State ex rel. Attorney General v. McGraw

Citations

• 13 Wash. 311
• 43 P. 176
• 1895 Wash. LEXIS 94

Syllabus

<p>STATE CAPITOL COMMISSION—POWERS—CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — DELEGATION OP LEGISLATIVE POWER—BORROWING MONEY — DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS WITHOUT APPROPRIATION — STATE WARRANTS.</p> <p>A statute creating a state capitol commission, and committing to it the business of erecting a capitol building, and investing it with the power to accomplish that object out of the lands granted for that purpose by the government of the United States, is not a delegation of legislative functions, but of administrative only, since the primary object of the statute is to secure the erection at the state capital of a suitable building.</p> <p>A proposed plan of the state capitol commission, on letting a contract for the erection of a capitol building, to issue the warrants for the amount thereof and exchange them for cash at par, which is to be held by the state treasurer and disbursed upon certificates issued by the commission as the work progresses, does not constitute a borrowing of money within the constitutional inhibition on the subject.</p> <p>The act of March 20,1895, (Laws 1895, p. 191) making it unlawful for the state auditor to issue any warrants except upon duly certified vouchers for services rendered or materials furnished, has no application to a plan of the state capitol commission for the issuance by the state auditor of warrants on a special fund known as the “ state capitol building fund,” to be exchanged at par for cash on the letting of the contract for the construction of the capitol building, as such general provision concerning the discharge of the auditor’s official duties, is manifestly subordinate to the special provisions contained in the acts providing for the construction of the capitol building.</p> <p>A proposed plan by the state capitol commission for the exchange at par for cash of warrants on the state capitol building fund, required by statute to be used for the purpose of erecting a state capitol building, which cash is to be held by the state treasurer and di