Wyoming Advisory Opinions July 08, 1981: AGO 1981-007 (July 8, 1981)

AGO 1981-007.

DISCUSSION

Prior to May 20, 1981, W.S. 22-22-202 provided, in relevant part, that:

A qualified person may be nominated for the office of school district trustee or member of a community college board by filing an application for election in the office of the county clerk not more than seventy-four (74) nor less than fifty-nine (59) days prior to the election....

W.S. 21-5-121(a) provided, in relevant part, that:

Any person desiring to be a candidate for the office of trustee of a unified district formed under the provisions of this chapter [W.S. 21-5-101 to W.S. 21-5-131] shall be a resident of the trustee residence area which he seeks to represent. Such candidate shall be nominated by a petition which shall be signed by at least twenty-five (25) qualified electors of the trustee residence area in which such candidate resides, and an acceptance of such nomination by the candidate. All trustees shall be elected by the electorate of the entire organized unified school district....

As the statute then existed, there was arguably an ambiguity concerning which statute governed: did the General Election Code provision (W.S. 22-22-202) adopted in 1973 impliedly repeal the nomination section of the Wyoming School District Organization Law (W.S. 21-5-121) adopted in 1969? Although there is a presumption against implied repeal of statutory provisions, Nehring v. Russell, 582 P.2d 67 (Wyo. 1978); 2A Sutherland Statutory Construction, Section 51.01 (1973), an analysis of that nature is not necessary to resolve the question.

The 1981 General Session passed clarifying legislation, 1981 Session Laws, Chapter 159, which added subsection (b) to W.S. 22-22-202 and redesignated the former W.S. 22-22-202 as subsection (a). Subsection (b) provides that:

Subsection (a) of this section does not apply to candidates for the office of school district trustee who are subject to the provisions of W.S. 21-5-121.

As a result of this legislative action, nomination of a candidate for school district trustee in a unified school district (as defined at W.S. 21-5-103(a)(iii)) is governed by W.S. 21-5-121(a).