Request By:
Mr. Andrew J. Palmer
General Counsel
Department of Banking & Securities
911 Leawood Drive
Frankfort, kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
House Bill 545, Section 2, enacted in the present session, creates a new section in KRS Chapter 287 as follows:
All fees collected and paid into the state treasury under the provisions of KRS chapters 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 294, 307, 366 and 316.010-.070 shall be credited to a revolving trust or agency fund account, as provided in KRS 45.140, for the department of banking and securities and shall be separately accounted for and shall be used solely for the administration and enforcement of said KRS chapters.
H.B. 545 was signed by the Governor at 11:07 p.m. on April 1, 1982. House Bill 295 (Executive Budget) was signed by the Governor on April 1, 1982 (no hour given). House Bill 295 Item 59, p. 65, you say, is in conflict with H.B. 545, Section 2. H.B. 14, of this session, now law, provides that in the event of a conflict between meansures amending the same section of statutes, the one which passes the general assembly last shall prevail. If H.B. 14 were applicable, then H.B. 295 was passed last. However, we do not believe H.B. 14 is applicable here, since the two bills, strictly speaking, do not "amend the same section of statutes", as laid out precisely in H.B. 14.
The fees of the various KRS chapters listed in H.B. 545, Section 2, above, are required to be credited to a revolving trust or agency fund account, as provided in KRS 45.140. Such funds are to be separately accounted for and used solely for the administration and enforcement of those chapters. See also KRS 45.140(4). The chapters referred to in Section 2 are: Chapter 287 (Banks and Trust Companies), Chapter 288 (Petty Loan Companies), Chapter 289 (Savings and Loan Associations), Chapter 290 (Credit Unions), Chapter 291 (Investment Companies), Chapter 292 (Securities, Bule Sky Law), Chapter 294 (Mortgage Loan Companies and Loan Brokers), Chapter 307 (Cemeteries), Chapter 366 (Sale of Check Law), and KRS 316.010-.070 (Embalmers and Funeral Directors).
On the other hand, Item 59, p. 65, of H.B. 295 reads:
"59. DEPARTMENT OF BANKING AND SECURITIES 1982-83$2,000,7001983-84$2,150,800
Notwithstanding the provision of KRS 47.130, receipts collected by the Department shall be deposited to the credit of the General Fund."
Item 59 of H.B. 295 contains the biennium appropriation for the Department of Banking and Securities. In addition, it contains this language: "Notwithstanding the provision of KRS 47.130, receipts collected by the Department shall be credited to the General Fund. " (Emphasis added).
Your question is whether there is a conflict in H.B. 545 and H.B. 295, and which governs?
We agree with your assessment as to conflict. The two bills, in the areas indicated above, are in direct conflict. H.B. 545, Section 18, repeals KRS 47.130. That statute requires that all fees collected and paid into the State Treasury under KRS Chapter 292 (Securities, Blue Sky Law), shall be credited to the revolving trust or agency fund account, as provided in KRS 45.140. That repeal was indicated, since Section 2 of H.B. 545 includes KRS Chapter 292 as a "T & A" account under KRS 45.140.
Thus one bill (H.B. 545) says that such fees shall go into a T & A account under KRS 45.140, and the other bill (H.B. 295) says that such fees or receipts collected by the Department of Banking shall be deposited to the General Fund.
It is our opinion that the specific legislation found in H.B. 545, Section 2, governs. The rule is that, as between legislation of a broad and general nature on one hand, and legislation dealing minutely with a sepecific matter on the other hand, the specific shall prevail over the general. City of Bowling Green v. Board of Education, Ky., 443 S.W.2d 243 (1969) 247.
There is some constitutional question about adding to the Executive Appropriations Bill, (H.B. 295), these statements referring to accounting procedure. See § 51, Kentucky Constitution, and Johnson v. Commonwealth ex rel. Meredith, 291 Ky. 829, 165 S.W.2d 820 (1942). In addition, the language "notwithstanding the provision of KRS 47.130 . . . .," was actually a mere repitition of the identical language carried in the Executive Budget for many years.