Request By:
Honorable J. William Phillips
Murray City Attorney
201 South Fifth Street
Murray, Kentucky 42071
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of July 30 in which you refer to the fact that the city of Murray has previously enacted lengthy ordinances, such as those relating to zoning, which, when originally enacted, provided for fines, forfeitures, imprisonment or fees. Under the circumstances, you raise the following question:
"In the event of an amendment to the text of an ordinance such as a Zoning Ordinance, which amendment does not impose a fine, forfeiture, etc., but which does alter some legal responsibility in the body of such ordinance, may that amending ordinance be published in summary if so designated by the legislative body. "
As you point out, your question involves interpretation of the recently enacted KRS 83A.060 (9), which reads in part as follows:
"Except in cities of the first class, no ordinance shall be effective until published pursuant to KRS Chapter 424. Ordinances except bond ordinances imposing fines, forfeitures, imprisonment, taxes or fees shall be published in full. The publication requirements for all other ordinances shall be satisfied by publication in full or in summary as designated by the legislative body. The requirements for summary publication shall be satisfied by publication of the title and a certified summary of the contents prepared by an attorney licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. . . ."
Clear and unambiguous language in the statutes will be held to mean what it plainly expresses. Hawley Coal Co. V. Bruce, 252 Ky. 455, 67 S.W.2d 703 (1933).
The above statute clearly provides that only those ordinances that impose fines, forfeitures, imprisonment, taxes or fees must be published in full. With respect to all other ordinances, the legislative body is given the option of either publishing such ordinances in full or in summary.
In the event an amendment to a zoning ordinance is enacted which does not change the current penalty or fee provision of the zoning ordinance, or impose additions thereto, such amendment would not in our opinion, be required to be published in full, thereby giving the legislative body the right to publish such amendment in summary form, in the manner prescribed in the above referred to statute. We suggest, however, that if the amendment is covered by the current penalty provision for example, reference in the summary be made of this fact.