State v. Moses

5 N.W.2d 303, 72 N.D. 142, 1942 N.D. LEXIS 122
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 4, 1942
DocketFile No. 6842.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 5 N.W.2d 303 (State v. Moses) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Moses, 5 N.W.2d 303, 72 N.D. 142, 1942 N.D. LEXIS 122 (N.D. 1942).

Opinion

Morris, J.

This is a proceeding in mandamus instituted by the State Hail Insurance Department of the State of North Dakota to compel payment of three vouchers for $100,000, each filed with the State Auditor and presented to and payment refused by the State Auditing Board. The Hail Insurance Department claims to be entitled to the payment of these vouchers by virtue of chapter 41, ND Session Laws 1939 whch reads as follows: “There is hereby appropriated out of the State Equalization Eund, the sum of one million dollars (the sum of thirty-eight thousand, eight hundred and sixty-five dollars and forty-one cents, ‘$38,865.41’ having been paid out of said fund July 15th, 1938) for the purpose of returning said sum to the State Hail Insurance Fund, the said sum having been diverted from said State ITail Insurance Fund to said State Equalization Fund by chapter 155 of the Session Laws of North Dakota for 1935; and it shall become the duty of the proper offi *144 cers, upon the taking effect of this act, to transfer from and to pay from said State Equalization Eund to said State Hail Insurance Eund, the sum of one million dollars in ten equal, annual installments, the first installment to be paid July 15th, 1939.”

The vouchers represent instalments claimed to be due under the above statute on July 15, 1939, July 15, 1940 and July 15, 1941. The trial court held that payment should not be made upon the voucher representing the last installment but that the other two vouchers were valid claims and rendered judgment directing a peremptory writ of mandamus to issue commanding the respondents below, who are appellants in this court, to transfer and pay from the State Equalization Eund to the State Hail Insurance Department the sum of $200,000, representing the installments due July 15, 1939, and July 15, 1940.

The statutory situation bearing upon this controversy is somewhat involved. The same legislative assembly that passed chapter 41, supra, also enacted chapter 209, ND Session Laws 1939 which created the State Equalization Eund and transferred to it “All monies now in the State Equalization Eund as it was created by chapter 227 of the Laws of 1937.” The record in this action does not show the amount transferred to the 1939 Equalization Eund under the above provision. However, in a former action involving part of the funds now in controversy, v;e stated: “The first section of chapter 209 transfers all the money in the old State Equalization Eund to the new one created by that chapter. The testimony shows this to be the sum of $97,608.50.” Erickson v. Thompson, 69 ND 533, 288 NW 462.

The same legislative assembly by chapter 29, ND Sesson Laws 1939 provided:

“There is hereby appropriated out of any monies in the State Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $4,510,000.00 or so much thereof as may be necessary to make the payments provided for under the State Equalization Fund Law as provided for in Senate Bill No. 237 as passed by the 1939 Session of the Legislature for the biennium beginning July 1, 1939, and ending June 30, 1941, provided, however, that payments authorized for the school year ending on or about June 1,1941, may be made from this fund up to October 1, 1941, to-wit:
*145 (1) High school correspondence work......$ 100,000.00
(2) Vocational education ............... 40,000.00
(3) Emergency fund ................... 500,000.00
(4) Non-resident high school tuition....... 1,100,000.00
(5) Teacher unit payment............... 1,770,000.00
(6) Per pupil payment.................. 1,000,000.00
$4,510,000.00”

(This Act was amended by the initiated measure appearing as chapter 310 and by chapter 35, both of the ND Session Laws 1941. These amendments change the amounts of some items but not the total.)

The same legislative assembly by chapter 234, ND Session Laws 1939, enacted a Detail Sales Tax Measure and provided for the disposition of the proceeds of the sales tax as follows: “All monies collected and received under this act shall be paid into the State Treasury and shall be credited by the State Treasurer into a special fund to be known as 'The Detail Sales Tax Fund.’ Out of this fruid the State Treasurer shall first provide for the payment of refunds allowed under this act. The net amount of monies remaining in said 'Detail Sales Tax Fund’ shall be covered in and transferred to the General Fund of the State of North Dakota.”

Thus, it will be noted that the 3939 legislative assembly provided for the payment of the net proceeds of the sales tax into the General Fund and out of the General Fund it appropriated $4,510,000 to make the payments provided for under the State Equalization Law (chapter 209). The sum thus appropriated was in addition to the moneys transferred to the 1939 Equalization Fund from the former Equalization Fund.

At this point, we should also note that on June 25, 1940, the people, through the initiative process, enacted two measures dealing with the allocation of the proceeds of Sales Tax; the first being chapter 308, ND Sesson Laws 1941 which reads as follows: “AH moneys coming into the State Treasury from and after the effective date of this Act, as the proceeds of any sales tax heretofore or hereafter adopted by the Legislature of the State of North Dakota, after deducting actual expenses for administrating such Sales Tax Act, shall be placed in a separate fund *146 and no disbursements shall be made therefrom save and except for the purpose of meeting the appropriation for education through the State Equalization Fund and for relief through the State Public Welfare Fund.”

The second measure, chapter 309, puts the Sales Tax moneys in a special fund and after the paymént of refunds requires the remaining proceeds to be distributed as follows: Seven-twelfths (7/12) solely in paying disbursements authorized by chapter 29 pursuant to the provisions of chapter 209, ND Session Laws 1939, or amendments thereto. The remaining five-twelfths (5/12) is to be devoted to Public Welfare under chapters 80, 83 and 84, ND Session Laws 1939. The initiated measures became effective July 25, 1940.

These initiated measures did not affect the sums allocated to the 1939 Equalization Fund by the legislative assembly. In State ex rel. Strutz v. Baker, 71 ND 669, 3 NW (2d) 802, we said: “The appropriation made by chapter 29, Laws 1939, was not made out of the proceeds of any one tax. It was not made dependent upon the amount of receipts by the State Treasurer from any one source of State revenue. It was a positive, unequivocal appropriation ‘out of any monies in the State Treasury, not otherwise appropriated’ of a specific, definite sum for each of the six purposes enumerated in the statute. The initiative measures in no manner changed this. . . . The initiative measure providing for ear-marking moneys received for retail sales taxes did not change the nature or character of the appropriation in said Chapter 29 or make such appropriation contingent upon the amount of retail sales taxes collected.”

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Bluebook (online)
5 N.W.2d 303, 72 N.D. 142, 1942 N.D. LEXIS 122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-moses-nd-1942.