Washington, Aplts. v. Dept. of Pub. Welfare
This text of Washington, Aplts. v. Dept. of Pub. Welfare (Washington, Aplts. v. Dept. of Pub. Welfare) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
[J-62-2017] [Mo: Todd]
|N THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVAN|A
MIDDLE D|STR|CT
B|LL|E WASH|NGTON, T|NA SM|TH, : No. 50 MAP 2016
OPAL G|BSON, PENNSYLVAN|A :
l\/|ENTAL HEALTH CONSUMERS' : Appea| from the Order of the ASSOC|AT|ON, |\/|ENTAL HEALTH : Commonwea|th Court at No. 602 |\/lD ASSOC|AT|ON |N PENNSYLVANIA, : 2012 dated |V|arch 28, 2016 and I\/|ENTAL HEALTH ASSOC|AT|ON OF : exited March 29l 2016.
SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVAN|A, THE
PH|LA_DELPH|A ALL|ANCE, DRUG AND ARGUED: September13, 2017
ALCOHOL SERV|CE PROV|DERS ORGAN|ZAT|ON OF PENNSYLVAN|A, PENNSYLVAN|A COI\/|I\/|UNITY PROV|DERS ASSOC|AT|ON, SUCCESS AGA|NST /-\LL ODDS
THE DEPARTl\/|ENT OF PUBL|C WELFARE OF THE COI\/|N|ONVVEALTH OF PENNSYLVAN|A
APPEAL OF: B|LL|E WASH|NGTON, T|NA S|\/llTH, OPAL G|BSON, PENNSYLVAN|A l\/|ENTAL HEALTH CONSU|\/|ERS' ASSOC|AT|ON, |V|ENTAL HEALTH ASSOC|AT|ON |N PENNSYLVAN|A, IV|ENTAL HEALTH ASSOC|ATION OF SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVAN|A, THE PH|LADELPH|A ALL|ANCE, DRUG /-\ND ALCOHOL SERV|CE PROV|DERS ORGAN|ZAT|ON OF PENNSYLV/-\N|A, SUCCESS AGA|NST ALL ODDS
CONCURR|NG OP|N|ON
JUST|CE BAER
DEC|DED: Ju|y 18, 2018
l concur in the result of the l\/lajority Opinion holding Act 80 of 2012 unconstitutional Neverthe|ess, l am unable to join the rationale to the extent it is based solely on a violation of Article |ll, Section 4’s requirement that “[e]very bill shall be considered on three different days in each House.”1 PA. CONST. ART. ll|, § 4. lnstead, l Would conclude that the Act violates Section 4 to the extent it also violates Artic|e |ll, Section 3’s requirement that “[n]o bill shall be passed containing more than one subject.”2 PA. CONST. ART. |ll, § 3. By basing its holding of unconstitutionality solely on a violation of Section 4’s “three different days” requirementl | am concerned that the l\/lajority unnecessarily expands this Court’s jurisprudence to infringe upon our General
Assembly’s authority to enact legislation
1 ln fu|l, Section 4, entitled “Consideration of bills,” provides as follows:
Every bill shall be considered on three different days in each House. Al| amendments made thereto shall be printed for the use of the members before the final vote is taken on the bill and before the final vote is taken, upon Written request addressed to the presiding officer of either House by at least twenty-five per cent of the members elected to that House, any bill shall be read at length in that House. No bill shall become a laW, unless on its final passage the vote is taken by yeas and nays, the names of the persons voting for and against it are entered on the journal, and a majority of the members elected to each House is recorded thereon as voting in its favor.
PA. CoNsT. ART. |l|, § 4. 2 |n full, Section 3, entitled “Form of bills,” provides, “No bill shall be passed containing more than one subject, Which shall be clearly expressed in its tit|e, except a general
appropriation bill or a bill codifying or compiling the law or a part thereof.” PA. CONST. ART.-|||, § 3.
[J-62-2017] [l\/|O; Todd] - 2
As fully explained by the l\/lajority, Section 4 was amended by the voters of this Commonwea|th in 1967 to remove the requirement that “[e]very bill shall be read at length on three different days in each House” and replaced it with the mandate that the bill merely be “considered on three different days.” PA. CONST. ART. |ll, § 4 (1874), (1968). l\/loreover, the 1967 revision maintained the prior distinction between bil|s, which must be considered on three different daysl and amendments, which are addressed in a separate sentence that requires that amendments “be printed for the use of the members before the final vote is taken on the bill.” /d. l\/ly colleagues recognize that the import of the 1967 alteration was to ensure that the bill be considered three times but not require the onerous process of reading the often-lengthy bills in full three times. l\/laj. Slip Op. at 16-17. The l\/lajority additionally acknowledges that Section 4 allows for the legislative process of amendments to improve the bill without restarting the “three different days” requirement l\/laj. Slip Op. at 23.
The difficult question, therefore, is when a court should deem a change in the legislation to constitute an amendment, which does not require consideration on three different daysl and when it is new legislation necessitating three separate considerations This Court has addressed this delicate question in the past by finding violations of Section 4 only in conjunction with violations of either Section 1 , which requires the original purpose of the bill to be the same throughout its passage through either house,3 or Section 3, which, as noted, demands that the bill address a single subject See St/'/p v. Commonwea/th, 905 A.2d 918, 959 (Pa. 2006) (“Accordingly, because [the challengers] have failed to establish a violation of Article l|l, Section 1 or 3, and because the bill was
read on three different occasions, [the challengers] have failed to establish an Article lll,
3 ln ful|, Section 1, entitled “Passage of laws,” provides “No law shall be passed except by billl and no bill shall be so altered or amended, on its passage through either House, as to change its original purpose.” PA. CONST. ART. |ll, § 1.
[J-62-2017] [rvio; Todd] - 3
Section 4 violation.”); Pennsylvanians Aga/'nst Gamb/ing Expans/'on Fund, /nc. v. Commonwea/th, 877 A.2d 383, 410 (Pa. 2005) (requiring that petitioners “must necessarily establish that Article lll, Section 1 or 3 had been violated" to demonstrate a violation of Section 4).4
The policy requiring a violation of Section 4 only in conjunction with a violation of the single subject or original purpose requirements provides logical guidance to both the courts and the legislature in determining whether a change to a bill is merely an amendment or whether it is in actuality a new bill addressing a different purpose or subject from the original bill. Where an amendment is the same subject and the same purpose, caselaw has delineated it an amendment rather than new legislation /d.
The l\/lajority Opinionl however, does not address this Court’s historical reticence to strike legislation based solely upon an infringement of Section 4, despite the issue being directly addressed by Appellees. Appellee Brief at 23 (observing that “a violation of Section 4 cannot be established without a corresponding violation of Section 1 or Section 3”). Accordingly, l distance myself from the l\/lajority’s rationale to the extent it is
based on Section 4 alone.
4 The Commonwea|th Court has likewise required a violation of Sections 1 or 3 prior to finding a Section 4 violation. See Christ the K/'ng Manor v. Commonwea/th, Dept. of Pub//`c We/fare, 911 A.2d 624, 637 (Pa. melth. 2006) (holding “a violation of Article l||, Section 4 is dependent upon a violation of Article lll, Sections 1 or 3”), aff’d, 951 A.2d 255 (Pa. 2008); Marcavage v. Rende//, 888 A.2d 940, 947 (Pa. melth. 2005) (same); Common Cause/Pennsy/van/'a v. Commonwea/th, 710 A.2d 108, 121 (Pa. melth. 1998) (“ln light of our determination that the enactment of Act 3 did not violate either Article |ll, Section 1 or Article ll|, Section 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, we also conclude that the General Assembly did not violate Article |ll, Sections 2 and 4 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.”), aff’d, 757 A.2d 367 (Pa. 2000); Pennsylvania AFL-C/O by George v.
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