State Bond Com'n v. ALL TAXPAYERS

510 So. 2d 662
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedAugust 11, 1987
Docket87-CD-1741
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 510 So. 2d 662 (State Bond Com'n v. ALL TAXPAYERS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Bond Com'n v. ALL TAXPAYERS, 510 So. 2d 662 (La. 1987).

Opinion

510 So.2d 662 (1987)

The STATE BOND COMMISSION of the State of Louisiana
v.
ALL TAXPAYERS, PROPERTY OWNERS, AND CITIZENS OF the STATE of Louisiana and Non-Residents Owning Property or Subject to Taxation Therein, and All Other Persons Interested in or Affected in Any Way by the Issuance of Revenue Anticipation Notes of the State of Louisiana.

No. 87-CD-1741.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

August 11, 1987.
Rehearing Denied August 17, 1987.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Charles L. Patin, Jr., Martha S. Hess, La. Dept. of Justice, Charles William Roberts, Executive Counsel to Governor of La., for State Bond Com'n.

A. Edward Hardin, Celia R. Cangelosi, John W. Scott, Craven, Scott & Randow, Carl Crane, James Donelon, Garey J. Forster, Terry W. Gee, Kernan A. Hand and Charles Lancaster, for defendants, intervenors, applicants.

COLE, Justice.

This validation suit presents the constitutional issue of whether or not revenue anticipation notes authorized by Act 28 of 1986 (La.R.S. 39:1410.41 et seq.) are prohibited by Article VII, § 6 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974. The purpose of the Act, amended by Act 61 of 1987 to extend its expiration date from June 30, 1987 to June 30, 1988, is

...to authorize the State Bond Commission to issue and sell revenue anticipation notes to avoid temporary cash flow deficits and to provide a working balance in the state general fund to enable the state to pay expenses in a timely manner from currently budgeted and appropriated revenues of the state general fund.

Article VII, § 6(A) of the Constitution provides in pertinent part:

Unless otherwise authorized by this constitution, the state shall have no power, directly or indirectly, or through any state board, agency, commission, or otherwise, to incur debt or issue bonds except by law enacted by two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature.

Act 28 of 1986 was enacted by only a majority of the legislature, not by the two-thirds of its membership as required by the constitution. The precise question, therefore, is the constitutionality of Act 28, of *663 1986. The parties to this lawsuit agree the pivotal determination to be made by this court in resolving the question is whether or not the revenue anticipation notes constitute "debt" within the context and meaning of Article VII, § 6(A) of the constitution.

For the following reasons we conclude Act 28 of 1986, as amended by Act 61 of 1987, is constitutional and the plaintiff is entitled to judgment as prayed for in its motion.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This matter is before the court pursuant to a joint writ application granted on July 22, 1987 under the supervisory jurisdiction of this court as found at Art. V, § 5(A), La. Const. of 1974. By virtue of an order to the district court issued concurrently with the granting of a writ of review, the entire record was sent to this court. [The constitutional grant of supervisory authority to this court is plenary, unfettered by jurisdictional requirements, and exercisable at the complete discretion of the court. State v. Wimberly, 414 So.2d 666 (La.1982); Loeb v. Collier, 131 La. 377, 59 So. 816 (1912); State ex rel. Union Sawmill Co. v. Summit Lumber Co., 117 La. 643, 42 So. 195 (1906).]

A "motion for judgment" was filed in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court by the State Bond Commission (hereafter referred to as the "bond commission") on July 13, 1987, pursuant to Louisiana's uniform bond validation statutes (LSA-R.S. 13:5121 et seq.). The motion for judgment sought an order directing its publication (LSA-R.S. 13:5124) in the official state journal and prayed for judgment declaring legal and valid: (1) Act 28 of 1986 (LSA-R.S. 39:1410.41 et seq.), as amended by Act 61 of 1987; (2) an issuance not to exceed Two Hundred Eighty Million ($280,000,000) Dollars aggregate principal amount of revenue anticipation notes, designated State of Louisiana Revenue Anticipation Notes, Series 1987, in one or more series (hereafter referred to as the "Notes"); and the security thereof; (3) the related proceedings and the covenants and provisions set forth in a resolution of the bond commission adopted on July 9, 1987, authorizing the issuance of the Notes; and, (4) the second sentence of Section 12, of the 1987 General Appropriations Act (Act 18 of 1987), providing for a warrant against the general fund for the purpose of repayment of the Notes and a priority in favor thereof.

On the same day as the filing of the motion for judgment, an answer and reconventional demand was filed by John W. Scott, Carl N. Crane, James J. Donelon, Garey James Forster, Terry W. Gee, Kernan A. Hand, and Charles D. Lancaster, Jr. (hereafter referred to as "defendants"), all members of the legislature who filed in their capacities as taxpayers and citizens of the state. The reconventional demand alleges primarily that Act 28 is unconstitutional. Certain other positions are alleged through the reconventional demand, not all which have been argued in brief or orally before this court.[1]

*664 The bond commission and the defendants filed a joint stipulation admitting the following facts: on July 10, 1987, the resolution authorizing the issuance of the Notes was published in the state's official journal; the size of the issuance does not exceed 20% of the anticipated revenues of the state general fund to be received during the remainder of the current fiscal year; the state treasury is currently faced with cash flow shortfalls which will prevent the timely honoring of warrants upon the treasury; and, there are not anticipated to be sufficient funds available within the state general fund to timely honor warrants due and payable in the months of August and September 1987.

APPLICABLE LAW

A long recognized and well established principle of judicial interpretation of a state constitution is that, unlike the federal constitution, the provisions of a state charter are not grants of power but instead are limitations on the otherwise plenary power of the people exercised through its legislature. In its exercise of the entire legislative power of the state, the legislature may enact any legislation the state constitution does not prohibit. Thus, to hold legislation invalid under the state constitution, it is necessary to rely upon some particular constitutional provision that limits the power of the legislature to enact the statute assailed. Board of Elementary and Secondary Education v. Nix, 347 So.2d 147 (La.1977); In re Gulf Oxygen Welder's Supply Profit Sharing Plan and Trust Agreement, 297 So.2d 663 (La.1974); Kane v. Louisiana Commission on Governmental Ethics, 250 La. 885, 199 So.2d 900 (1967); State v. Guidry, 247 La. 631, 173 So.2d 192 (1965); State v. Macaluso, 235 La. 1019, 106 So.2d 455 (1958); State ex rel, Labauve v. Michel, 121 La. 374, 46 So. 430 (1908).

The constitutional validity of Act 28 of 1986, as amended, is the central and decisive issue raised before us. The legality and validity of the Notes, the covenants and provisions of the resolution authorizing their issuance, the pertinent provisions of Section 12 of Act 18 of 1987, and the related proceedings affecting the Notes are all conditioned upon the validity of Act 28. If that Act is constitutionally valid, the Notes, the resolution, the priority and method for repayment and the related proceedings must be upheld. (LSA-R.S. 13:5129).

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510 So. 2d 662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-bond-comn-v-all-taxpayers-la-1987.