PAUL E . PATTON, GOVERNOR OF THE L. . COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS GOVERNOR, ET AL . V. BOBBY L . TIMBROOK, ET AL . AND CATHY M . WISE, ET AL . V. BRERETON C . JONES, GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS GOVERNOR, ET AL .
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#uprtme Tourt of WP
1999-SC-1036-TG
PAUL E . PATTON, GOVERNOR OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY IN
HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS GOVERNOR, ET AL .
V.
cr
-
C oy;
APPELLANTS
ON APPEAL FROM FRANKLIN CIRCUIT COURT
HONORABLE ROGER CRITTENDEN, JUDGE
NO . 1997-CI-00941
BOBBY L. TIMBROOK, ET AL.
APPELLEES
AND
1999-SC-1165-DG
CATHY M . WISE, ET AL.
V.
APPELLANTS
APPEAL FROM COURT OF APPEALS
1999-CA-3109
FRANKLIN CIRCUIT COURT NO . 1994-CI-00858
BRERETON C. JONES, GOVERNOR
OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY IN
HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS GOVERNOR, ET AL.
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE KELLER
REVERSING IN 1999-SC-1036-TG AND
AFFIRMING IN 1999-SC-1165-DG
APPELLEES
L..
I. ISSUE
This case concerns Kentucky's probation and parole officers' entitlement to
salary increases authorized during the 1988 and 1990 sessions of the Kentucky
General Assembly. In 1988, the General Assembly enacted a Career Ladder Program
for Kentucky's probation and parole officers that provided for salary improvements and
stated that those improvements shall be in addition to all other salary increases
authorized by law. In 1990, the General Assembly enacted the Salary Equity Fund
which provided for salary increases for state employees - including probation and
parole officers - but provided that those officers would only receive the greater of the
increases authorized under the Career Ladder Program or the Salary Equity Fund . Did
the denial of full Salary Equity Fund benefits result in a repeal of the Career Ladder
Program? Because full Salary Equity Fund benefits were not authorized by law for
Career Ladder Program recipients, the latter enactment did not repeal the Career
Ladder Program .
II . BACKGROUND
In its 1988 legislative session, the Kentucky General Assembly enacted the
Probation and Parole Officer Salary Improvement Program .' This program, which is
also referred to as the Probation and Parole Career Ladder Program (hereinafter
"Career Ladder Program"), authorized salary increases for Probation and Parole
Officers based on their years of service.' Notably, Section 4 of the Career Ladder
1 1988 Ky. Acts Ch . 377 § 1 (codified as KRS 196 .076) .
'Probation and Parole Officers with less than five (5) years of service received no
salary increase ; those officers with five (5) but less than ten (10) years of service
received a salary increase of five (5%) percent, and those officers with ten (10) years or
more of service received a salary increase of ten (10%). 1988 Ky. Acts Ch . 377 § 1(1)(continued . . .)
Program provided that "[s]alary improvements under [the program] shall be in addition
.,,3
.
to all other increments or other salary increases authorized by law
The effective
date of the Career Ladder Program was July 1, 1990.4
Subsequently, during the 1990 legislative session, and prior to the Career Ladder
Program's effective date,' the legislature's 1990 Budget Bill established the State
Employee Salary Equity Fund (hereinafter "Salary Equity Fund").' The Salary Equity
Fund provided for an annual salary increase for state employees in grades two (2)
through nine (9).' Probation and parole offices were listed as grade nine (9)
employees' and thus qualified for an increase under the Salary Equity Fund . The
effective date of the increases under the Salary Equity Fund was September 1 St of each
fiscal year of the budget.'
On or about July 1, 1990, when the Career Ladder Program became effective, all
eligible officers received salary increases under that program.
But, on or about
2( . . .continued)
(3) (codified as KRS 196 .076(1)-(3)) .
31
988 Ky . Acts Ch . 377 § 1(4) (codified as KRS 196 .076(4) (now KRS
196 .076(5)) .
41
988 Ky . Acts Ch . 377 § 3.
'The Budget Bill was passed on April 13, 1990, and while the first increase under
the Salary Equity Fund was not effective until September 1, 1990, the effective date of
the 1990 Budget Bill was July 1, 1990 (the beginning of the fiscal year) .
61
990 Ky. Acts Ch . 514 Part
III § 20 .
Eligible employees received $1,000 .00 on September 1, 1990 and an additional
$500 .00 on September 1, 1991 . 1990 Ky. Acts Ch . 514 Part III § 20.
'
'1990 General Assembly Statutory Final Enacted Budget Memorandum FB 199092 Commonwealth Budget (hereinafter "Budget Memorandum") at A-4.
'Supra note 7 .
September 1, 1990, when the Salary Equity Fund became effective, officers otherwise
eligible for a salary increase under the fund received an increase only if the Salary
Equity Fund resulted in an increase greater than the officer received under the Career
Ladder Program . In other words, if an officer's increase was greater under the Career
Ladder Program, the officer did not receive an increase under the Salary Equity Fund .
The officers thus received the greater of the benefits authorized under either the Career
Ladder Program or the Salary Equity Fund, but not both .
The probation and parole officers in Case Number 1999-SC-001036-TG
(hereinafter "Timbrook claimants") and in Case Number 1999-SC-001 165-D (hereinafter
"Wise claimants") filed separate actions in the Franklin Circuit Court seeking
declarations that they were entitled to the full amount of the salary increases authorized
under both the Career Ladder Program and the Salary Equity Fund.
The trial court decided the Wise claimants' case first, and entered judgment that
they were entitled to the full amount of both increases .
Upon appeal of the judgment,
the Court of Appeals agreed with much of the trial court's analysis, but ultimately
reversed the judgment after holding that the doctrine of sovereign immunity prevented
the Wise claimants from recovering the increases . The Wise claimants then sought and
were granted discretionary review by this Court .
Based on its previous ruling for the Wise claimants, the trial court then entered
judgment for the Timbrook claimants . Notice of appeal of this judgment to the Court of
Appeals was filed, and subsequently a motion to transfer to this Court was filed and
granted . We consolidated the actions in this Court.
III. ALLEGED REPEAL OF CAREER LADDER PROGRAM
The Wise and Timbrook claimants successfully argued in the trial court, and the
Wise claimants also in the Court of Appeals, that the 1990 Budget Bill improperly
repealed the 1988 Career Ladder Program and thereby eliminated the continuation of
the Career Ladder increases as provided for in Section 4 of the 1988 enactment . The
claimants contend that, in so doing, the Budget Bill violated : (1) Section 51 of the
Kentucky Constitution, by failing to comply with the title and publication requirements ;' °
(2) KRS 446 .085," by repealing a statute in the budget bill ; and (3) KRS 446 .145,' 2 by
repealing KRS 196.076 without specifically identifying it as being repealed . Accordingly,
claimants argue that they are entitled to both the Career Ladder Program and Salary
Equity Fund increases because the Budget Bill provisions repealing the Career Ladder
Program were unconstitutional and unlawful .
The lower courts' determinations that the Budget Bill repealed the Career Ladder
Program rely primarily on the following provision in the Budget Bill :
All statutory continuing appropriations in existence at the
time this Act takes effect are discontinued and repealed by
this Act except as provided by Chapters 12, 42, 56, 96A,
133, 152, 177, 341, and 441 of the Kentucky Revised
Statutes . All statutes and portions of statutes in conflict with
""No law enacted by the General Assembly shall relate to more than one
subject, and that shall be expressed in the title, and no law shall be revised, amended,
or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only, but so much
thereof as is revised, amended, extended or conferred, shall be reenacted and
published at length ." KY Const § 51 .
""Nothing in a budget bill adopted by the general assembly shall be construed to
effect a repeal or amendment in the Kentucky Revised Statutes, and if any repeal or
amendment appears to be effected in any of the Kentucky Revised Statutes, it shall be
disregarded, shall be null and void, and the law as it existed prior to the effective date of
the budget bill shall be given full force and effect." KRS 446.085(1) (Repealed 1994 Ky.
Acts Ch . 387 § 32).
12"Bills repealing a section of the
statutes shall list the statute number and
headnote ." KRS 446 .145(4) .
any of the provisions of this Section, to the extent of such
conflict, are hereby repealed, unless otherwise provided by
this Act. '3
We must read this provision, however, in light of other provisions of the Budget
Bill and the accompanying Budget Memorandum . The legislature expressly noted in the
1990 Budget Memorandum that the 1990-92 Budget continued the funding previously
established for the Career Ladder Proaram . 14 Additionally, the legislature -- in the
same section that established the Salary Equity Fund in the Budget Bill -- restricted
funds where an appropriation was provided for salary upgrades:
Salary equity funds shall not be in addition to the
appropriation provided to specified budget units for salary
upgrades for any employees in the operating budget. To the
extent specified salary upgrades result in a lesser amount
than that to which the employee's job class is entitled under
this provision, salary equity funds may be used to
supplement the upgrade moneys for such employees within
the above fixed award amounts."
'31990 Ky. Acts Ch . 514 Part III § 5 .
"Budget Memorandum at 89 ("The General Assembly . . . provides funding for
the Probation and Parole Career Ladder Program, pursuant to KRS Chapter 439[] . . . .").
Section 2 of the Act that established the Career Ladder Program amended KRS
439.315 to increase the fees thereunder for persons placed "on probation, parole, or
other form of release subject to supervision by the corrections cabinet[] . . . ." 1988 Ky.
Acts Ch . 377 § 2 . The increase in supervision fees was obviously a funding source for
the increases provided for under the Career Ladder Program enacted simultaneously
therewith . Accordingly, the reference to "provid[ing] funding for the [Career Ladder
Program], pursuant to KRS Chapter 439" constitutes the legislature's expression that
the increase in supervision fees as previously authorized shall continue to "provide[]
funding for the [Career Ladder Program] ." The General Assembly did not, therefore,
discontinue or repeal the Career Ladder Program or its funding in the Budget Bill Act,
but instead expressly provided for its continuation "by [the] Act."
111
' 51990 Ky. Acts Ch . 514 Part
20.
And, consistent with this restriction, the legislature expressed its intent as to how the
Career Ladder Program and Salary Equity Fund together would apply to probation and
parole officers:
It is the intent of the Kentucky General Assembly that the
salary adjustments for probation and parole officers shall be
the greater of the Probation and Parole Career Ladder
Program pursuant to KRS Chapters 196 and 439, or the
salary equity plan as provided in Part III of the 1990-92
Biennial Appropriations Act, as enacted by the 1990
Kentucky General Assembly. It is further the intent of the
Kentucky General Assembly that funds provided for the
Probation and Parole Career Ladder Program shall be used
to supplement the necessary costs of providing these salary
adjustments for probation and parole officers."
Consequently, upon consideration of other pertinent provisions of the Budget Bill
and the Budget Memorandum, we find that the Budget Bill, rather than repealing the
Career Ladder Program when enacting the Salary Equity Fund, in fact continued the
Program, but limited benefits under the Salary Equity Fund to those officers whose
benefits thereunder would exceed their benefits under the Career Ladder Program . In
other words, while probation and parole officers are entitled to both Career Ladder
Program benefits and "to all other increments or other salary increases authorized by
law," the legislature in its Budget Bill did not authorize full Salary Equity Fund benefits
for them . It was not required to do so . Salary Equity Fund benefits for probation and
parole officers were only authorized to supplement their Career Ladder Program
benefits so "that the salary adjustments for probation and parole officers shall be the
greater of the Probation and Parole Career Ladder Program . . . [] or the salary equity
plan . . . ." Accordingly, if an officer's benefits under the Career Ladder Program
16
Id .
exceeded Salary Equity Fund benefits, the Budget Bill did not authorize any further
salary adjustment for the officer under the Salary Equity Fund . However, if an officer's
Career Ladder Program benefits did not exceed full Salary Equity Fund benefits, the
Budget Bill only authorized payment of Salary Equity Fund benefits to the extent
necessary to upgrade the officer's benefits to the level of full Salary Equity Fund
benefits . The Budget Bill therefore authorized an officer to receive both Career Ladder
Program benefits and partial Salary Equity Fund benefits, but not Career Ladder
Program benefits and full Salary Equity Fund benefits .
Because we find that the Budget Bill did not repeal the Career Ladder Program,
we do not reach the claimed constitutional and statutory violations .
IV. CONCLUSION
For the above reasons, we affirm the result reached by the Court of Appeals in
1999-SC-1165-DG, reverse the trial court's judgment in 1999-SC-1036-TG and remand
each to the trial court for entry of judgments in accordance with this opinion .
Lambert, C.J . ; Cooper, Graves and Johnstone, JJ ., concur. Stumbo and
Wintersheimer, JJ ., dissent without opinion .
COUNSEL FOR APPELLANTS, PAUL E. PATTON, ET AL . :
Stephen P. Durham
Department of Corrections
Office of General Counsel
2439 Lawrenceburg Road
P .O. Box 2400
Frankfort, Kentucky 40602-2400
Mark A. Sipek
Personnel Board
28 Fountain Place
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEES, BOBBY L. TIMBROOK, ET AL. :
William P. Sturm
Sturm & Sturm
307 Wilkinson Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
COUNSEL FOR APPELLANTS, CATHY M . WISE, ET AL. :
C . David Emerson
Emerson & Associates
501 Darby Creek Road
Unit 41
Lexington, Kentucky 40509
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEES, BRERETON C. JONES, ET AL. :
Mark A. Sipek
Personnel Board
28 Fountain Place
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Rebecca Baylous
Department of Corrections
Office of General Counsel
2439 Lawrenceburg Road
P .O . Box 2400
Frankfort, Kentucky 40602-2400
Stephen P. Durham
Department of Corrections
Office of General Counsel
2439 Lawrenceburg Road
P .O . Box 2400
Frankfort, Kentucky 40602-2400
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