State ex rel. State Capitol Commission v. Lister

Citations

• 91 Wash. 9
• 156 P. 858
• 1916 Wash. LEXIS 992

Syllabus

<p>States — Public Debt — Power to Contract — Interest on Bonds— Statutes. Laws 1915, p. 700, § 3, of the act for bonding the capitol building lands for $1,500,000, the principal payable only from the capitol building fund derived from the sale of the lands, which provides for the levy of an annual tax sufficient to meet the interest on the bonds, the same to be deemed a loan from the general fund and repaid from the proceeds of sales or leases of capitol building lands, is unconstitutional as the creation of a “debt” for such interest charges, within the meaning of Const., art. 8, § 3, providing that no debts except as specified, shall hereafter be contracted on behalf of the state unless authorized by law for some specified object, which law shall provide ways and means, exclusive of loans, for the payment of interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to discharge the principal of such debt within twenty years, and shall be submitted to a vote of the people at a general election; since the interest is not payable from the same source as the principal, but is to be raised by an annual tax, in the “same manner as other state levies are made,” in violation of the purpose of the constitution to prevent the taxpayers from being assessed therefor unless authorized by a vote of the people.</p> <p>Same. The proceeds of the capitol building lands cannot be considered as an asset equivalent to cash for the purpose of meeting such interest charge.</p> <p>Same. The bonding of the state capitol lands for the purpose of erecting buildings and creating a “debt” for interest charges, without submitting the same to a vote of the people, in violation of the constitution, cannot be sustained on the principle authorizing municipal corporations to exceed their debt limit for the purpose of meeting necessary obligations, as the same is not applicable.</p> <p>Mobkis, C. X, Pabkeb, and Mount, JX, dissent.</p>