Request By:
Mr. J. E. Stewart, Director
Division of Management Services
Finance and Administration Cabinet
Capitol Annex
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Deputy Attorney General and Chief Counsel
As the Director in the Division of Management Services of the Finance and Administration Cabinet, you have asked the Office of the Attorney General to consider the proper organizational status for the Office for Social Security. You stated there exists some confusion regarding this matter and we are aware there are also some basic differences of opinion. It is the position of this office that the state Office for Social Security is exactly what its title indicates, an "office" for purposes of organizational identity.
Support for our position is found in the plain language of the law creating the Office for Social Security. House Bill 657, 1982 Acts of Kentucky, in pertinent part amended the definition of "state agency" for the provisions involving social security for public employees. "State agency" is now defined to mean "the state office for social security, which agency shall be subject to the authority of the secretary of finance and administration." KRS 61.420(4). Here the General Assembly has plainly said the state agency to handle public employees' social security matters will be the " state office for social security. " (Emphasis ours). Clear and unambiguous language in a statute will be held to mean what it plainly expresses. See Hawley Coal Co. v. Bruce, 252 Ky. 455, 67 S.W.2d 703 (1934) and KRS 446.080. Moreover, in view of the fact the office for social security is created in a definitional section, we are entitled to give considerable credence to this legislative definition. See George Wohrley, Inc. v. Commonwealth, Dept. of Rev., Ky., 495 S.W.2d 173 (1973).
With the above in mind, we next turn to the new 1982 definitions generally applicable to state administrative organization codified in KRS 12.010. KRS 12.010(7) reads:
"In this chapter, and throughout the Kentucky revised statutes where applicable and appropriate unless the context requires otherwise:
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"(7) 'Office' means a staff support or administrative function and shall be a major subdivision of a program cabinet only, such to be headed by an executive director;"
We can see no basis for an argument that this definition of "office" is not applicable to the State Office for Social Security.
If you have further questions concerning this matter, please contact us.