Opinion AGO 11-304.
Case Date | December 24, 2012 |
Court | California |
California Attorney General Opinions
2012.
Opinion AGO 11-304.
TO BE
PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTSOFFICE OF THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL State of CaliforniaKAMALA D. HARRIS Attorney GeneralOPINION of KAMALA D. HARRISAttorney
General DANIEL G. STONE Deputy Attorney
GeneralNo. 11-304
December 24,
2012THE HONORABLE
CHARLES L. PATTILLO, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE CALIFORNIA PRISON INDUSTRY
AUTHORITY, has requested an opinion on the following question:Does the Prison Industry Board's power
to "establish, notwithstanding any other provision of law, procedures governing
the purchase of . . goods and services," as provided in Penal Code section
2808(g), mean that the Prison Industry Authority is exempt from state laws
governing public works contracts?CONCLUSION
The Prison Industry Board's power to establish procedures for the
purchase of goods and services, as conferred by Penal Code section 2808(g),
does not exempt the Prison Industry Authority from state laws governing public
works contracts.
ANALYSIS
Introduction
The Prison Industry Authority (PIA, or Authority) operates under
the auspices of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR, or Department), and is charged with developing a variety of industrial,
agricultural, and service enterprises, generally modeled on private-sector
business practices, to provide prison inmates with meaningful employment
opportunities and job training during their incarceration.(fn1) The Authority's
work program is intended to be self-supporting, with its expenses to be offset
by revenues generated from sales of the program's products and services and by
savings resulting from the Department's use of those products and
services.(fn2)
The Authority is administered by an 11-member Prison Industry
Board (Board), to which the Legislature has granted substantial
independence.(fn3) The Board has many of the same powers and performs many of
the same functions as a private corporation's board of directors.(fn4) However,
the Board's actions remain subject to constitutional limitations, and its
non-inmate workforce is subject to the state's civil service laws.(fn5)
With this opinion request, the Authority asks us to determine
whether one of the powers granted by the Legislature to the Board-respecting
procedures for purchasing "raw materials, component parts, and any other goods
and services"-permits the Authority to negotiate and enter into "public works
contracts" without regard to state laws that otherwise govern such
contracts.(fn6) We conclude that the Board's discretion to adopt procedures for
the purchase of parts, materials, goods, and services does not exempt the
Authority from complying with state laws governing public works contracts. In
our view, public works contracts are distinguishable from contracts for goods
and services associated with the regular operational needs of the
Authority.
The statute we are asked to analyze is Penal Code section
2808(g), which states that the Board shall have the power:
To establish, notwithstanding any other provision of law, procedures governing the purchase of raw materials, component parts, and any other goods and services which may be needed by the authority or in the operation of any enterprise under its jurisdiction. Those procedures shall contain provisions for appeal to the board from any action taken in connection with them.(fn7)In considering the scope and effect of this provision, we apply well established rules of statutory interpretation. Our charge is to ascertain the Legislature's intent so as to effectuate the law's purpose,(fn8) and we start by examining the words used by the Legislature, giving them their usual and ordinary meaning.(fn9) Where possible, we must avoid constructions that would make any of the statute's words redundant or superfluous;(fn10) and we may not read into a statute language that is not included in its text.(fn11) We must also avoid interpretations that would be patently unreasonable or would lead to "absurd consequences."(fn12) We turn now to an analysis of section 2808(g). "Notwithstanding Any Other Provision of Law" It is evident on the face of Penal Code section 2808(g) that the Legislature intended to create some kind of an exemption here: that is, to free the Board from certain provisions of law that would otherwise control the Authority's contracting authority. The statute's first prepositional clause, "notwithstanding any other provision of law," appears with some frequency in California's statutes. Courts have construed the phrase as a "term of art,"(fn13) which"expresses a legislative intent 'to have the specific statute control despite the existence of other law which might otherwise govern' [citation] and 'declares the legislative intent to override all contrary law.' [Citation.]"(fn14) The phrase "notwithstanding any other provision of law" serves to obviate the operation of contrary statutes without need for express reference to the particular statutes that will be affected.(fn15) Its reach has been held to extend to decisional law as well as to statutes.(fn16) Notably, however, the supremacy accorded by such a clause is not universal, and does not subordinate all other laws in all contexts; rather, the clause indicates only that the provision in question "is to take precedence over other statutes affecting the same subject matter."(fn17) As the court explained in California Housing Finance Agency v. E.R. Fairway Associates I(fn18):
The introductory phrase of [Health and Safety Code] section 51205(f), '[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law,' qualifies the operative language of the section entitling the prevailing party to recover 'costs and reasonable attorney's fees.' Thus 'any other provision of law' relating to costs, to the extent contrary to or inconsistent with section 51205(f), is subordinated to the latter provision.(fn19)Accordingly, to understand the effect of this clause in section 2808(g), we must identify the subject matter and operative language of the provision. Procedures for Purchasing Raw Materials, Component Parts, and Goods and Services Penal Code section 2808 prescribes a number of powers that the Board shall have and things that the Board shall do in connection with the exercise of its duties.(fn20) One of those powers (provided in subdivision (g)) permits the Board, "notwithstanding any other provision of law," to "establish procedures governing the purchase of raw materials, component parts, and any other goods and services which may be needed by the authority or in the operation of any enterprise under its jurisdiction." Thus, the subject matter and operative language of section 2808(g) concern procedures...
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