by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports

The Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition from developers that sought to purchase a piece of state property in downtown Boise, declining to investigate whether the steps taken by the Legislature to block the sale violated the state constitution.  

Hawkins Companies, Pacific West Communities, and FJ Management submitted the winning bid to purchase the 44-acre site of the former Idaho Transportation Department headquarters. Lawmakers blocked the state from finishing the sale at the close of the legislative session earlier this year.

“Petitioners do not have a legally enforceable right to purchase the ITD Campus and therefore they cannot establish a substantial likelihood that the issuance of a writ would result in the sale of the ITD Campus to them. The Department of Administration and Petitioners have no binding contract for the sale of the ITD Campus,” Zahn wrote.

The court ultimately dismissed the developers’ petition due to a lack of standing. The companies demonstrated injury via the costs they spent pursuing the property, the court found, as well as that the Department of Administration had not signed the sale contract “because of legal uncertainty” caused by lawmakers. However, Justice Colleen Zahn wrote on behalf of the unanimous court, the developers did not prove that legal action would guarantee the sale.

“The statute does not mandate that the Department of Administration conclude the sale of the ITD Campus at all. Both Petitioners and the Department of Administration agree that the Department of Administration has discretion in concluding the sale,” Zahn wrote.

The court did not issue a ruling on the developers’ claim that two budget bill provisions explicitly blocking the sale violate the single-subject rule of the Idaho Constitution.

“As described in their response brief, the Department of Administration and ITD are the agencies directly affected by the appropriations bills. They have alleged that the bills interfere with the authority granted to them by law. The bills in question also concern their budgets and, in ITD’s case, the location of its headquarters, offices, and testing facilities. The bills also affect real property owned by ITD. While both agencies would likely have standing to bring a lawsuit against the legislature for the alleged constitutional violations in their respective appropriations bills, they have not done so,” Zahn wrote.

The court dismissed oral arguments in the case which it had scheduled for August 26.

“We are shocked by the Idaho Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss this case, avoiding a decision to correct the unconstitutional legislative interference in our state’s budget process. We continue to believe any review of the unchecked actions of the Idaho Legislature would have found them to be illegal,” Brian Huffaker, CEO of Hawkins Companies, said in a statement.

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