Request By:
Anne Meagher Northup,
State Representative
Kentucky House of Representatives
3340 Lexington Road
Louisville, Kentucky 40206
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Samuel J. Floyd, Jr., Assistant AttorneyGeneral
RE: KRS 141.010(11)(d) and (13) (8)
You recently wrote a letter to this office in which you asked for an opinion regarding KRS 141.010 as it pertains to deductions for amounts paid by taxpayers to any club, organization or establishment determined not to afford full and equal membership to persons because of race, color, religion, national origin or sex. KRS 141.010(11)(d) and (13)(f). You asked who has authority to make the determination that a particular club, organization or establishment is engaged in discriminatory membership practices.
KRS 141.010 specifies that this determination is to be made by the courts or by "an agency established by the General Assembly and charged with enforcing the civil rights laws of the Commonwealth." KRS 141.010(11)(d) and (13)(f). The agency so established and charged is the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights. KRS 344.020; KRS 344.150. You have indicated, however, that the Commission has declined to assume responsibility on the grounds that private clubs are not places of "public accommodation, resort or amusement" as defined by KRS 344.130.
We are of the opinion that KRS 344.130 does not prevent the Commission on Human Rights from making the determination called for under KRS 141.010. Furthermore, it is our opinion that the authority granted to the Commission under Chapter 344 is broad enough to encompass the responsibility assigned to it by the General Assembly in 1990 when KRS 141,010 was amended to include sections (11)(d) and (13)(f).
KRS 344.130 exempts private clubs from compliance with KRS 344.120 which makes it an unlawful practice "to deny an individual the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of a place of public accommodation, resort or amusement" on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. KRS 344.120. By enacting KRS 141.010)(11)(d) and (13)(f) the General Assembly did not alter this exemption for private clubs under KRS 344.130. Rather, it expressed the separate and independent intention that no income tax deduction would be allowed for amounts paid by taxpayers to private clubs which engage in discriminatory membership practices.
It is presumed that legislatures have knowledge of existing laws and the construction placed on them by the courts.
Baker v. White, Ky., 65 S.W.2d 1022, 1024 (1933). The narrow income tax focus of KRS 141.010 supports the presumption that the General Assembly in amending sections (11) and (13) to include subsections (d) and (f), respectively, was well aware that private clubs are exempt from discrimination complaints under KRS 344.120. Additionally, it has long been recognized that where two statutes are not repugnant to each other, although they may deal to some extent with matters pertaining to the same subject, and each can be enforced consistently with the provisions of the other, courts will enforce the provisions of each.
Newport Benev. Burial Ass'n. v. Clay, Ky., 186 S.W. 658, 662 (1916). Both KRS 344.130 and KRS 141.010(11)(d) and (13)(f) deal with private clubs, and both statutes involve the Commission on Human Rights. But in our view, neither statute is "repugnant to" the other, and it is our opinion that each can and should be given its independent effect.
Moreover, there is ample authority under the purposes, functions, powers and duties outlined in Chapter 344 to encompass the Commission's assigned participation in determining the allowability of deductions under KRS 141.010(11)(d) and (13)(f). The purpose of Chapter 344 is to "safeguard all individuals within the state from discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, and age." KRS 344.020(1)(b). The Commission on Human Rights was established "to discourage discrimination against any racial or ethnic group or its members." KRS 344.150; KRS 344.170. Among its powers and duties the Commission is charged with conducting research projects or making studies into and publishing reports on discrimination, with encouraging fair treatment for all persons regardless of race or national ancestry, and with cooperating with other public and private organizations to discourage discrimination. KRS 344.180. In enforcing the provisions of Chapter 344, the Commission is also granted the authority to "make studies appropriate to effectuate the purposes and policies of this chapter and to make the results thereof available to the public." KRS 344.190.
KRS 446.080(1) provides that "[a]ll statutes of the state shall be liberally construed with a view to promote their objects and carry out the intent of the legislature." We believe that with regard to the deductions disallowed under KRS 141.010(11)(d) and (13)(f), the legislature intended that it should be the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights which determines whether a club, organization or establishment does not afford full and equal membership based on race, color, religion, national origin or sex. It is the opinion of this office that KRS 344.130 does not prohibit the Commission from making such determinations for this limited purpose.