Montana Attorney General Opinion 17-76

Opinion No. 76. Newspapers-Requirements for Coun- ty Printing. HELD: Under provisions of Sec- tion 4482, prior to its amendment in 1937. which does not become effective until July I, 1937. a newspaper of general circulation need not have privilege of second class mail to qualify for county printing. ~Iarch 31, 1937. Mr. Harold K. Anderson County Attorney Lewis and Clark County Helena, Montana Dear Mr. Anderson: You have submitted to this office for an opinion, the following inquiry: "Would it be necessary for a news- paper to circulate or be circulated thr~ the medium of the U. S. Mails, havmg a second class mailing privi- lege, in order to be a newspaper of 'general circulation,' and this 'gen- eral circulation' to be on the same basis of time as other qualifications of Section 4482." Section 482, provides: "It is hereby made the duty of the county commissioners of the several counties of the state of Montana to. contract with some newspaper, prmted and published at least once a week, and of general circulation printed and published within th~ county, and having been printed and published continuously in such coun- ty at least one year immediately pre- ceding the awarding of such con- tract, to do and perform all the printing for which said counties may be chargeable including all legal advertising required by law to be made, blanks, blank books, station- ery, election supplies. loose leaf forms and devices, official publica- tions and all other printed forms re- quired for the use of such counties at not more than the foIlowing prices :" Section 10519 provides: "r n the construction of a statute or instrument the office of the judge is simply to ascertain and declare what is in terms or in substance contained therein, not to insert what has been omitted. or to omit what has ·been inserted; and where there are several provisions or particulars, such a construction is if possible to he adopted as will give effect to all." 82 OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Section 10520 reads as follows: "In the construction of a statute the intention of the legislature, and in the construction of the instrument the intention of the parties is to be pursued if possible; and when a general and particular provision are inconsistent, the latter is paramount to the former. So a particular intent will control a general one that is inconsistent with it." It may be interesting to observe that in HB-166 which is an amend- ment to Section 4482, and which house bill goes into effect July 1 st, 1937, that in section I of said act, the ad- ditional language has been added to that in section 4482, as follows: "Bona fide and paid circulation with second class mailing privilege." In the case of Morrison v. Farmers' etc., State Bank, 70 Mont. 146, at page 150, the Court said: "The intention of the legislature in enacting the statute is the con- sideration which must control its construction (sec. 10520, Rev. Codes 1921), and to ascertain that intention recourse must be had, first, to the language employed (State v. Cudahy Packing Co., 33 Mont. 179, 114 Am. St. Rep. 804, 8 Ann. Cas. 717, 82 Pac. 833), indulging the presumption that the terms used were intended to be understood in their ordinary sense, unless it is made apparent from the context that they were in- tended to be given a different mean- ing (State ex rei Aanconda C. Min. Co. v. District Court, 26 Mon. 396, 68 Pac. 570, 69 Pac. 103). Section 4482 requires that said news- papers be printed and published at least once a week, and of general circulation printed and published with- in the county continuously one year preceding the awarding of the con- tract. Nothing upon the face of the stat- ute, requires the paper to have a second class mailing privilege; and in interpreting the words, "General circulation," the common sense defi- nition must be given, and those words must be interpreted under the statu- tory rules of construction, and if the paper is generally circulated in this particular county, perhaps placed on newstand, etc., the requirements of the statute have been complied with. To require the paper to have a sec- ond class mailing privilege would be to insert a provision in the statute which has not been inserted, and would be in violation of the rules of the statutory interpretation; and it would appear that the legislature in enacting HB-I66 into law must have arrived at the conclusion that section 4482 did not require that the paper have a second class mailing privilege, or else it would not have been deemed neces- sary to add the additional language. It is therefore my opinion, that it would not be necessary for a news- paper to have a second class mailing privilege in order to bid for a county printing contract, under Section 4482, "'hich is the operating act until July I, 1937.