Sturgill v. Beard

303 S.W.2d 908

• Court: Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976)
• Decided: July 8, 1957
• Status: Published

Opinions

WADDILL, Commissioner.

The appeal is from a judgment invalidating certain regulations the Department of Public Safety adopted on December 20, 1956, establishing a “Point System” under which the Department suspended the motor vehicle operator’s license of John Wesley Beard. The circuit court was of the opinion the Department had exceeded its statutory authority in promulgating the regulations, and therefore held that the order issued by the Department suspending Beard’s driver’s license under those regulations was void. We reverse the judgment for the reasons hereinafter assigned.

The Department of Public Safety was created by KRS, Chapter 17, and all the functions of the Department of State Police were transferred to it under KRS 17.020 and 186.400, including the administration of the provisions of KRS 186.570. The latter statute in pertinent part provides:

“The department * * * may immediately suspend the license of any person, * * * operating a motor vehicle in this state, with or without hearing, and with or without receiving a record of conviction of that person of a crime, whenever the department has reason to believe that: * * * (d) That person is an habitually reckless or negligent driver of a motor vehicle or has committed a serious violation of the motor vehicle laws. * * *

Pursuant to the provisions of KRS 186.400, the Department adopted three regulations designated as PSfty-DI-I, 2, and 3, establishing a “Point System,” which, to explain briefly, automatically fixes penalty points following conviction of moving traffic violations, and provides for the mandatory suspension of the driver’s license of a person who has accumulated twelve points within a three year period.

It is apparent to us that the Department, in adopting the “regulations,” acted within the scope of the power delegated to it under KRS 186.570, because the regulations neither enlarge nor restrict the application of the terms of the statute, but merely declare an administrative policy within the express terms of the Act. In short, the “Point System” provides a fair and workable method of effectuating the provisions of KRS 186.570.

It is urged that the regulations violate the Fourteenth Amendment to our Federal Constitution because they authorize the Department to summarily deprive the licensee of a “vested property right” in his driver’s license without “due process of law.” This argument is fallacious in that it erroneously assumes a licensee has a vested property right in his operator’s license.

It is now too late to contend that a citizen of this Commonwealth is born with a natural and irrevocable “right” to operate a motor vehicle on our public roads, because it is now a privilege granted by a license of the state, subject to reasonable regulations by the state in the exercise of its police powers. Ballow v. Reeves, Ky., 238 S.W.2d 141; Withers v. Marshall, 311 Ky. 659, 225 S.W.2d 121; Commonwealth v. Harris, 278 Ky. 218, 128 S.W.2d 579; 33 Am.Jur., Licenses, Section 65; 5 Am. Jur., Automobiles, Section 151. Hence, when the conditions imposed by the license are violated by the licensee, the suspension of the privilege to operate a vehicle is not a denial of “due process of law.” Ballow v. Reeves, Ky., 238 S.W.2d 141; Ratliff v. Lampton, Cal.App., 187 P.2d 421; Goodwin v. Superior Court of Yavapai County, 68 Ariz. 108, 201 P.2d 124; Heart v. Fletcher, 184 Misc. 659, 53 N.Y.S.2d 369; Doyle v. Kahl, 242 Iowa 153, 46 N.W.2d 52; Hadden v. Aitken, 156 Neb. 215, 55 N.W.2d 620, 35 A.L.R.2d 1003.

Although we believe the reasons given adequately dispose of the contention made concerning lack of “due process,” other sufficient reasons appear which dispel any lurking fear that a licensee may be denied his constitutional right of “due process of law’-’ by the Department’s application of the regulations. These safeguards are: (1) Under the regulations, no driver’s license can be suspended by the Department except upon “twelve penalty points” assessed against the licensee for convictions of named moving traffic violations; and, (2) KRS 186.580, which provides for an appeal to the quarterly court from an order of the Department issued pursuant to KRS 186.570. Since the validity of the “Point System” rests upon KRS 186.570, an order issued by the Department suspending a driver’s license under the “Point System” is likewise appealable.

Further attack is made upon the “regulations” on the theory that KRS 186.-570 is unconstitutional in that legislative functions have been delegated to an administrative body without providing any criteria or standards in the legislative act. The circuit judge expressed his view of the “Point System” in this language:

“The court * * * is of the opinion that the regulation imposed by the defendant [Department] for the purpose of revoking a driver’s license in Kentucky was solely a legislative function, and being so, could not be delegated to an administrative department, * * , by the General Assembly of Kentucky.”

We disagree. We think the “Point System” is constitutionally sound, and the contention to the contrary is wholly without substance, and must be rejected because we believe the administration of the traffic rules can lawfully be delegated to administrative officials. Our conclusion appears to be in accord with the decision reached by this Court in State Racing Commission v. Latonia Agricultural Association, 136 Ky. 173, 123 S.W. 681, 683, 25 L.R.A.,N.S., 905, wherein the contention was made that the legislature could not constitutionally delegate to the Racing Commission the power to prescribe rules, regulations, and conditions under which running races would be conducted in this State. In the course of the opinion the court struck down the objections raised, and said:

“ * * * Given that the subject is one for the legitimate exercise of the state’s police power, then the means adopted by the Legislature, so long as it has an ascertainable relevancy to the object, is clearly within the scope of that power. Whether the end justifies the means is exclusively for the legislative discretion. Whether the means bear a pertinent and reasonable relation to the end may be looked into by the courts so far only as to determine the fact of pertinency and reasonableness. Only when the means adopted are manifestly unreasonable and oppressive, or bear no logical relation to the object of the legislation, are the courts at liberty to declare the act unconstitutional. * * * In all cases the Legislature selects the subject, and indicates the public policy with respect thereto. The subject is thereby brought within governmental control. Its free indulgence is deemed harmful. To so determine is the exclusive prerogative of legislation. The selection of the persons, places, and times, and the regulation of the conditions upon which it is to be exercised, are matters of executive detail, which may be, and which are always, delegated to the ministerial body. * * *

Later, in Craig v. O’Rear, 199 Ky. 553, 251 S.W. 828, 831, this Court again considered the question of whether the legislature may confer discretion upon certain boards and commissions to execute its laws, and therein the court resolved the query in this language:

“It is next insisted that the act is void as a delegation of the functions of the Legislature. It must not be overlooked that Legislatures are not continuous bodies. As a rule, they are in session for only a few days each year, or every two years, as is the case in Kentucky. Of necessity such bodies cannot undertake to determine all facts incident to the administration of the laws which they enact. Therefore when we say that the Legislature may not delegate its powers, we mean that it may not delegate the exercise of its discretion as to what the law shall be, but not that it may not confer discretion in the administration of the law itself. In re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661, 17 S.Ct. 677, 41 L.Ed. 1154. The books are full of cases upholding the power of the Legislature to confer on boards, bureaus, and commissions the power to carry out the legislative will. * * *

It is further asserted that the regulations are invalid insofar as they attempt to provide for “mandatory suspension” of licenses when licensees accumulate twelve “penalty points” for moving traffic violations under the “Point System.” This view is predicated upon the language appearing in KRS 186.570 which provides that:

“The department * * * may * * immediately suspend the license of any person * *

It is urged that the word “may,” limits the Department to issue “discretionary suspensions.”

The word “may” as used in KRS 186.570, does not restrict the Department from promulgating reasonable regulations giving advance notice of standards which will govern its determination of when a licensee is “habitually reckless.” The discretion given by the statute was exercised by the adoption of the “Point System.” Discretion is further exercised by the Department when it is determined that an order shall issue suspending a license. We find no merit in the contention made.

Appellee Beard claims that the “regulations” have been retrospectively applied by the Department in suspending his drives’s license. The basis of his claim is that neither speeding, running red lights nor reckless driving were grounds for the suspension of his license when he was convicted of those offenses in 1954, 1955, and 1956, and therefore, the Department wrongfully considered those prior convictions in ordering the suspension of his license.

Beard’s claim evaporates when the provisions of KRS 186.570 are applied to his case. This statute, enacted in 1936, authorized the Department to summarily suspend the license of any pesron whenever the Department had “reason to believe” the person in question “is an habitually reckless or negligent driver of a motor vehicle or has committed a serious violation of the motor vehicle laws.” Beard’s license was suspended under the statute upon a determination by the Department that he was “an habitually reckless driver.” The mere fact that the Department utilized the “Point System” in making this determination did not make the application of the regulation retroactive as to the appellee. Beard’s argument that the “regulations” are “ex post facto law” merits no further discussion. See: May v. Moore, Ky., 249 S.W.2d 518; Commonwealth v. Harris, 278 Ky. 218, 128 S.W.2d 579; Armstrong v. Commonwealth, 177 Ky. 690, 198 S.W. 24; Eastern Kentucky Coal Lands Corp. v. Commonwealth, 127 Ky. 667, 106 S.W. 260, 108 S.W. 1138; Kentucky Union Co. v. Commonwealth, 219 U.S. 140, 31 S.Ct. 171, 55 L.Ed. 137; Fisher v. Cockerell, 5 T.B.Mon. 129, 21 Ky. 129; Fisher v. Cockerell, 5 Pet. 248, 30 U.S. 248, 8 L.Ed. 114: Also see, Graham v. State of West Virginia, 70 W.Va. 793, 224 U.S. 616, 32 S.Ct. 583, 56 L.Ed. 917; 11 Am.Jur., Const. Law, Section 351.

We have concluded that the adoption of the “regulations” by the Department is a valid exercise of discretionary administrative power constitutionally delegated to the Department by the General Assembly.

Wherefore, the judgment is reversed, with directions to enter a judgment validating the “regulations” creating a “Point System” within the Department of Public Safety and sustaining the Department’s order suspending appellee Beard’s motor vehicle operator’s license.

SIMS and BIRD, JJ., dissent.