Commonwealth ex rel. Schnader v. Liveright, Secretary of Welfare

• Citation: 308 Pa. 35,161 A. 697
• Decision Date: 07 April 1932
• Docket Number: 16
• Parties: Commonwealth ex rel. Schnader v. Liveright, Secretary of Welfare et al
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

161 A. 697

308 Pa. 35

Commonwealth ex rel. Schnader v. Liveright, Secretary of Welfare et al

No. 16

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

April 7, 1932

Argued March 11, 1927 [Copyrighted Material Omitted] [Copyrighted Material Omitted] [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Appeal, No. 16, May T., 1932, by defendants, from order of C.P. Dauphin Co., Commonwealth Docket 1932, No. 10, awarding mandamus, in case of Commonwealth ex rel. William A. Schnader, attorney general, v. Alice F. Liveright, secretary of welfare of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Charles A. Waters, auditor general of the Commonwealth, and Edward Martin, state treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Affirmed.

Petition for mandamus to enforce the provisions of the Talbot Act. Before HARGEST, P.J., WICKERSHAM and FOX, JJ.

The original call of the governor for the extra session passing the act in question was as follows:

Whereas, the first duty of the Commonwealth is to safeguard the people, and

Whereas, to make secure the lives, the liberties, and the happiness of men, women, and children is the proper object of all governments, and

Whereas, the right to work for a living is part of the right to live, and

Whereas, the welfare of the people in this Commonwealth, as in the United States at large, is endangered by the prevailing unemployment, which has deprived one quarter of the workers of Pennsylvania of the opportunity to earn a living, and

Whereas, this fact constitutes a binding obligation to act upon every unit of government, from the least to the greatest:

Now, Therefore, I, Gifford Pinchot, governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by virtue of the authority vested in me by article IV, section 12, of the Constitution, do hereby convene the General Assembly in extraordinary session, to meet in the capitol at Harrisburg, on Monday, November ninth, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, at nine o'clock p.m. of that day, to consider legislation upon the following subjects:

1. The creation of a state commission on unemployment relief with power to solicit, accept, and disburse contributions for unemployment relief, issue receipts for cash contributions, cooperate with counties, cities, boroughs, townships, and poor districts in affording relief to the unemployed and their families, approve or disapprove plans for unemployment relief presented by counties, cities, boroughs, townships, and poor districts, and perform such other duties as are incidental to the foregoing powers.

2. Authorizing counties, cities, boroughs, townships, and poor districts during the year one thousand nine hundred thirty-two to negotiate emergency loans for unemployment relief and school districts during the same year to negotiate similar loans to meet deficiencies in current operating expenses, and authorizing such loans to be refunded under certain circumstances annually for a certain period.

3. An amendment to the Constitution directing the governor, the auditor general, and the state treasurer to borrow money in the name of the Commonwealth to repay with interest all sums contributed to the state commission on unemployment relief and to pay to the several counties, cities, boroughs, townships, and poor districts of this Commonwealth one-half of the amount borrowed by them in the year one thousand nine hundred thirty-two for unemployment relief under the provisions of legislation enacted at the special session of the General Assembly and expended by them under plans submitted to and approved in writing by the state commission on unemployment relief.

4. Authorizing the issue and sale of bonds by the Commonwealth when the foregoing amendment to the Constitution has been adopted, and appropriating the proceeds of the sale of such bonds for the purposes specified in the amendment.

5. Authorizing counties, cities, boroughs, townships, and poor districts to levy taxes and expend money for unemployment relief.

6. Permitting local authorities under certain conditions to postpone tax sales during periods of economic depression and unemployment incident thereto.

7. Authorizing the department of highways with the approval of the governor and of the political subdivisions involved to enter upon and construct, reconstruct, or resurface wholly or partially at state expense any public roads, streets, and highways which are now constructed and maintained at the expense of the several political subdivisions of the Commonwealth, and making an appropriation for this purpose.

8. Supplementing and amending the 1931 General Appropriation Act by increasing or modifying appropriations to the governor and the several departments, boards, and commissions of the state government, to enable them by undertaking additional projects to give work to the unemployed, and also to enable public schools in certain districts to remain open.

9. Amending the appropriation made by the General Assembly in one thousand nine hundred thirty-one for the construction of the Pymatuning Dam, by enabling the unencumbered balance of the appropriation to be used for road construction and other work incident to the completion of the dam.

10. An appropriation for the expense of the special session.

11. Cooperation with other states in taking measures to rehabilitate the bituminous coal industry.

12. An emergency tax on gasoline at the rate of two cents (2c) per gallon for two (2) years, the proceeds to be payable into the motor license fund.

13. Authorizing transfers from the general fund of the state treasury to the motor license fund in anticipation of revenue received from the emergency tax on gasoline and the repayment of such transfers to the general fund as revenue is received from such emergency tax.

14. A tax on cigarettes.

15. A tax on billboards and the business of outdoor advertising.

A supplemental call was as follows:

Whereas, an extraordinary session of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been called under authority of article IV, section 12, of the Constitution, to meet in the capitol at Harrisburg on Monday, November 9, 1931, at nine o'clock p.m. of that day;

Now, Therefore, I, Gifford Pinchot, governor of the Commonwealth, do hereby designate the following additional subjects for the consideration of the General Assembly:

1. An appropriation to the department of welfare in the amount of two million dollars ($2,000,000) for the care and treatment in nonsectarian hospitals of indigent sick and injured persons.

2. An appropriation to the department of welfare in the amount of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), to supplement appropriations made to the department by the 1931 session for the maintenance of state owned medical and surgical hospitals.

3. An additional appropriation in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to the department of military affairs, for the use of the state veterans' commission.

4. Making new appropriations to the governor or any department, board, or commission of the state government, or increasing appropriations heretofore made to them, to enable additional projects to be undertaken which will give work to the unemployed and to enable newly imposed taxes to be collected. This subject is a modification of the eighth subject in the original call and is added in order that legislation may be enacted under either of them as may be deemed wise.

The Talbot Act is as follows:

An act making an appropriation under the police power and as a governmental duty to the department of welfare for state aid to political subdivisions charged by law with the care of the poor, and providing for the allocation and use of the moneys so appropriated.

Whereas, present conditions of unemployment aggravate the normal situation facing public authorities charged with the care of the poor, impose a burden which local government is unable to bear, and demand the exercise of the police power of the Commonwealth for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare and the assumption by the Commonwealth of its governmental duty to care for the poor; therefore

Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That, in the exercise of the police power for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare threatened by existing conditions of unemployment, and in the assumption by the Commonwealth of its duty to the care of the poor, the sum of ten million dollars is hereby specifically appropriated to the department of welfare for payment to political subdivisions charged by law with the care of the poor, which appropriation shall be allocated as hereinafter provided and paid over by said department in December, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one (1931), and the months of January, February, March, April and May, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-two (1932). The amount to be paid over to or for the use of said subdivisions during said months shall be as follows:

1931

December

$1,000,000

1932

January

2,000,000

February

2,000,000

March

2,000,000

April

2,000,000

May

1,000,000

Total

$10,000,000

Section 2. The department of welfare shall make an allocation, during said months respectively, of the moneys appropriated to it among the several counties of this Commonwealth on a ratio that the estimated number of unemployed persons in a county bears to the estimated total number of unemployed persons in the entire Commonwealth, as shown by the tables compiled and issued by the department of labor and industry.

The December allocation shall be made on the basis of the table contained in special bulletin number thirty-three, page thirteen, issued by the department of labor and industry in July, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, or on the basis of any later table issued by said department of...