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Pellegrino v. Rhode Island Ethics Commission1/30/2002
A state statute provided for certain public officials, who were formerly members of a state governmental agency, to receive a designated compensation for attending agency meetings during a specific period. Can the agency and the defendant state treasurer invoke sovereign immunity to fend off the public officials' attempt to obtain a declaratory judgment concerning their alleged right to recover the statutory compensation due to them for attending these meetings? Because the state has waived its sovereign immunity by enacting a statute providing for the compensation in question and because the public officials' alleged performance of the statutory conditions for obtaining payment created a legitimate claim of entitlement to this statutory benefit, we answer this question in the negative.
The plaintiffs, former members of defendant, Rhode Island Ethics Commission (commission), contend that the Superior Court erred when it concluded that the doctrine of sovereign immunity barred them from suing the commission and the Treasurer of the State of Rhode Island (state), to obtain declaratory and other relief concerning the compensation allegedly due and owing to them for attending various commission meetings in 1991 and 1992. They appeal from a judgment dismissing their complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) and (6) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure. After a prebriefing conference, a single justice of this Court ordered the parties to show cause why the appeal should not be summarily decided. Because neither party has done so, we proceed to decide the appeal without further briefing or argument.
Facts and Travel
On January 1, 1991, then Governor Bruce Sundlun, in response to a banking crisis and a large state budget deficit, issued an executive order suspending the pay of all persons serving on Rhode Island state boards and administrative agencies, including the commission. Shortly thereafter, the General Assembly ratified the Governor's action by passing various acts suspending the pay of commission members. Thus, on February 15, 1991, the Legislature passed P.L. 1991, ch. 6, art. 29, suspending the pay of the commission members for the rest of 1991 and for fiscal year 1992. Thereafter, however, on June 7, 1991, the General Assembly enacted P.L. 1991, ch. 44, art. 77. This article allowed those members of commissions who performed adjudicatory functions, including plaintiffs, to receive compensation retroactive to February 15, 1991. Thereafter, on July 14, 1992, the General Assembly passed P.L. 1992, ch. 133, art. 9, which suspended the pay of members of commissions and boards for fiscal year 1993, without retaining the previous exception for commission members who performed adjudicatory functions. The General Assembly continued to suspend the pay of commission members from fiscal year 1993 through 1998.
Under G.L. 1956 ยง 36-14-8(i), commission members were entitled to receive $100 per day "as compensation for attendance at meetings * * * but not to exceed the sum of six thousand dollars ($6,000) annually as compensation of each member." Section 36-14-13 clearly provides that the commission exercises adjudicative powers. The plaintiffs argue that as commission members performing adjudicatory functions, they were entitled to compensation pursuant to P.L. 1991, ch. 44, art. 77, for attending various commission meetings from February 15, 1991, to July 14, 1992, the date when the General Assembly suspended commission members' pay without including an exception for members performing adjudicatory functions. Believing they were not entitled to demand payment from the commission while they were still serving as members, plaintiffs waited until their terms expired
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