Lowe v. Pension Board of the General Retirement System for Employees of Jefferson County

665 So. 2d 195, 1995 Ala. LEXIS 283, 1995 WL 385886
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 30, 1995
Docket1940173, 1940174
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 665 So. 2d 195 (Lowe v. Pension Board of the General Retirement System for Employees of Jefferson County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lowe v. Pension Board of the General Retirement System for Employees of Jefferson County, 665 So. 2d 195, 1995 Ala. LEXIS 283, 1995 WL 385886 (Ala. 1995).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

These consolidated appeals involve the question of the constitutionality of Act No. 93-927, Ala.Acts 1993, which modified rules controlling participation in the General Retirement System for Employees of Jefferson County (hereinafter referred to as the “Retirement System”). Plaintiffs/intervenors Howard Wayne Lowe and other Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies (“the deputies”) appeal from the summary judgment in favor of the Jefferson County Employees Association (hereinafter referred to as the “Employees Association”), the Pension Board of the General Retirement System for Employees of Jefferson County (hereinafter referred to as the “Pension Board”), and the Jefferson County Commission (hereinafter referred to as the “County Commission”).

I.

The Retirement System was established in 1965 by Act 497. When the Retirement System was established, membership in the System was optional. Currently, membership is mandatory for all “classified employees” and is optional for “unclassified employees.” Classified employees are those employees subject to the county’s civil service system, while unclassified employees are those employees not subject to it. The Retirement System is funded by employee contributions withheld from salaries, matching contributions from the County Commission, and investment earnings. Members become “vested” in the System after 10 years of membership and, upon retirement, the amount of their pensions is determined by use of a formula by which certain fractions are multiplied by the member’s “basic average salary.”

In 1978, a large number of sheriffs deputies voluntarily terminated their membership in the Retirement System and joined the Alabama Peace Officers Annuity and Benefit Fund. Although Act No. 497, Ala.Acts 1965, specifically prohibited individuals who have terminated their membership in the Retirement System from rejoining, a number of individuals requested an opportunity to rejoin the System. In 1986, Act 86-706, Ala. Acts 1986, was enacted to allow those nonmembers a one-time opportunity to rejoin the System as new members without credit for the time they were not members. Thus, Act 86-706 did not allow a rejoining member to pay a fee to convert prior service for which he or she had not paid into the Retirement System (“unpaid service”) into “paid service” in the System. A number of the sheriffs deputies who had previously terminated their membership in the Retirement System rejoined the System under the terms allowed by Act 86-706.

Act 93-927, Ala.Acts 1993, was passed during the 1993 regular session of the legislature and was approved by the Governor on September 2, 1993. Act 93-927 would allow any classified employee or elected official of Jefferson County, but not unclassified employees, an opportunity to join the Retirement System at any time before retirement and, by paying a fee, to convert his or her “unpaid service” into “paid service.” Thus, the Act would apply to the deputies and any other classified employees who had previously terminated their membership in the Retirement System, but had not rejoined in 1986, and would provide them a continuing option of rejoining the System. Moreover, under the Act, the deputies and other classified employees could convert prior “unpaid service” into “paid service” by paying the System an amount equal to the contributions they would have made for the period of service they wished to convert, either by a lump sum or installments. The Act would then require Jefferson County to make matching contributions to the Retirement System equal to the sum the employee paid for conversion. Thus, Act 93-927 is much more generous to nonmember employees wishing to rejoin the System than was the supposed one-time-only opportunity provided by Act 86-706.

On October 4,1993, the Employees Association sued the Pension Board and the County Commission, challenging the constitutionality of Act 93-927 and requesting an injunction prohibiting the Pension Board from implementing the Act. The attorney general was also served with a copy of the complaint. On October 12, 1993, the deputies moved to intervene in the action. On October 14, the deputies petitioned the circuit court for a [197]*197writ of mandamus directing the Pension Board to implement the Act. The two cases were later consolidated, and on January 26, 1994, the Employees Association moved for a summary judgment. The Pension Board and the County Commission later joined in the summary judgment motion on the side of the Employees Association. The deputies opposed the motion. On October 4, 1994, the trial court entered a summary judgment, declaring that Act 93-927 is void on the basis that it violates § 45 and § 106 of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The court permanently enjoined the Pension Board from implementing the Act. The deputies appeal from that judgment.

II.

“In reviewing the disposition of a motion for summary judgment, we utilize the same standard as the trial court in determining whether the evidence before [it] made out a genuine issue of material fact” and whether the movant was “entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Bussey v. John Deere Co., 531 So.2d 860, 862 (Ala.1988); Rule 56(c), Ala.R.Civ.P. When the movant makes a pri-ma facie showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact, the burden shifts to the nonmovant to present substantial evidence creating such an issue. Bass v. South-Trust Bank of Baldwin County, 538 So.2d 794 (Ala.1989). However, in this ease, there is no question as to any material fact. Thus, we focus solely on whether the trial court correctly entered the judgment in favor of the Employees Association, the Pension Board, and the County Commission as a matter of law.

III.

The trial court ruled that Act 93-927 violated § 106, Alabama Constitution of 1901. In relevant part, § 106 reads:

“No ... local law shall be passed ... unless notice of the intention to apply therefor shall have been published ... in the county or counties where the matter or thing to be affected may be situated, which notice shall state the substance of the proposed law .... ”

(Emphasis added.) It is uneontested that Act 93-927, relating solely to the General Retirement System for Employees of Jefferson County, is a local law. Accordingly, the Act is void if the notice requirement of § 106 was not met.

The public notice of the proposed Act reads:

“A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
“Prescribing procedures for converting prior service to creditable service in the General Retirement System for employees of Jefferson County as established by Act No. 497 of the 1965 Regular Session of the Legislature, providing for the payment for converting the prior service, and providing a delayed effective date.”

The trial court ruled that this notice did not meet the requirements of § 106, because, it said, “the published notice is so lacking in detail as not to be an intelligible abstract or synopsis of Act 93-927’s material elements.” In reviewing that ruling, we take guidance from the following cases discussing the meaning of the public notice requirement.

In Wallace v. Board of Revenue of Jefferson County, 140 Ala. 491, 37 So. 321 (1903), this Court explained the purpose behind the notice requirement of § 106 of the then recently adopted Alabama Constitution of 1901:

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665 So. 2d 195, 1995 Ala. LEXIS 283, 1995 WL 385886, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowe-v-pension-board-of-the-general-retirement-system-for-employees-of-ala-1995.