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Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles v. Critchfield1/4/2002
r logical connection to sections four through fourteen.
The DHSMV concedes that "At first blush, § 2 is difficult to connect to the remainder of chapter 98-223" but argues that a deeper examination of the legislation reflects a unifying theme: all of the substantive provisions relate to conditions legislatively required in return for the privilege of driving a motor vehicle. The DHSMV asserts:
assignment to a debt collector occurs before prosecution by the state attorney, and does not trigger the automatic suspension authorized by §1 of ch. 98-223. In effect, §2 partially unencumbers the privilege to drive, by providing an alternative to automatic license suspension upon prosecution for a worthless check.
This effort is valiant but unavailing. Section 2 lacks a logical or natural connection to driver's licenses, registrations or operation of motor vehicles which are the subject matter of Chapter 98-223. It rather relates to collection of debts evidenced by bad checks by private debt collectors and recovery of reasonable collection fees incurred by such private debt collectors. The state's reliance on Board of Public Instruction of Broward County v. Doran, 224 So. 2d 693 (Fla. 1969) is misplaced. There the supreme court found a natural or logical connection in an enactment which, in addition to requiring that all meetings of certain public boards and commission at which official acts were to be taken be public meetings, also contained provisions for criminal penalties and injunctive relief to enforce its provisions.
Here a natural or logical connection exists between driver's licenses, vehicle registrations and operation of motor vehicles. However, no such connection exists with use of private debt collectors to collect debts evidenced by bad checks. Unlike section 1, nothing in section 2 refers to driver's licenses or to the suspension thereof or for that matter to the operation of motor vehicles. Section 2 applies to private collection efforts on bad checks and has nothing whatsoever to do with driver's licenses or operation of motor vehicles.
This case is controlled by State v. Thompson, 750 So. 2d 643 (Fla. 2000) and State v. Johnson, 616 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1993). In Thompson the court found that Chapter 95-182, Laws of Florida, which created violent career criminal sentencing laws, violated the single subject rule by addressing two different subjects, career criminals and domestic violence. In Johnson, the court found a violation of the single subject rule where Chapter 89-280, Laws of Florida contained two separate and distinct subjects having absolutely no cogent connection: habitual offender sentencing and licensing of private investigators and their authority to repossess personal property. The court rejected the state's contention that the two subjects related to the single subject of controlling crime.
Finally, we recognize that the single subject requirement of Article III, section 6 only applies to chapter or session laws and sections of the Florida Statutes need not conform to the requirement. Johnson. Once reenacted by way of an adoption act as a portion of the Florida Statutes, a chapter or session law is no longer subject to challenge on the grounds that it violates the single subject requirement. Johnson. Chapter 98-223 was enacted effective July 1, 1998 but has yet to be the subject of an adoption act which became law. Accordingly, the final judgment invalidating Chapter 98-223, Laws of Florida, based upon violation of the single subject rule is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
THOMPSON, CJ. and ORFINGER, R. B., J., concur.
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