People v. Hanna

773 N.E.2d 178, 332 Ill. App. 3d 527, 265 Ill. Dec. 816
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 2, 2002
DocketNO. 5-01-0360
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 773 N.E.2d 178 (People v. Hanna) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Hanna, 773 N.E.2d 178, 332 Ill. App. 3d 527, 265 Ill. Dec. 816 (Ill. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

JUSTICE WELCH

delivered the opinion of the court:

Four cases were consolidated in the circuit court of Williamson County for the purpose of hearing, and deciding, the defendants’ motions to suppress the results of breathalyzer machine testing in their prosecutions for driving under the influence of alcohol. The circuit court of Williamson County granted the defendants’ motions to suppress, and the State filed certificates of impairments and notices of appeal. Those cases remain consolidated for this appeal.

Each of the four defendants in this appeal was stopped and tested on a breathalyzer machine. The machines involved are known as the Intoxilyzer 3000 and the Intoxilyzer 5000. In each case, the reading from the machine indicated that the defendant’s blood-alcohol content was far above the legal limit. Each defendant filed a motion to suppress the breath-analysis result, claiming that the machine had not been properly tested by the Illinois Department of Public Health (Department), as required by an Illinois regulation, prior to being approved for use in the field. The regulation in question required each breathalyzer machine to meet the following requirement prior to its use in the field:

“[Breathalyzer machines] *** will be tested and approved by the Department in accordance with but not limited to the Standards for Devices to Measure Breath Alcohol promulgated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation ***.” 77 Ill. Adm. Code § 510.40(c) (2000) (repealed, eff. January 1, 2001 (25 Ill. Reg. 223)) (see Pub. Act 91 — 828, eff. January 1, 2001 (transfers responsibility from Department of Public Health to Department of State Police)).

The standards promulgated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provide for, among other tests, tests for input power variation, ambient temperature stability, and vibrational stability. It is undisputed that these three tests were not performed by the Department prior to the Department’s approval of the Intoxilyzer 3000 and the Intoxilyzer 5000 for use in the field. It is also undisputed that these tests were conducted on the Intoxilyzer 3000 and the Intoxilyzer 5000 by the NHTSA in accordance with its own standards and that these machines had been approved for field use by that agency.

The circuit court of Williamson County, in a consolidated order dated May 15, 2001, stated as follows:

“The issue to be decided in these cases is whether the Illinois Department of Public Health regulations required the Department to conduct its own tests for input voltage stability, ambient temperature stability!,] and vibrational stability for all machine models before placing the machine model on the Illinois[-]approved list, or did the regulations allow the Department to rely upon the NHTSA tests for input voltage stability, ambient temperature stability!,] and vibrational stability in the Department’s testing and approval process!?]”

In discussing the Department regulation in question (77 Ill. Adm. Code § 510.40(c) (2000)), the court stated:

“This section uses simple, clear!,] and concise language. This section has no ambiguity. This section requires the Department to test and approve all machines '*** in accordance with but not limited to the Standards for Devices to Measure Breath Alcohol promulgated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ***.’ The Department did not conduct the required testing before placing the Intoxilyzer 3000 and the Intoxilyzer 5000 on the list of approved models for use in Illinois as Approved Breath Testing Instruments.”

The court concluded, “Therefore, the machines were not properly approved for use in Illinois pursuant to regulations.”

In rejecting the State’s arguments that the Department could rely on the results of the NHTSA testing and that duplicative testing by the Department was unnecessary and redundant, the trial court found as follows:

“According to the express language of the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Regulation!,] all of this NHTSA testing and approval is irrelevant. The Department chose to not rely upon or accept the results of this NHTSA testing. The Department could have chosen to rely upon the testing and results of NHTSA. The regulation could have been written so as to clearly allow the Department to use the NHTSA results. For whatever reason, the Department chose to require its own testing to be conducted. This testing had to be in compliance with the NHTSA requirements. Input voltage stability, ambient temperature stability!,] and vibrational stability testing is required by the NHTSA regulations. The Illinois Department of Public Health was required to conduct these tests before placing any models on the Illinois List of Approved Breath Testing Instruments. The Department did not do this, so the Intoxilyzer 3000 and the Intoxilyzer 5000 were not properly tested and approved by the Department. As suchf,] individual machines for those models could not be used for the testing of breath alcohol in these consolidated cases.”

Accordingly, the trial court granted the defendants’ motions to suppress the results of the breathalyzer machine tests of their breath.

We quote from the trial court’s order at length because we could not agree more and could not express our opinion any better. The issue involved here is simply one of statutory construction: What does the Department’s regulation say and what does it mean? Administrative regulations have the force and effect of law and are construed under the same standards that govern the construction of statutes. Exhibits, Inc. v. Sweet, 303 Ill. App. 3d 423, 427 (1998). For the sake of simplicity, we will use the terms “regulation” and “statute” interchangeably. Whether the trial court has correctly interpreted a regulatory or statutory provision is a question of law, and accordingly, our review is de novo. In re D.D., 196 Ill. 2d 405, 418 (2001).

When a court determines legislative intent, the starting point is always the language of the statute, which is the most reliable indicator of the legislature’s objectives in enacting the particular law. In re D.D., 196 Ill. 2d at 419. The language of the statute must be given its plain and ordinary meaning. People v. Pullen, 192 Ill. 2d 36, 42 (2000). Where the statutory language is clear and unambiguous, it will be given effect without resort to other interpretive aids. People v. Maggette, 195 Ill. 2d 336, 348 (2001). Only when statutory language is ambiguous may a court look beyond the language and resort to extrinsic aids of construction. In re D.D., 196 Ill. 2d at 419. A statute is ambiguous when it is capable of being understood by reasonably well-informed persons in two or more different senses. In re B.C., 176 Ill. 2d 536, 543 (1997).

We agree with the trial court that the language of the regulation is clear and unambiguous. It is not capable of being reasonably interpreted in two different ways. The regulation provides that all breathalyzer machines “will be tested and approved by the Department in accordance with but not limited to” the standards promulgated by the NHTSA. (Emphasis added.) 77 Ill. Adm. Code § 510.40(c) (2000).

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Related

People v. Rosinski
351 Ill. App. 3d 459 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2004)
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Bluebook (online)
773 N.E.2d 178, 332 Ill. App. 3d 527, 265 Ill. Dec. 816, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hanna-illappct-2002.