Request By:
Mr. Bremer Ehrler
Jefferson County Clerk
Jefferson County Courthouse
Louisville, Kentucky 40232
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Joe Johnson, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter to this Office dated April 3, 1984, you ask whether a Commissioner of the Traasportation Cabinet can extend the registration deadline for trailers. You have attached a copy of official Order No. 88263 signed by Deputy Secretary/Commissioner John A. Stephenson, Ph.D., which states as follows:
WHEREAS, KRS 186.655(4) requires the registration and licensing of trailers as defined in KRS 186.650(1), (2) and (2)(a) on or before April 1 of each year; and
WHEREAS, the Transportation Cabinet is charged with the responsibility of administering laws pertaining to the registration and licensing of motor vehicles; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Vehicle Regulation is charged with administering the provisions of KRS 186.655, et seq.; and
WHEREAS, it appears that an undue burden will be imposed upon the Transportation Cabinet by requiring the registration and licensing of these trailers by the deadline of April 1 due to the problem of implementing a program to apportion the value of trailers for ad valorem tax purposes for said motor vehicles prior to the aforesaid deadline of April 1.
NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to the registration requirements of KRS Chapter 186, I hereby order the time limitation required for the registration and licensing of trailers described in KRS 186.555 to be extended from midnight April 1, 1984, until midnight April 30, 1984.
A memorandum from Billy Whittaker, Director, Division of Local Valuation, Revenue Cabinet to all county clerks is attached and states as follows:
Attached is an official order (No. 88263) from the Department of Vehicle Registration signed by Dr. John A. Stephenson which extends the deadline for registering trailers from Midnight of April 1, 1984, until Midnight of April 30, 1984. The purpose of this extension is to allow the Department of Property Taxation to process apportioned valuation applications on trailers that were used in the interstate commerce.
Therefore, all trailers registered April 1 thru April 30, due to this extension, should not be charged any penalty and interest for delinquent property taxes. The system will automatically calculate penalty and interest through this period and will require an exoneration for its removal.
Thank you for your cooperation and if you have any questions concerning the removal of this penalty and interest, please do not hesitate to call.
KRS 186.655(4) states as follows:
After that, he shall register his trailer, semitrailer, mobile home or recreational vehicle on or before April 1 of each year. Insofar as the owner is concerned, registration with the clerk shall be deemed to be registration with the cabinet.
For the reasons to be set forth below, we find this attempted amendment of a statute by an administrative agency to be an unconstitutional encroachment on the legislative branch by the executive branch of state government.
Section 27 of the Kentucky Constitution states as follows:
The powers of the government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them confined to a separate body of magistracy, to wit; those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judicial, to another.
Section 28 states as follows:
No person, or collection of persons, being of one of those departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.
The very recent decision of The Legislative Research Commission, et al. v. Brown, et al., 82-SC-896-TG (March 1, 1984) eloquently explains the Separation of Powers Doctrine in Kentucky.
The framers of Kentucky's four constitutions obviously were cognizant of the need for the separation of powers. Unlike the federal constitution, the framers of Kentucky's Constitution included an express separation of powers provision. They were undoubtedly familiar with the potential damage to the interests of the citizenry if the powers of government were usurped by one or more branches of government. Our present constitution contains explicit provisions which, on the one hand mandate separation among the three branches of government, and on the other hand, specifically prohibit incursion of one branch of government into the powers and functions of the others.
* * *
We should not abandon the philosophical principles that were incorporated by the framers of our present constitution. The purposes of the separation of powers doctrine is uncontroverted. The precedents established by this court have been uniform in retaining the goals set out by the framers. The separation of powers doctrine is set in the concrete of history and legal precedent. We will not overrule those cases and we will not, by the fiat of judicial legislation change the clear and imperative meaning of our constitution. Such action is within the sole province of the voters of this Commonwealth.
In