State ex rel. Fatzer v. Board of Regents

207 P.2d 373, 167 Kan. 587, 1949 Kan. LEXIS 383
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 11, 1949
DocketNo. 37,750
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 207 P.2d 373 (State ex rel. Fatzer v. Board of Regents) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Fatzer v. Board of Regents, 207 P.2d 373, 167 Kan. 587, 1949 Kan. LEXIS 383 (kan 1949).

Opinion

[589]*589The opinion of the court was delivered by

Wedell, J.:

In this proceeding the state invokes the original jurisdiction of this court in quo warranto challenging the authority of the board of regents of the state of Kansas, which exercises supervisory powers and duties over the higher educational institutions of the state by virtue of G. S. 1947 Supp. 76-108a to issue and sell bonds pursuant to chapter 435 of the Laws of 1947, in order to obtain funds for the acquisition, construction, equipment and furnishing of one or more student dormitories and facilities connected therewith upon the campus of the Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science.

The state does not claim there are procedural defects in the proposed bond issue. It challenges the constitutionality of the act itself (Laws 1947, ch. 435, G. S. 1947 Supp. 76-6al3 to 76-6a25, inch) under which the state board of regents, to be hereafter referred to as the board, proposes to issue and sell dormitory bonds.

Briefly stated, this proceeding questions the constitutionality of this legislative act whereby the board is authorized to provide, among other buildings, student dormitories on campuses of the designated schools by means of a self-liquidating plan and under which it is intended the state itself shall incur no indebtedness. In order to obtain the necessary funds without obligating the state the act authorizes the board to issue and sell dormitory revenue bonds to be paid solely and only from the revenue and income of such dormitories (§§ 1, 3, 6, 7, 8), the revenue and income therefrom being irrevocably pledged to pay the reasonable cost of operating and maintaining such buildings, the principal, interest and reserve fund requirements. (§ 9.) In the discretion of the board it may also use certain sources of revenue, other than state funds, designated in the act. (§ 3.)

The resolution of the board adopted for the intended purpose, including the form of the bond, the endorsement or covenants with the bondholders, the publication notice to all persons interested, and the proof of such publication notice as required by section 13 of the act, are appended hereto for reference and made a part hereof. The state does not contend these instruments fail to conform to pertinent provisions of the act.

The state first challenges the act on the ground it contravenes sections 6 and 7, article 11 of our state constitution which prohibits [590]*590the state from contracting a debt, except as therein provided. Those provisions read:

“For the purpose of defraying extraordinary expenses and making public improvements, the state may contract public debts; but such debts shall never, in the aggregate, exceed one million dollars, except as hereinafter provided. Every such debt shall be authorized by law for some purpose specified therein, and the vote of a majority of all the members elected to each house, to be taken by the yeas and nays, shall be necessary to the passage of such law; and every such law shall provide for levying an annual tax sufficient to pay the annual interest of such debt, and the principal thereof, when it shall become due; and shall specifically appropriate the proceeds of such taxes to the payment of such principal and interest; and such appropriation shall not be repealed nor the taxes postponed or diminished, until the interest and principal of such debt shall have been wholly paid.” (§ 6.)
“No debt shall be contracted by the state except as herein provided, unless the proposed law for creating such debt shall first be submitted to a direct vote of the electors of the state at some general election; and if such proposed law shall be ratified by a majority of all the votes cast at such general election, then it shall be the duty of the legislature next after such election to enact such law and create such debt, subject to all the provisions and restrictions provided in the preceding section of this article.” (§ 7.)

The first question is whether the dormitory bonds constitute an indebtedness of the state. Section 4 of the challenged act provides:

“Revenue bonds issued hereunder shall not be an indebtedness of the state of Kansas, or of the board of regents, or of the individual members of said board, and shall not constitute an indebtedness within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory limitation upon the incurring of indebtedness.” (G. S. 1947 Supp. 76-6al6.)

The resolution of the board expressly states:

“. . . such buildings can and will be self-liquidating undertakings.”

The endorsement on the bond plainly states the bond is a contract between the board and the holder thereof. The bond and the publication notice, in substance, clearly disclose the bond is not, and shall not become, an obligation of the state, the college, the board, or of its individual members; that it cannot be paid directly or indirectly from the proceeds of any tax levy but is payable solely and only from the revenue and income derived from the operation of a certain dormitory or dormitories and the facilities of the college; such income and revenue are irrevocably pledged to the payment of the principal and interest of such bonds.

In view of the act itself and the plain terms of the bond, a contract between the board and bond purchaser, we think no bondholder could logically contend the state, the college, the board, or [591]*591any official member or employee of the board becomes obligated to pay the indebtedness represented by the bond. The legislature by this act, as previously indicated, prohibited the state from incurring a debt under the act. The contract between the board and the bond purchaser is in express harmony with that statutory prohibition. Such an agreement between a creditor and debtor violates no rule of constitutional law. (State, ex rel., v. Kansas City, 140 Kan. 471, 477, 37 P. 2d 18.)

In the second place, if the debt represented by the bond technically should be designated as a debt of the state, which we think it cannot, it is nevertheless not a debt prohibited by the constitution. Debts, within the contemplation of constitutional provisions, are debts to be paid by- a general property tax and not from funds to be raised in some other manner. (State, ex rel., v. State Highway Comm., 138 Kan. 913, 917-918, 28 P. 2d 770; State, ex rel., v. Kansas City, 140 Kan. 471, 476-477, 37 P. 2d 18; State, ex rel., v. Kansas City, 149 Kan. 252, 256-257, 86 P. 2d 476.) These bonds do not pledge the faith and credit of the state. They do precisely the contrary. The bondholder knows he may look only to the revenue and income from the building, or buildings, for payment. Whether he desires to make such an investment is a matter left entirely to his own discretion and judgment.

The state argues the revenue and income from the dormitories and their facilities may prove insufficient to pay the bonds and in that event a judgment against the state would be the only means of satisfying the unpaid portion of the debt. The contention erroneously assumes the validity of such a judgment, if rendered. The same contention was effectively declared to be without merit in both the first and second opinions in the case commonly known as the Kansas City municipal market case, State, ex rel., v. Kansas City, 148 Kan. 623, 625, 84 P. 2d 409; State, ex rel., v. Kansas City, 149 Kan. 252, 257-258, 86 P. 2d 476.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
207 P.2d 373, 167 Kan. 587, 1949 Kan. LEXIS 383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-fatzer-v-board-of-regents-kan-1949.