of the legislative arm of the government by adopting rules and regulations governing minimum standards for habitable housing and the court permanently enjoined the board and its officers, agents and employees from enforcing the provisions of Rule 4, Chapter VIII of the Sanitary Code.

The board was created and given broad powers to safeguard the public health by KRS, Chapter 212. By KRS 212.350 the board is vested with the authority to:

" * * * make appropriate rules and regulations and do all things reasonable or necessary effectively to carry out the work and properly to perform the duties intended or required by KRS 212.350 to 212.620. * * * ”

By KRS 212.370 and 212.600 it is the duty of the board to make and enforce reasonable regulations controlling or affecting the health of the residents of Jefferson County.

Rule 4, Chapter VIII, of the Sanitary Code requires all habitable dwellings located in Jefferson County to be supplied with water, sanitary fixtures and sewage disposal and it regulates heating, lighting, ventilation, maintenance and occupancy of these houses and grants exemptions in hardship cases. Rule 4 further provides for the inspection of habitable houses, with notice to be given to the owners or occupants who have failed to comply with health regulations set forth in the code. [408]*408Authority is conferred on the board to hear and determine charges presented concerning infractions of the code and to issue appropriate orders. Penalties that may be assessed against those found guilty of violating the Sanitary Code are the same penalties that are specifically named in KRS 212.990(3). Among the administrative procedures provided by the Sanitary Code is Section 804.608(d) which reads:

“ * * *. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the health officer may seek relief therefrom in any court of competent jurisdiction as provided by the laws of this state.”

Appellant contends that the regulations that the board adopted and designated as Rule 4, Chapter VIII of the Sanitary Code were necessary to implement and make workable the duties and responsibilities placed on the board by the provisions of KRS, Chapter 212. Claiming there was no undue delegation of legislative authority, appellant points to our opinion in Southeastern Displays, Inc. v. Ward, Ky., 414 S.W.2d 573, where KRS 177.860, commonly called the “Billboard Law,” was challenged as being unconstitutional. KRS 177.860 in pertinent part provides:

“The Commissioner of Highways shall prescribe by regulations reasonable standards for the advertising devices hereinafter enumerated, designed to protect the safety of the users of the highways and otherwise to achieve the objectives set forth in KRS 177.850, * * *.”

Pursuant to this statutory authority, the Department of Highways promulgated regulations specifying the areas in which advertising signs could be posted. The authority of the department to adopt the regulations was challenged in court proceedings. In disposing of this contention, we said:

“Appellant argues that such regulation violates Sections 27 and 28 of the Kentucky Constitution, and is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the executive branch of the government. A reading of the regulation indicates that it is in furtherance of the purpose of the legislation which specifically authorizes the adoption of such regulations. In the light of Butler v. United Cerebral Palsy of Northern Ky., Inc., Ky., 352 S.W.2d 203, such regulation is not an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. Nor is the regulation vague and abstract. It contains various definitions and is specific in its terms in so far as this case is involved. It provides that signs located in protected areas, such as industrial or commercial areas, may be constructed and maintained.”

In Baughn v. Gorrell & Riley, 311 Ky. 537, 224 S.W.2d 436, we decided that the statute (KRS 337.520) providing for the public authority to ascertain and fix the prevailing wages in a particular locality did not constitute an unconstitutional delegation of a legislative function. The same result was reached in Butler v. United Cerebral Palsy of Northern Kentucky, Inc., Ky., 352 S.W.2d 203, where KRS 157.305 authorized public aid to private institutions involved in the education of “exceptional children.” The statute required that in order to qualify, the school should submit to the State Board of Education the names of the governing body, the type of instruction and programs then provided and the qualifications of the instructors employed by the school. The statute further provided that the State Board of Education could approve or disapprove of the program, or the faculty or the personnel. In deciding that the statute did not constitute an unconstitutional delegation of rule-making authority we said, in part:

“Let us, then, examine this law in terms of the practical needs of effective government, and in terms of safeguards against abuse and injustice. The legislature wants to encourage and lend a modicum of support to the special education of a certain class of people. It does not wish, in so doing, to waste the taxpayers’ [409]*409money. The members of the legislature are allowed to meet in regular session only 60 days every two years. They have neither the time, facilities, nor qualifications to do more than indicate the class and fix the amount to be spent. At the state’s disposal, however, is its board of education, an agency fully and better qualified than the legislature to establish and carry out whatever further policies and procedures may be necessary or desirable.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Johnson v. Commonwealth
449 S.W.3d 350 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2014)
Bullitt Fiscal Court v. Bullitt County Board of Health
434 S.W.3d 29 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2014)
Commonwealth v. Do, Inc.
674 S.W.2d 519 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
451 S.W.2d 407, 1969 Ky. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-jefferson-county-board-of-health-v-haunz-kyctapp-1969.