State v. Uroza-Zuniga

439 P.3d 973, 364 Or. 682
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedApril 18, 2019
DocketCC C141815CR (SC S065368)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 439 P.3d 973 (State v. Uroza-Zuniga) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Uroza-Zuniga, 439 P.3d 973, 364 Or. 682 (Or. 2019).

Opinion

BALMER, J.

*974**684This case began with an arrest for public drinking, in violation of the Beaverton City Code. That arrest led to a search, a charge of drug possession, a denied motion to suppress, a trial to the court, a conviction for unlawful possession of methamphetamine, and an unsuccessful appeal. On review, defendant directs our focus to the beginning of this chain of events, the arrest. Beaverton prohibits drinking alcoholic beverages in any public place. Beaverton Code (BC) 5.02.083. Yet, ORS 430.402(1)(b), a state statute, prohibits Beaverton, along with all other local governments, from regulating or proscribing "[p]ublic drinking, except as to places where any consumption of alcoholic beverages is generally prohibited." Defendant argues that that statute preempts Beaverton's public drinking ordinance, making his arrest illegal and the fruits of that arrest subject to suppression. The state, along with amici curiae the City of Beaverton and the League of Oregon Cities, argues that it falls within ORS 430.402(1)(b) 's exception, and it is therefore not preempted. We hold that Beaverton's public drinking ordinance is not preempted by ORS 430.402(1)(b) and affirm defendant's conviction.

The pertinent facts are not in dispute. In August 2014, a Beaverton police officer responded to a call from a Plaid Pantry employee, reporting people drinking in the store's parking lot. When the officer arrived, he observed defendant and two other men drinking beer next to a van. The officer saw defendant put his beer into the van. Another officer arrived, and the two officers obtained consent to search the van. The search turned up four open beer bottles. Defendant was arrested for violating Beaverton's prohibition on public drinking.

One of the officers inventoried defendant's property. He discovered a small quantity of methamphetamine in defendant's wallet. Defendant was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, ORS 475.894. He moved to suppress the evidence discovered during the inventory on the grounds that it was the product of an unlawful arrest. Defendant argued that the arrest was invalid because BC 5.02.083, the municipal ordinance under which **685he had been arrested, is preempted by a state statute, ORS 430.402.1

BC 5.02.083 provides, "No person shall consume alcoholic liquor or possess an open container of an alcoholic beverage while in or upon any public place, unless authorized by the Commission or by subsection B of this section." In turn, "public place" is defined by BC 5.02.010 as

"[a] place to which the general public has access and includes, but is not limited to, hallways, lobbies and other parts of apartment houses and hotels not constituting rooms or apartments designed for actual residence and highways, streets, schools, places of amusement, parks, playgrounds, and premises used in connection with public *975passenger transportation."2

ORS 430.402 provides,

"(1) A political subdivision in this state shall not adopt or enforce any local law or regulation that makes any of the following an offense, a violation or the subject of criminal or civil penalties or sanctions of any kind:
"(a) Public intoxication.
"(b) Public drinking, except as to places where any consumption of alcoholic beverages is generally prohibited.
"(c) Drunk and disorderly conduct.
"(d) Vagrancy or other behavior that includes as one of its elements either drinking alcoholic beverages or using cannabis or controlled substances in public, being an alcoholic or a drug-dependent person, or being found in specified places under the influence of alcohol, cannabis or controlled substances.
"(e) Using or being under the influence of cannabis or controlled substances."

(Emphasis added.)

**686The trial court denied defendant's motion, reasoning that BC 5.02.083 is not preempted because it falls within the exception in ORS 430.402(1)(b). Defendant waived his right to a jury trial and was convicted by the court after a trial on stipulated facts.

Defendant appealed, assigning error to the denial of his motion to suppress and renewing the argument that he made in the trial court. The state argued that BC 5.02.083 had not been preempted.3

The Court of Appeals reasoned that

"[o]n its face, the text of ORS 430.402(1)(b) both bars municipalities from penalizing public drinking and carves out a broad exception for 'places where any consumption of alcoholic beverage is generally prohibited.' (Emphasis added.) Stated another way, the text of the statute suggests that a municipality may ban the consumption of alcohol in any place it designates so long as the ban is a general prohibition on public drinking (i.e ., rather than regulating what kind or volume of alcohol may be consumed). [BC] 5.02.083 does just that-it generally prohibits the consumption of all alcohol in public areas-and, therefore, it falls squarely within the exception carved out in ORS 430.402(1)(b)."

State v. Uroza-Zuniga , 287 Or. App. 214, 220, 402 P.3d 772 (2017). Determining that the context and legislative history supported that meaning, the Court of Appeals held that the ordinance was valid and affirmed defendant's conviction. Id . at 220-21, 224, 402 P.3d 772. We allowed review.

This case involves the intersection of state and local authority. The Oregon constitution provides that

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

Related

Teitelman v. SAIF
374 Or. 271 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2025)
Bellshaw v. Farmers Ins. Co.
373 Or. 307 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2025)
Ungerman and Ungerman
492 P.3d 1280 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
Kramer v. City of Lake Oswego
446 P.3d 1 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
439 P.3d 973, 364 Or. 682, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-uroza-zuniga-or-2019.