{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, the state of Ohio, appeals the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas’ entry of summary judgment in favor of plaintiff-appellee, the city of Riverside, declaring R.C. 718.01(H)(11) unconstitutional. For the following reasons, we reverse.
{¶ 8} The city moved for summary judgment, arguing that this case presents only questions of law and urging the trial court to declare R.C. 718.01(H)(11) “invalid and unconstitutional because it is preempted by federal law, violates Ohio’s one-subject rule, and violates the Equal Protection Clauses of the state and federal constitutions.” The state agreed with the city that the dispositive issues are exclusively legal, but argued that the city failed to establish the unconstitutionality of R.C. 718.01(H)(11) under any theory. Although the state did not file a cross-motion for summary judgment, it asserted that it was entitled to judgment in its favor because the constitutionality of R.C. 718.01(H)(11) was the sole matter before the trial court.
{¶ 4} The General Assembly enacted R.C. 718.01(H)(11) as part of Am.Sub. H.B. No. 119, the 2008-2009 biennial budget bill. R.C. 718.01(H) provides that a municipal corporation may not tax the following:
(11) Beginning August 1, 2007, compensation paid to a person employed within the boundaries of a United States air force base under the jurisdiction of the United States air force that is used for the housing of members of the United States air force and is a center for air force operations, unless the person is subject to taxation because of residence or domicile. If the compensation is subject to taxation because of residence or domicile, municipal income tax shall be payable only to the municipal corporation of residence or domicile.
The statute precluded the city from taxing the income of nonresident civilian employees and contractors working at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, parts of which are located within the city.
{¶ 5} After hearing oral arguments, the trial court issued a decision granting the city’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court addressed each of the city’s arguments and concluded that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) is unconstitutional because it is preempted by 4 U.S.C. 105 et seq. (the “Buck Act”) and violates Ohio’s one-subject rule. With respect to the city’s equal protection argument, however, the court concluded that summary judgment was inappropriate. The court stated that the record contained insufficient facts to determine whether the city had standing to assert an equal protection claim. Nevertheless, discussing the city’s
{¶ 6} The trial court’s subsequent judgment entry states:
[T]he Court hereby enters judgment in favor of plaintiff City of Riverside and against defendant State of Ohio, and declares as follows:
1. [R.C. 718.01(H)(11)] is preempted by 4 U.S.C. § 106(a) (the “Buck Act”), and is therefore unconstitutional, void, and of no legal effect; and
2. [R.C. 718.01(H)(11)] violates Article II, Section 15(D), of the Ohio Constitution (the “one-subject” rule), and is therefore unconstitutional, void, and of no legal effect.
There being no just reason for delay, this is a final judgment entry as to the First Claim for Relief and Fourth Claim for Relief set forth in the Complaint.
The Court reserves judgment on the Second Claim for Relief and Third Claim for Relief, having found that there are genuine issues of material fact as to the claims of plaintiff City of Riverside that [R.C. 718.01(H)(11) ] violates the Equal Protection clauses of the United States and the Ohio Constitutions.
The judgment entry is stamped “Final Appealable Order” and contains a case-termination stamp.
{¶ 7} The state filed a timely notice of appeal and assigns the following as error:
Assignment of Error No. 1: The trial court erred in holding that R.C. 718.01(H)(11), which prohibits a municipal corporation from taxing compensation paid to a person employed within the boundaries of a United States air force base unless that person is subject to such tax because of a residence or domicile, is preempted by the “Buck Act,” 4 U.S.C. § 105 et seq.
Assignment of Error No. 2: The trial court erred in holding that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) was invalidly enacted as a “manifestly gross and fraudulent violation” of Ohio’s “One Subject Rule” found at Section 15(D), Article II, Ohio Constitution.
Assignment of Error No. 3: The trial court erred in holding that the City of Riverside would have standing to challenge R.C. 718.01(H)(11) under the Equal*774 Protection Clauses of the Ohio and United States Constitutions if it shows on remand that the class of people whose rights are affected by the unequal treatment suffer a “hindrance” which prevents them from seeking relief.
[1,2] {¶ 8} Before addressing the state’s assignments of error, we first consider a jurisdictional issue not raised by either party, namely whether the trial court’s judgment entry constitutes a final, appealable order. An appellate court may raise the jurisdictional question of whether an order is final and appealable sua sponte and must dismiss an appeal that is not taken from a final, appealable order. Englert v. Nutritional Sciences, L.L.C., 10th Dist. No. 07AP-305,
{¶ 9} Section 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution limits this court’s jurisdiction to the review of final orders. A final order “is one disposing of the whole case or some separate and distinct branch thereof.” Lantsberry v. Tilley Lamp Co. (1971),
When more than one claim for relief is presented in an action whether as a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, and whether arising out of the same or separate transactions, or when multiple parties are involved, the court may enter final judgment as to one or more but fewer than all of the claims or parties only upon an express determination that there is no just reason for delay. In the absence of a determination that there is no just reason for delay, any order or other form of decision, however designated, which adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties, shall not terminate the action as to any of the claims or parties, and the order or other form of decision is subject to revision at any time before the entry of judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties.
Thus, in multiple-claim or multiple-party actions, if the court enters judgment as to some, but not all, of the claims and/or parties, the judgment is a final, appealable order only upon the express determination that there is no just reason for delay. Gen. Acc. Ins. Co. v. Ins. Co. of N. Am. (1989),
{¶ 11} To constitute a final order, an order must fit into one of the categories set forth in R.C. 2505.02(B). Pursuant to R.C. 2505.02(B)(1) and (2), both “[a]n order that affects a substantial right in an action that in effect determines the action and prevents a judgment” and “[a]n order that affects a substantial right made in a special proceeding” are final orders. A declaratory-judgment action is a special proceeding, and an order in a declaratory-judgment action that affects a substantial right qualifies as a final order under R.C. 2505.02(B)(2). Gen. Acc. Ins. Co. at 22. A substantial right is “a right that the United States Constitution, the Ohio Constitution, a statute, the common law, or a rule of procedure entitles a person to enforce or protect.” R.C. 2505.02(A)(1). It involves the notion of a right that will be protected by law. Noble v. Colwell (1989),
{¶ 12} The trial court’s judgment falls solidly within R.C. 2505.02. This action, in which the city sought only declaratory relief, is a special proceeding, and the trial court’s judgment, declaring R.C. 718.01(H)(11) unconstitutional, unquestionably affects a substantial right. Additionally, the trial court adequately addressed all of the parties’ rights and obligations with respect to the constitutionality of R.C. 718.01(H)(11) by declaring the statute facially unconstitutional and void. See Dutch Maid Logistics, Inc. v. Acuity, 8th Dist. No. 86600,
{¶ 13} The fact that the trial court based its entry of summary judgment on fewer than all of the alternate grounds argued by the city does not strip the trial court’s judgment of finality. See Young v. Univ. of Akron, 10th Dist. No. 06AP-1022,
{¶ 14} Our inquiry next involves determining whether Civ.R. 54(B) applies. Because this action involves claims by a single plaintiff against a single defendant, Civ.R. 54(B) applies only if the trial court rendered judgment on fewer than all the claims asserted. Although the city’s complaint requested only a single form of relief, a declaration that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) is unconstitutional, the city pleaded its grounds for that declaration as separate claims for relief. The question of whether an order is a final, appealable order, however, “must be determined by the effect the order has upon the pending actions.” Sys. Constr., Inc. v. Worthington Forest, Ltd. (1975),
{¶ 15} By declaring R.C. 718.01(H)(11) unconstitutional based on the city’s preemption and one-subject-rule theories, the trial court determined the city’s claim for a declaratory judgment in its entirety and granted complete relief. Regardless of the merits of the city’s equal protection argument, there remains no further relief to be granted. Whether R.C. 718.01(H)(11) is unconstitutional for one reason or for three reasons, the result is the same. Thus, the question of whether R.C. 718.01(H)(11) violated the state and federal equal protection clauses was rendered moot by the trial court’s conclusion that the statute was unconstitutional on other grounds. The trial court’s judgment determined the city’s claim and prevented a judgment in favor of the state regardless of whether the statute also violates equal protection. Therefore, Civ.R. 54(B) is inapplicable.
{¶ 16} Even if, despite the trial court’s grant of complete relief, we viewed the trial court’s refusal to grant summary judgment on the city’s equal protection theories as leaving claims pending, the trial court satisfied Civ.R. 54(B). Indeed, the trial court expressly found that there was no just reason for delay with respect to its holdings that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) is unconstitutional based on conflict with the Buck Act and violation of Ohio’s one-subject rule. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court’s judgment entry is a final, appealable order, and we now turn to the merits of the state’s appeal.
{¶ 17} The trial court disposed of this case by summary judgment. We review a summary judgment de novo. Koos v. Cent. Ohio Cellular, Inc. (1994),
{¶ 18} Pursuant to Civ.R. 56(C), summary judgment “shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, written admissions, affidavits, transcripts of evidence, and written stipulations of fact, if any, timely filed in the action, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Accordingly, summary judgment is appropriate only under the following circumstances: (1) no genuine issue of material fact remains to be litigated, (2) the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and (3) viewing the evidence most strongly in favor of the nonmoving party, reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion, that conclusion being adverse to the nonmoving party. Harless v. Willis Day Warehousing Co. (1978),
{¶ 19} By its first assignment of error, the state argues that the trial court erred by holding that the Buck Act preempts R.C. 718.01(H)(11). We agree.
{¶ 20} The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution provides, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States * * * shall be the supreme Law of the Land; * * * any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” Clause 2, Article VI, United States Constitution. That clause grants Congress the power to preempt state laws. Norfolk S. Ry. Co. v. Bogle,
{¶ 21} Preemption may be either express or implied; it need not be explicitly stated, but may be implicit in an act’s structure and purpose. Fid. Fed. S. & L. Assn. v. de la Cuesta (1982),
{¶ 22} The United States Supreme Court recently acknowledged two “cornerstones” of preemption jurisprudence, as follows:
First, “the purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone in every pre-emption case.” Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr,518 U.S. 470 , 485,116 S.Ct. 2240 ,135 L.Ed.2d 700 (1996). * * * Second, “[i]n all pre-emption cases, and particularly in those in which Congress has ‘legislated * * * in a field which the States have traditionally occupied,’ * * * we ‘start with the assumption that the historic police powers of the States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.’ ” [Id.] (quoting Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp.,331 U.S. 218 , 230,67 S.Ct. 1146 ,91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947)).
(Citations omitted.) Wyeth v. Levine (2009), — U.S.-,
{¶ 23} Here, the trial court concluded that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) conflicts with the plain and unambiguous language of 4 U.S.C. 106(a), which provides:
No person shall be relieved from liability for any income tax levied by any State, or by any duly constituted taxing authority therein, having jurisdiction to levy such a tax, by reason of his residing within a Federal area or receiving income from transactions occurring or services performed in such area; and such State or taxing authority shall have full jurisdiction and power to levy and*779 collect such tax in any Federal area within such State to the same extent and with the same effect as though such area was not a Federal area.
As stated above, R.C. 718.01(H)(11) prohibits a municipality from taxing “compensation paid to a person employed within the boundaries of [the base], unless the person is subject to taxation because of residence or domicile.” In essence, that statute precludes the city from levying a commuter tax — a tax on income earned within the city by nonresidents — on persons employed on those portions of the base within the city limits. The trial court concluded that the unambiguous language of the Buck Act “clearly prohibits” the effect of R.C. 718.01(H)(11), creating “a classic case of conflict preemption.”
{¶ 24} The state and the United States, as amicus curiae, argue that there is no conflict between the Buck Act and R.C. 718.01(H)(11) because the Buck Act merely ceded jurisdiction to the states, thus removing a federal, jurisdictional barrier preventing states and local taxing authorities from taxing income earned by federal employees residing or working within a federal area. The city, on the other hand, ascribes a much broader purpose and argues that Congress intended the Buck Act to equalize tax liability between similarly situated federal employees who work or reside in federal areas and those who work or reside outside of federal areas. The city maintains that the second clause of 4 U.S.C. 106(a), equalizing the states’ jurisdiction to tax on or off federal areas, is simply the mechanism by which Congress accomplished its broader purpose. The city asserts that the first clause of 4 U.S.C. 106(a) limits the second clause’s cession of jurisdiction to the states by prohibiting any exclusion from tax liability because of a taxpayer’s residence or work within a federal area. In evaluating these arguments, we look both to the language of the Buck Act and to the historical context and legislative history surrounding its enactment.
{¶ 25} In 1939, a year before the passage of the Buck Act, Congress enacted the Public Salary Tax Act (“PSTA”) to eliminate the need for extensive litigation to determine whether the federal government’s sovereign immunity prevented states from taxing federal employees’ income. United States v. Denver (D.Colo. 1983),
{¶ 26} Despite the PSTA’s consent to taxation, the income of certain federal employees remained beyond state and local taxing authorities’ jurisdiction because of where those employees lived or worked. Because the United States retained exclusive jurisdiction over federal enclaves by virtue of Clause 17, Section 8, Article I, United States Constitution, the states had no power to levy taxes in those areas. Denver,
{¶ 27} The Buck Act was passed on October 9, 1940, as Public Law No. 819, entitled “AN ACT [t]o permit the States to extend their sales, use, and income taxes to persons residing or carrying on business, or to transactions occurring, in Federal areas, and for other purposes.” (Emphasis added.) 54 Stat. 1059, 76th Cong., 3d Sess. Congress intended the act to eliminate the disparity that arose after the passage of the PSTA because of the states’ lack of legislative jurisdiction over federal enclaves. Denver,
{¶ 29} There is no question that under the Buck Act, exclusive federal jurisdiction no longer precludes states or local taxing authorities from levying or collecting income taxes from federal employees, whether or not they reside within a federal area and whether or not the income was received from transactions occurring or services performed in a federal area. Indeed, R.C. 718.01(H)(11) implicitly recognizes the effect of the Buck Act because it permits municipal taxation of income earned by city residents on the base, which was made possible only by 4 U.S.C. 106(a). Despite having jurisdiction and power to levy and collect taxes in federal areas within the state to the same extent as though the areas were not federal areas, however, the General Assembly determined, as a matter of policy, to prohibit municipal taxation of nonresidents employed on the base. The question thus resolves to whether the Buck Act precludes the state’s policy determination, as expressed in R.C. 718.01(H)(11).
{¶ 30} Municipal taxing power in Ohio is derived from the Ohio Constitution. Section 3, Article XVIII, the Home Rule Amendment, confers sovereignty upon municipalities to “exercise all powers of local self-government,” including the power of taxation. See State ex rel. Zielonka v. Carrel (1919),
{¶ 31} The first clause of 4 U.S.C. 106(a), which states that “[n]o person shall be relieved from liability for any income tax levied by any State, or any duly constituted taxing authority therein, having jurisdiction to levy such a tax, by reason of his residing within a Federal area or receiving income from transactions occurring or services performed in such area,” contemplates a taxpayer seeking relief from tax liability and presupposes the existence of a properly levied and otherwise enforceable tax. Here, however, no taxpayer is seeking relief from tax liability. See Jefferson Cty.,
{¶ 32} The city argues that this reading of the Buck Act implicitly requires the addition of the words “unless the State determines otherwise” to the end of the first clause of 4 U.S.C. 106(a). The first clause does not, however, purport to limit state authority but, instead, precludes a taxpayer from claiming exemption from an authorized tax based on federal jurisdiction over federal areas. The city’s argument overlooks the requirement of an existing “income tax levied by [a] State, or any duly constituted taxing authority therein, having jurisdiction to levy such a tax.” Here, by virtue of the General Assembly’s constitutional power to circumscribe the city’s taxing authority, the city lacked authority to impose a
{¶ 33} We also reject the city’s argument that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) recreates the situation the Buck Act was enacted to remedy. The Buck Act was enacted to remedy the lack of jurisdiction by states and local taxing authorities to levy and collect taxes on federal areas. The effect of the Buck Act was to expand the jurisdiction of state taxing authorities and to equalize the ability to tax income earned in or out of federal areas. See Jefferson Cty. v. Acker (C.A.11, 1996),
{¶ 34} The Buck Act extends to state and local taxing authorities jurisdiction to levy taxes in a federal area within its borders as though the area was not a federal area. 4 U.S.C. 105(a) and 106(a). The state’s authority, including the authority to limit the taxing authority of municipalities, remains the same whether the taxes concern income earned within or outside a federal enclave. Because the state may constitutionally limit the taxing authority of municipalities outside of federal enclaves, it must necessarily retain that authority within federal enclaves under the second sentence of 4 U.S.C. 106(a). Finding no conflict between the Buck Act and R.C. 718.01(H)(11), we conclude that the trial court erred in holding that the state statute was preempted. Accordingly, we sustain the state’s first assignment of error.
{¶ 35} By its second assignment of error, the state contends that the trial court erred by concluding that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) was enacted in violation of Ohio’s one-subject rule, Section 15(D), Article II, Ohio Constitution, which states that “[n]o bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”
{¶ 36} The one-subject rule exists to prevent the General Assembly from engaging in logrolling. State ex rel. Dix v. Celeste (1984),
{¶ 37} The one-subject rule is mandatory. In re Nowak,
{¶ 38} Because the one-subject rule is directed, not at plurality, but at disunity in subject matter, “ ‘[t]he mere fact that a bill embraces more than one topic is not fatal, as long as a common purpose or relationship exists between the topics.’ ” State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. Sheward (1999),
{¶ 39} Assessment of an act’s constitutionality is primarily a matter of “ ‘case-by-case, semantic and contextual analysis’ ” and is based on the particular language and subject of the act rather than extrinsic evidence of fraud or logrolling. Cuyahoga Cty. Veterans Serv. Comm. v. State,
These cases can be perceived as points along a spectrum. At one end, closely related topics unite under a narrowly denominated subject. As the topics embraced in a single act become more diverse, and as their connection to each other becomes more attenuated, so the statement of subject necessary to comprehend them broadens and expands. There comes a point past which a denominated subject becomes so strained in its effort to cohere diverse matter as to lose its legitimacy as such. It becomes a ruse by which to connect blatantly unrelated topics. At the farthest end of this spectrum lies the single enactment which endeavors to legislate on all matters under the heading of “law.”
Sheioard at 499.
{¶ 40} The state budget bill containing R.C. 718.01(H)(11) was a general appropriations bill. Consideration of appropriations bills under the one-subject rule is complicated because they encompass many items bound by the thread of appropriations, but also because the danger of riders is especially evident when a bill as important and likely of passage as an appropriations bill is concerned. Simmons-Harris, 86 Ohio St.3d at 16,
{¶ 41} The state argues that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) is directly related to the means by which a municipality may generate revenue and is integrally related to the budget bill. The state maintains that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) is rationally related to and inextricably intertwined with the subject of state appropriations because tax measures, whether state or local, restrictive or permissive, are naturally related to the state budget and because it integrally relates to the budget bill’s changes to local government funding. By contrast, the city argues that any connection between R.C. 718.01(H)(11) and state appropriations is too tenuous to withstand one-subject scrutiny. The trial court agreed with the city and found no rational connection between state appropriations and the city’s ability to collect income taxes. We disagree.
{¶ 42} In two notable cases, the Supreme Court of Ohio has found state statutes enacted as part of appropriations bills unconstitutional based on violations of the one-subject rule. See Simmons-Harris; SERB. First, in Simmons-Harris, the Supreme Court considered the school voucher program, established as part of the biennial operating appropriations bill for fiscal years 1996-1997, Am.Sub.H.B. 117. The school voucher program, which comprised ten pages of a more than 1,000-page bill, allowed parents and students to receive scholarship funds from the state to spend on education at nonpublic schools, including
{¶ 43} More recently, the Supreme Court determined that the inclusion in a general appropriations bill of a provision excluding employees of the Ohio School Facilities Commission (“OSFC”) from the collective-bargaining process violated the one-subject rule. See SERB. The provision at issue in SERB, an amendment to R.C. 3318.31, was a single sentence of the 226-page appropriations bill. The court noted a disunity between the exclusion of OSFC employees from the collective bargaining process and other, budget-related items in the bill and rejected the state’s assertion that the amendment to R.C. 3318.31 was bound with the other provisions of the act under the single subject of appropriations. The court explained as follows:
This argument * * * stretches the one-subject concept to the point of breaking. Indeed, SERB’S position is based on the notion that a provision that impacts the state budget, even if only slightly, may be lawfully included in an appropriations bill merely because other provisions in the bill also impact the budget. Such a notion, however, renders the one-subject rule meaningless in the context of appropriations bills because virtually any statute arguably impacts the state budget, even if only tenuously.
Id. at ¶ 33. The court did not hold that the subject of appropriations is not a proper one for purposes of the one-subject rule, but concluded only that, given the disunity between the challenged provision and the budget-related items in the bill, the common connection to appropriations was too tenuous to pass constitutional muster. The court noted that SERB offered little guidance as to how the challenged provision would affect the state budget and that the record provided no explanation of how the provision would clarify or alter the appropriation of state funds. Therefore, the court concluded that the challenged provision violated the one-subject rule.
{¶ 44} Although appropriations bills encompass many items bound by the thread of appropriations, revenues and expenditures compose the core of an appropriations bill. See State ex rel. Ohio Roundtable v. Taft, 10th Dist No. 02AP-911,
{¶ 45} Here, the challenged provision does not generate funds for the state but instead restricts the city’s ability to generate revenue, and that restriction has a direct effect on the state’s funding for the city. Of particular relevance to this case is CCVSC,
Am.Sub.S.B. No. 261 creates changes to the county veterans service commissions. The subject of funding and budgeting by agencies and political subdivisions is implicated throughout the bill. County budgeting processes are necessarily affected by overall state appropriations even when a specific section of a bill relates only to budgeting of local government funds. * * * Restricting funding is as much a part of an appropriations bill as granting funds. Consequently, we conclude that [the challenged provisions] are sufficiently related to funding and budgeting to pass constitutional muster under the one-subject rule.
{¶ 47} The First District Court of Appeals recently applied the SERB rationale in Rumpke Sanit. Landfill, Inc. v. State,
{¶ 48} Here, in contrast to SERB, Holzer, and Rumpke, the state explains that the tax exemption represents a direct limitation of the city’s authority to generate revenue, and that limitation is rationally related to the budget bill’s treatment of
{¶ 49} The state also argues that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) is integrally related to an overhaul of local government funding undertaken by the budget bill. The budget bill altered state law governing the appropriation of state funds to benefit local governments by, in part, eliminating the Local Government Revenue Assistance Fund (“LGRAF”) and changing the amount of state tax revenue credited to the Local Government Fund (“LGF”) and Library and Local Government Support Fund (“LLGSF”). The effect of the budget bill was to alter the amount of revenue available for distribution by the state to local governments and to alter the process for distributing that revenue.
{¶ 50} The budget bill required tax revenues previously credited to the LGF, LGRAF, and LLGSF to be credited to the state General Revenue Fund (“GRF”). Beginning in January 2008, the director of budget and management was required to make monthly distributions from the GRF to the LGF and LLGSF, and the tax commissioner was required to distribute the money credited to the LGF to counties for further distribution to local governments within each county. Montgomery County, where the city lies, uses an approved, alternative formula to apportion LGF funds to local governments within the county. The alternative
{¶ 51} In addition to distributing LGF funds to counties, the tax commissioner was also required to distribute a portion of the LGF directly to municipalities that received direct distributions from the LGF during calendar year 2007, when approximately one-tenth of the LGF was distributed directly to municipalities that levied an income tax, in proportion to each municipality’s relative municipal income tax collection compared to total municipal income tax collections. The amended provisions provide that each municipality will receive a percentage of the LGF municipal earmark equal to its portion of the total 2007 LGF and LGRAF distributions. Under the provisions enacted by the budget bill, the amount of the city’s disbursement from the LGF, either directly or indirectly through Montgomery County, is affected by the amount of the city’s income tax revenue. Accordingly, we agree with the state that there was a rational and legitimate reason for including R.C. 718.01(H)(11), which restricts the city’s ability to generate income tax revenue, in the budget bill.
{¶ 52} Because R.C. 718.01(H)(11) relates to the single subject of state appropriations and because there are discernable practical, rational, legitimate reasons for combining the provision with the budget bill, we conclude that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) does not violate the one-subject rule. Accordingly, the trial court erred by declaring R.C. 718.01(H)(11) unconstitutional on that ground, and, for these reasons, we sustain the state’s second assignment of error.
{¶ 53} The state’s third and final assignment of error concerns the city’s claim that R.C. 718.01(H)(11) violates the Equal Protection Clauses of the Ohio and United States Constitutions. The state contends that the trial court erred by holding that the city would have standing to maintain its equal protection challenge if it establishes that the class affected by the unequal treatment suffers a hindrance that prevents it from seeking relief.
{¶ 54} Ordinarily, a political subdivision does not receive protection from the equal protection or due process clauses vis-a-vis its creating state. E. Liverpool v. Columbiana Cty. Budget Comm.,
{¶ 56} On appeal, the state urges this court to determine, as a matter of law, that the city lacks standing to proceed on its equal protection claim on remand. The state contends that the city lacks an identity of interest with any group alleged to suffer from discriminatory treatment and, therefore, cannot demonstrate a sufficiently close relationship with a person who possesses the right to challenge R.C. 718.01(H)(11) on equal protection grounds. The city, on the other hand, argues that the trial court’s discussion of equal protection is not properly before this court. For the following reasons, we decline to address the state’s argument regarding equal protection.
{¶ 57} Only an aggrieved party, whose rights have been adversely affected, may appeal a judgment or order of a trial court. Ohio Contract Carriers Assn., Inc. v. Pub. Util. Comm. (1942),
{¶ 58} Were we examining the denial of the city’s motion for summary judgment on its equal protection claim in isolation, there would be no final, appealable order as the trial court’s ruling does not prevent the state from obtaining a final judgment in its favor. See Circelli v. Keenan Constr., 165 Ohio
{¶ 59} In conclusion, we sustain the state’s first and second assignments of error, overrule the state’s third assignment of error, reverse the judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, and remand this matter for further proceedings consistent with this decision and the law.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
Notes
. Rumpke’s status as a "public utility" was critical to its pending, separate case against Colerain Township.