Request By:
Hon. Stephen L. Frank
General Counsel
Kentucky Real Estate Commission
100 East Liberty Street
Suite 204
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Greg Holmes, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your letter to the Attorney General in which you request an opinion interpreting KRS 324.010(f) and (g). Specifically, you seek advice on whether the Owensboro Junior College of Business would be considered an "approved real estate school" within the meaning of KRS 324.010(f) or an "accredited real estate school" as defined in KRS 324.010(g). The above-referenced statutes provide:
"(f) 'Approved real estate school' means a school that has been given a certificate of approval by the state board of proprietary education in addition to a certificate of approval by the Kentucky real estate commission. The school must also be currently in good standing with both the state board of proprietary education and the commission."
"(g) 'Accredited real estate school' means a college or university accredited by appropriately recognized educational associations or chartered and licensed in Kentucky that grants credits toward an associate degree or a baccalaureate degree to those students successfully completing a course in real estate. "
You state that the Owensboro Junior College of Business meets the prerequisites for being considered an "approved real estate school" under KRS 324.010(f). The Kentucky Real Estate Commission has taken the position that KRS 324.010(f) and (g) are mutually exclusive so that a school cannot be both an "approved real estate school" and an "accredited real estate school" simultaneously. Although KRS Chapter 324 does not expressly recognize such a distinction, the context and language of KRS 324.010(f) and (g) strongly imply mutual exclusivity. The manifest statutory intent of KRS 324.010(f) and (g) appears to be to create two separate and distinct categories of schools with one category being subject to regulation by the Kentucky Real Estate Commission and the other being exempt from such regulation. Having met the statutory requirements for being considered an "approved real estate school" under KRS 324.010(f), the Owensboro Junior College of Business is, by plain legislative intent, subject to such regulation. Kentucky law mandates that statutes be construed liberally and in a manner calculated to promote the intent of the legislature. KRS 446.080(1) provides:
"(1) All statutes of this state shall be liberally construed with a view to promote their objects and carry out the intent of the legislature, and the rule that statutes in derogation of the common law are to be strictly construed shall not apply to the statutes of this state."
It is therefore the opinion of this office, based on the facts recited in your request for advice, that since the Owensboro Junior College of Business fits squarely within the category of schools defined in KRS 324.010(f), it is an "approved real estate school" and is fully subject to regulation by the Kentucky Real Estate Commission.