Nutter v. Dougherty

In Nutter v. Dougherty, 595 Pa. 340, 938 A.2d 401, 404 (2007), our Supreme Court explained that a home rule municipality's exercise of authority should not be lightly intruded upon. Id. at 361, 938 A.2d at 414. Accordingly, ambiguities about the scope of the municipality's authority should be resolved in the municipality's favor. Id. at 357, 938 A.2d at 411. However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also observed that a home rule municipality's authority can be limited by its own home rule charter, by the Pennsylvania Constitution, and by the General Assembly. Id. Stated otherwise, home rule municipalities do not enjoy a general power to legislate in a way that contradicts a state statute. In Nutter, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed this Court's holding that a Philadelphia ordinance that limited campaign contributions to candidates for municipal office was not preempted by the Election Code, Act of June 3, 1937, P.L. 1333, as amended, 25 P.S. 2600-3591. The Supreme Court reasoned that the Election Code was silent on the issue of campaign contribution limits and, thus, left the field open to locally tailored restrictions such as those contained in the ordinance that are sensitive to the peculiarities of the particular municipality. The Court found that because the Election Code addressed certain subjects on an extremely comprehensive level, its failure to address campaign finance limits indicated that the General Assembly did not intend to foreclose local regulation in that arena. 595 Pa. at 364, 938 A.2d at 416. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the order upholding the validity of Philadelphia's Campaign Finance Law (Philadelphia Code Chapter 20-1000). The Supreme Court rejected the arguments that field preemption barred the local ordinance, that the Pennsylvania Constitution required uniformity with respect to laws regulating elections and that the Pennsylvania Election Code (Election Code), Act of June 3, 1937, P.L. 1333, as amended, 25 P.S. 2600 - 3591, offers a comprehensive regulatory scheme governing all facets of campaign contributions and expenditures.