Edmonson v. State Industrial Development Authority

184 So. 2d 115, 279 Ala. 206, 1966 Ala. LEXIS 981
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMarch 10, 1966
Docket3 Div. 219
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 184 So. 2d 115 (Edmonson v. State Industrial Development Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edmonson v. State Industrial Development Authority, 184 So. 2d 115, 279 Ala. 206, 1966 Ala. LEXIS 981 (Ala. 1966).

Opinion

MERRILL, Justice.

Appellant, individually and as a taxpayer and a citizen of the State of Alabama, filed this action seeking to have Act No. 662, General Acts of Alabama Regular Session, 1965 declared unconstitutional, and seeking injunctive relief to prevent its operation. The trial court held the act to be constitutional and denied injunctive relief. The Attorney General accepted service and waived further service or notice.

Act No. 662 creates a public corporation known as the State Industrial Authority, composed of the Director of the State Plan *208 ning and Industrial Development Board, the Director of Revenue, and the Director of Finance. We quote from the declaration of legislative intent:

“ * * * It is the intention of the Legislature by the passage of this Act to exercise its police power to authorize the formation of an independent public corporation which shall have as its general purpose the promotion of industrial development in this state, and which shall have power to issue bonds payable solely from the proceeds of a special state tax herein set aside for the purpose of retiring the said bonds. It is the further intention of the Legislature that the public corporation herein authorized shall have discretion as to . the manner of expending funds at its disposal for the purpose of promoting industrial development in this state, subject to the limitations more particularly detailed hereinafter. This Act shall be liberally construed in accordance with the foregoing findings of fact and declaration of intent.”

The State Industrial Authority, created by the act, filed an application for incorporation with the Secretary of State, and received a certificate of incorporation. Act ■No. 662, after granting the usual corporate powers, authorized the Authority to :

1. Anticipate by the issuance of bonds the receipt of revenues appropriated ■ and pledged to the Corporation both by Act No. 662 and its companion Act No. 654.

2. Pledge as security for the said bonds the aforesaid appropriations and pledges.

3. Make surveys in order to determine suitable locations in this State for prospective industries.

4. Make surveys in order to ascertain the availability and classification of the labor force in various parts of the State. 1

5. Assist counties, municipalities, and local industrial development boards in the analysis of their industries, resources and needs.

6. Grant money to counties, municipalities, and local industrial development boards for the purpose of allowing these bodies to:

a. Make surveys to determine the location of suitable industrial sites in the grantee’s locality.

b. Make surveys to determine the availability and classification of a suitable labor force in the grantee’s locality, and

c. Prepare suitable industrial sites for new and expanding industry through grading, draining and constructing access roads.

' It is further provided in the act that any sums spent by a local grantee in the preparation of sites shall not exceed one and one-half per centum of the total construction costs of the facility.

Act No. 662 does not authorize either the State or the State Industrial Development Authority to engage in works of internal improvement. Instead, the Authority’s functions are to conduct certain surveys and make grants of money to local public bodies. The local public bodies may, if they so choose, use the grants for preparation of industrial sites or for the other purposes specified in the act. If the local public bodies choose to use the grants in whole or in part for a work of internal improvement, it is they — and not the State or the Authority- — that have made the-choice.

The act contains adequate safeguard.-, to-insure that none of the grants made by the Authority will become the property, of any private individual, association, or corporation without fair consideration.

A new tax has been levied and appropriated to pay, at their respective maturities, the principal of and interest on bonds *209 issued by the Authority. No part of the taxes presently paid into the general fund of the State will or can be used to service the bonds authorized to be issued by the Authority. Furthermore, the act expressly provides that the bonds do not create a debt of the State, and the general faith and credit of the State are not pledged to service the bonds. The bonds are required to be retired solely from the receipts of the special tax levied for that purpose.

The act provides that the debts of the Authority shall not constitute debts of the State, and the act does not authorize the State to exercise any control over the actions of the Authority.

The assignments of error raise two general points — that the act violates Sections 93 and 213 of the Constitution of Alabama.

Section 93 provides in pertinent part: ■

“The state shall not engage in works of internal improvement, nor lend money or its credit in aid of such; nor shall the state be interested in any private or corporate enterprise, or lend money or its credit to any individual, association, or corporation.”

There are five principal prohibitions in Section 93. The State is forbidden (1) to engage in works of internal improvement, (2) to lend money in aid of such, (3) to lend its credit in aid of such, (4) to be interested in any private or corporate enterprise, and (5) to lend money or its credit to any individual, association, or corporation.

(1) Act No. 662 does not authorize the State to engage in works of internal improvement.

In Ex parte Selma & Gulf R. Co., 45 Ala. 696, 732, this court said:

“The State undoubtedly may permit works of internal improvement to be constructed within its limits, without engaging as a party therein. It is this that the constitution prohibits. The State is different from a county. And the limitation being applied to the State alone, legal reasoning will not permit it to be extended beyond the State. ‘Expressum facit cessare taciturn.’ — Broom’s Max. p. 278. The constitution, then, does not intend to fetter the action of the general assembly in its power to grant authority to any other corporations it may create to do what the State, as such, may not do. 4c 4c 4c >>

In Opinion of the Justices, 254 Ala. 506, 49 So.2d 175, this court considered Act No. 648, General Acts 1949, which permitted municipalities to create industrial development boards. We substitute Act No. 662 now under consideration, for Act No. 648, and with that substitution, we paraphrase from paragraphs [12] and [13] of that opinion. It is clear that a corporation organized under Act No. 662 cannot be deemed to be embraced within the term “the State” contained in the foregoing provisions of Section 93. The principle that a corporation organized under Act No. 662 being a separate entity cannot be considered identical with a municipality applies with even greater force to the State than to the municipality within which such a corporation may be organized. Act No. 662 authorizes no action whatever on the part of the State.

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Bluebook (online)
184 So. 2d 115, 279 Ala. 206, 1966 Ala. LEXIS 981, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edmonson-v-state-industrial-development-authority-ala-1966.