Request By:
Honorable Frederick G. Neikirk
Pulaski County Attorney
104 W. Columbia
Somerset, Kentucky 42501
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Sarah Weyler, Assistant Attorney General
I am in receipt of your letter which requests an opinion as to whether violations of KRS 318.134 must be prosecuted in circuit court or in district court. Violations of KRS 318.134 should be prosecuted in district court.
KRS 318.190(1) does provide that circuit court has jurisdiction over all actions brought to enforce the state plumbing code. However, note that KRS 23A.010 provides that circuit court has original jurisdiction of all cases not exclusively vested in some other court. KRS 24A.110 vests district court with jurisdiction over any offense denominated as a misdemeanor. Under the definitions rendered in KRS 532.020(3), the penalty set out in KRS 318.990 is a Class B misdemeanor.
One of the cardinal rules of statutory interpretation is that the statutes should be read as consistent with one another, see
Brown v. Hoblitzell, Ky., 307 S.W.2d 739 (1956). The only reading of KRS 318.190, KRS 23A.010 and KRS 24A. 110 which gives effect to all three statutes is that the misdemeanor penalty established by KRS 318.990 must be prosecuted in district court.
A former Opinion, OAG 76-401, indicated that violations of the plumbing code should be brought in circuit court. This opinion was issued before the effective date of the new judicial system, and so did not consider the jurisdiction of district court.
The County Attorney clearly has authority to prosecute the violation under KRS 318.190(2).
OAG 76-401 is modified accordingly.