06.26.12

New Lawsuit Filed Claiming PA’s Receivership Law is Unconstitutional

Below is the press statement released by five members of Harrisburg City Council, the City Controller, and & City Treasurer on June 26th.

These elected officials have filed a complaint in Federal Court claiming the Receivership of the City of Harrisburg is unconstitutional. This suit was previously filed by various citizens, but was dismissed before the merits of the case were heard because the Judge found the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the case to Court. As elected officials, these new plaintiffs hope to overcome that issue. (See Federal Judge John Jones Dismisses the Citizens’ Case Against Harrisburg’s Receivership).

CITY LEADERS CHALLENGE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF LEGISLATION CREATING OFFICE OF RECEIVER

 Law Violates The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Improperly Transfers Authority to the Governor

HARRISBURG:  Members of the Harrisburg City Council, City Controller Dan Miller and City Treasurer John Campbell today jointly filed suit in U.S. Federal Court arguing that the statute passed by the state legislature creating a receiver for the City of Harrisburg violates The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Equal Protection Clause provides that “no state shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” and protects rights from abridgment by state leaders and governments. The suit alleges that the U.S. Constitution guarantees that no person or class of persons shall be denied the same protection of the law that is enjoyed by other persons or class of persons in like circumstances and that with the appointment of a receiver Harrisburg is being treated differently than all other fiscally distressed Pennsylvania municipalities.

The plaintiffs also argue that the Legislature  violated Article II, sec. 1, of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which places the power to make laws exclusively within the province of the state legislature. The law provides that one branch of government can’t authorize another entity to exercise the power or function which it is Constitutionally authorized to exercise itself. In short,  the Legislature can’t transfer its law making power to any other hands and therefore improperly delegated its Constitutional responsibility to the Governor.  Act 47 as passed by the legislature does not allow the Commonwealth’s Executive Branch to simply seize the policy-making power of the local governing body.

“This suit is not simply an academic exercise,” said Council President Wanda Williams. “It goes to the heart of democracy and the rule of law. Neither the Governor or the Republican controlled legislature have the right to impose their will on the City of Harrisburg just because they disagree with the position of the democratically elected City Council .  It sets a dangerous precedent that will allow  the Commonwealth to overrule decisions made by local elected officials if and when state leaders disagree with those decisions. Every local official should be concerned about the implications of this fundamental departure from the democratic process.”