Request By:
Representative Tina Bojanowski
Kentucky House of Representatives
District 32
Opinion
Opinion By: ANDY BESHEAR,ATTORNEY GENERAL;Slran J. Dutta,Assistant Attorney General
Opinion of the Attorney General
You have asked this office to provide input regarding KRS 186A. 190(4) and the related duties of a county clerk. Specifically, your letter asks "whether all County Clerks are required to comply with the new provision of the law and issue the mandated salvage title to insurers."
Your letter cites KRS 186A.190(4) as the law in question and the relevant changes made to this statute during the 2017 Regular Session by the Kentucky Legislature. The statute in question currently states, in part, that:
(4) Notwithstanding subsections (1), (2), and (3) of this section, a county clerk shall, following inspection of the vehicle by the sheriff, to determine that the vehicle has not been stolen, issue a new ownership document to a vehicle, clear of all prior liens, to a person after he or she provides to the county clerk an affidavit devised by the Transportation Cabinet and completed by the person."
Your letter further states "a majority of Clerks --105 out of 120 to be exact--have implemented the new procedures, 15 offices are refusing to do so." As such, your question essentially asks if county clerks are required to follow the laws of the Commonwealth. The answer to such a question is in the affirmative.
Upon review of this question, we must approach the matter with the view that the plain meaning of statutory language is presumed to be what the legislature intended; if the meaning is plain, then one cannot base its interpretation on any other method or source.
Revenue Cabinet v. O'Daniel, 153 S.W.3d 815, 819 (Ky. 2005). Only when it would produce an injustice or absurd result should the plain meaning be ignored. See
Johnson v. Frankfort & Cincinnati R.R., 197 S.W.2d 432, 434 (1946).
The office of county clerk is set forth in Section 99 of the Kentucky Constitution. As such, county clerks are constitutional county officers.
Miller v. Davis, 267 F.Supp.3d 961, 988 (E.D. Ky. 2017). The Kentucky Constitution further declares all officers shall take an oath or affirmation stating they will faithfully execute, to the best of their ability, the relevant office according to law. See KY. CONST. § 228. Therefore, county clerks are required to execute the office pursuant to law.
Regarding the statute in question, the Kentucky legislature specifically used the term "shall." See KRS 186A.190(4). The Supreme Court of Kentucky has specifically stated, "In common or ordinary parlance, and in its ordinary signification, the term shall is a word of command and . . . must be given compulsory meaning. If the words of the statute are plain and unambiguous, the statute must be applied to those terms without resort to any construction or interpretation. Shall means shall ."