Request By:
Mr. Donnie M. English
Chief of Police
City of Calvert City
P.O. Box 36
Calvert City, Kentucky 42029
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
In OAG 80-251 we gave out opinion that a golf cart is a "off-road vehicle" the use of which is governed by KRS 189.860 and cannot be operated on a public street. You now request an opinion as to whether a city ordinance may authorize the use of golf carts on the streets of the city.
It is our opinion that a city ordinance authorizing the use of golf carts on city streets is invalid because the legislature has preempted the field of law governing motor vehicles. In Arnold v. Commonwealth at instance of City of Somerset, Ky., 218 S.W.2d 661 (1949) the Court said.
"It is a fundamental principle that municipal ordinances are inferior in status and subordinate to the laws of the state. An ordinance in conflict with a state law of general character and statewide application is universally held to be invalid. "
And in the case of Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, for use and benefit of the City of Covington, Ky., 488 S.W.2d 329 (1972), the Court said:
"A conflict exists between an ordinance and a statute when the ordinance permits conduct which is prohibited by statute or prohibits conduct which is permitted by the statute."
It is, therefore, our opinion that a city cannot by ordinance permit the use of golf carts on public roads or streets.