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Riedel v. Anderson6/4/2003
rangement is authorized by the Act of Admission and the Constitution's express authorization to lease the lands "under such regulations as the legislature shall prescribe." It is not necessary, and indeed would be inappropriate, to look to other states or common law trust principles to define the state's fiduciary obligations with regard to the school land's statutory trust.
The current version of the preferential right to renew was enacted in 1997 in the same legislative act as the declaration of trust. We construe statutes in accord with the ordinary and obvious meaning of their language to determine the legislature's intent. Thunderbasin Land & Livestock v. Laramie Cty., 5 P.3d 774, 779 (Wyo. 2000). If the language is sufficiently clear, we need not resort to other rules of construction. Id.
We will discuss each of Riedel's constitutional objections. He first claims that the preferential right to renew "violates Wyoming's fiduciary trust obligation to receive fair market value for agricultural leases of the common school land grants." He distinguishes the earlier cases in which we upheld similar preference laws on the grounds that those cases turned on statutory interpretation and refers us instead to Lassen v. Arizona ex rel. Arizona Highway Dep't. As discussed above, however, at issue in Lassen was the uniquely specific Arizona-New Mexico Enabling Act. And since we conclude that any trust in Wyoming is a creation of Wyoming statute, that trust does not carry with it the duty to maximize revenues found by the Lassen court. Plaintiff's first constitutional challenge therefore fails.
Riedel next argues that the preferential right-to-renew is tantamount to an absolute right of renewal, violating the enabling act's ten-year limit on leasing , and that in depressing lease values it grants privileges to incumbent lease holders over the trust beneficiaries. Riedel's arguments in this regard are speculative, as was his statistical evidence at trial in which he attempted to show that the vast majority of leases are renewed by the incumbent lease holders. He does not nearly approach his heavy burden to "clearly and exactly show the unconstitutionality beyond a reasonable doubt." Reiter v. State, 36 P.3d 586, 589 (Wyo. 2001). We have ruled that prior preferential right to renew statutes are conditional, not absolute. Frolander, 72 Wyo. at 364-65, 264 P.2d at 799; Kerrigan v. Miller, 53 Wyo. 441, 448, 84 P.2d 724, 726 (1938); Mercer v. Thorley, 48 Wyo. 141, 150, 43 P.2d 692, 695 (1935). The current statutory right is even more conditional: the incumbent must re-apply every ten years, must have met prior lease payments, must otherwise maintain eligibility, and most importantly must match any higher bid offered for the same land. The State may still decide to sell the land or not to lease it at all; if it does lease, it does so at the highest rate bid by anyone. We therefore find that the conditional right to renew does not violate the enabling act's prohibition of leases longer than ten years.
Riedel next argues that the preferential right-to-renew statute violates the requirement that the school lands be disposed of by public auction, as required by Wyo. Const, Art. 18, ยง 1. We agree with the Association and the State that the relevant constitutional provision, requiring that "disposal" of the lands be at public auction, is clear and unambiguous. To "dispose of" means "to alienate, relinquish, part with, or get rid of." Black's Law Dictionary 471 (6th ed. 1990). As with statutes, we interpret the Constitution according to its plain and obvious meaning. Amoco Production Co. v. Hakala, 644 P.2d 785, 789 (Wyo. 1982). The framers clearly did not consider a lease to be a sa
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