FLORIDA INSTITUTIONAL LEGAL SERVICES, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
FLORIDA PAROLE AND PROBATION COMMISSION, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1980-11-26
No. PP-148
SHAW, J., concurs., BOOTH, J., specially concurs with opinion. '
391 So. 2d 247 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1980) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

Florida Institutional Legal Services, Inc. appealed the Florida Parole and Probation Commission's partial denial of its petition for agency rule-making under the Administrative Procedure Act. The court held that the Commission, as an agency subject to the APA, must comply with public information and procedural requirements, including maintaining a current subject-matter index of rules and orders, but rejected FILS's argument that the Commission must adopt a rule requiring Commissioners rather than hearing examiners to conduct parole rescission interviews.


Holding

FILS has standing to petition for APA relief as an entity with substantial interest in Commission rules. The Commission is bound by the Administrative Procedure Act to adopt rules for public information including a current subject-matter index of rules and orders issued after January 1, 1975. However, the Commission is not required to adopt a rule mandating that Commissioners conduct parole rescission interviews, as Morrissey requires only that the hearing body be neutral and detached.


Headnotes

[1] A legal services corporation providing representation to indigent inmates in parole matters has standing to petition for agency rule-making concerning parole rules and pu…

[2] Agencies subject to the Administrative Procedure Act are bound to adopt practice and procedure rules as required by statute, including rules for public agendas and subjec…

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Key Quotes

“Petitions for Section 120.54(5) relief may be initiated by 'any person regulated by an agency or having a substantial interest in an agency rule . . . .' That rather liberal test of standing includes all prisoners, for they are not barred from Section 120.54(5) remedies by the restrictions stated in Section 120.52(10).”

Establishes the standing test for APA petitions and that prisoners are not excluded from seeking such relief

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Facts & Procedural History

FILS, a legal services corporation providing indigent inmate representation in parole matters, petitioned the Commission for rule-making to comply wit…

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Opinion of the Court
ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Judge.

ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Judge.

Florida Institutional Legal Services, Inc. (FILS) appeals from action by the Commission, expressed in its counsel’s letter which we treat as the appealable equivalent of a final agency order, Rice v. Dept. of Health and Rehab. Serv., 386 So. 2d 844 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), in part granting and in part denying FILS’s petition for agency rule-making on various subjects and “to provide the minimum public information required by s. 120.53.” Section 120.54(5), Florida Statutes (1979). The Commission’s voluntary accession to several FILS requests leaves for our consideration only the limited issues of (1) whether FILS had standing to petition for Section 120.54(5) remedies; if so, (2) whether the Commission was bound to grant the petition for compliance with Section 120.53, requiring rules of organization, practice, and procedure, rules for the scheduling of hearings and prescribing a public agenda, and public information resources including “a current subject-matter index” of rules and orders; and (3) whether the Commission is bound to adopt a rule directing that a Commissioner or the Commission rather than its hearing examiner panels conduct the prison interviews which the Commission accepts as evidence in parole rescission matters.

Petitions for Section 120.54(5) relief may be initiated by “any person regulated by an agency or having a substantial interest in an agency rule . . . . ” That rather liberal test of standing-in contrast to somewhat more restrictive standards written elsewhere in the APA, see Dept, of Offender Rehab. v. Jerry, 353 So. 2d 1230 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978), cert. den., 359 So. 2d 1215 (Fla.l978)-includes all prisoners, for they are not barred from Section 120.54(5) remedies by the restrictions stated in Section 120.52(10). Comer v. Parole and Probation Comm’n, 388 So. 2d 1341 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980). Standing is also afforded FILS, a legal services corporation which by contract with the Commission provides indigent inmates representation and other legal services in parole matters, and which therefore has a “substantial interest” in rules and information of the kind sought. Having standing to petition for the agency action authorized by Section 120.54(5), and being aggrieved by the Commission’s refusal in part to grant the relief petitioned for, FILS is “a party who is adversely affected by final agency action” and is entitled to a Section 120.68 appeal.

As an agency subject to the Administrative Procedure Act, Turner v. Wainwright, 379 So. 2d 148 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), aff’d, 389 So. 2d 1181 (Fla.1980), the Commission is bound to adopt the practice and procedure rules which Section 120.53 states “each agency shall” adopt, and the Commission must, in the words of Section 120.54(5), “provide the minimum public information required by s. 120.53.” We do not construe Sections 947.07 and 947.071 as exempting the Commission from the uniform requirements of Section 120.-53.* The Commission is therefore obliged to adopt rules for the preparation of an agenda meeting the specificity standards of Section 120.53(l)(d) and the model rules, Fla.Admin.Code R. 28-2.03, and the Commission must also maintain a current subject-matter index, identifying for the public any rule or order issued or adopted after January 1, 1975, including the functional equivalents of orders such as that which we review today, declaratory statements issued by the Commission pursuant to Section 120.565, and Commission determinations of presumptive and effective parole release dates, parole rescission determinations, parole revocation orders, and other final agency decisions which are equivalent to “orders.” Section 120.52(2), (9).

We need not reach the remaining questions, which are whether the Commission must make substantive rules particularizing “aggravating and mitigating circumstances” as employed in Section 947.172(2) and “good cause in exceptional circumstances” as employed in Section 947.173(3). The Commission having announced its intention to conduct rulemaking in respect to those statutory standards, we need not consider whether it is obliged to do so, nor the extent of substantive rulemaking which we may order. See FEA/United v. PERC, 346 So. 2d 551 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977).

Appellant’s final argument is that the Commission is obliged to adopt a rule of practice or procedure specifying that a Commissioner or the Commission, rather than a hearing examiner panel, will conduct the fact-finding interviews, usually in a prison setting, which inform the Commission in its decisions to rescind effective parole release dates previously fixed by the Commission. Demar v. Wainwright, 354 So. 2d 366 (Fla.1978) requires the Commission, when rescinding paroles previously granted prisoners who are not yet released, to comply with the due process standards specified for parole revocation in Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972). Parole revocation hearings are conducted bythe Commission or a Commissioner. Section 947.23. From that it does not follow that the Commission or a Commissioner must perform all similar functions in rescission cases. Morrissey requires only that the hearing body be “neutral and detached.” The Commission’s existing Rule 23-16.091, citing Demar and by that reference Morrissey, is notice of the standards to be observed in rescission proceedings. FILS has not shown a legal entitlement to further rulemaking on the subject.

The Commission’s order is AFFIRMED in part and REVERSED in part.

SHAW, J., concurs.

BOOTH, J., specially concurs with opinion. '

*

Section 947.07, enacted long before the 1974 APA, provides:

The commission shall have power to make such rules and regulations as it deems best for its governance, including among other things rules of practice and procedure and rules prescribing qualifications to be possessed by its employees.

Section 947.071 provides:

It is the intent of the Legislature that all rulemaking procedures by the commission shall be conducted pursuant to the Florida Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 120.
Concurrence
BOOTH, Judge,

BOOTH, Judge,

specially concurring:

The opinion in Turner v. Wainwright, 379 So. 2d 148 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), affirmed, 389 So. 2d 1181 (Fla.1980), mandates the result here as to applicability of the Administrative Procedures Act, Florida Statutes, Chapter 120, to the Parole and Probation Commission and standing under that act. I, therefore, concur.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …ed by the person designated to preside, and stated in the record. The Commission is required to provide the minimum public information required by section 120.53. Florida Institutional Legal Services, Inc. v. Florida Parole and Probation Commission, 391 So. 2d 247 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980). In the instant case Jaffe’s name was not on the agenda, and no good cause for changing the agenda appears in the record. The lack of public notice in this case effectively prevented petitioners, and other interested parties, fro…
  • Perkins v. Dep't of Health & Rehabilitative Servs., 452 So. 2d 1007 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
    …r. The interpretation urged by the agency does not find support in cases interpreting statutes using less restrictive language sanctioning rulemak-ing. See, e.g., Florida Institutional Legal Services, Inc. v. Florida Parole and Probation Commission, 391 So. 2d 247 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981) (“... commission shall have power to make such rules as it deems best.”) In saying the above, we have not overlooked the many opinions by this court recognizing that the non-rule policy of an agency will not be invalidated if it…
  • Thearthur LAW v. Fla. Parole & Prob. Comm'n, 411 So. 2d 1329 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)
    …20.68 judicial review of the Commission’s final action in each of the appellants’ cases.4 See generally, Turner v. Wainwright, 379 So. 2d 148 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Florida Institutional Legal Services, Inc. v. Florida Parole and Probation Commission, 391 So. 2d 247 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); and Daniels v. Florida Parole and Probation Commission, supra. The Commission may, in its own discretion, answer prisoners’ requests for information, but such communications are not final agency action and this Court will not t…

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