Gebrekidan v. City of Clarkston

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia held that Georgia’s comprehensive statutory scheme regulating coin-operated amusement machines preempted a City of Clarkston ordinance prohibiting packaged-alcohol retailers from allowing such machines on their premises. The court concluded that the ordinance was impliedly preempted under the Georgia Constitution’s Uniformity Clause and was not authorized by general law under the Clause’s exception. The court reversed the defendant’s conviction and fine.

Holdings

1. The State's comprehensive COAM Laws impliedly preempted Clarkston Code § 3-57 insofar as the ordinance regulated COAMs as defined by state law.
2. The ordinance was not saved from preemption because the City failed to show that a general law authorized it to prohibit licensed COAMs at packaged-alcohol retailers.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Georgia's comprehensive statutory scheme regulating coin-operated amusement machines and COAM businesses impliedly preempted Clarkston Code § 3-57 under the first part of the Uniformity Clause of the Georgia Constitution.
2. Whether the ordinance was nevertheless authorized by general law and therefore saved by the Uniformity Clause's exception for local police powers.

Disposition

reversed