In re In re Funding Bonds of 1939 Series A
| Decision Date | 24 April 1939 |
| Docket Number | Case Number: 29179 |
| Citation | 1939 OK 218,185 Okla. 10,90 P.2d 19 |
| Parties | In re STATE TREASURY NOTE INDEBTEDNESS In re FUNDING BONDS OF 1939 SERIES A |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
¶0 1. STATES--Application to Fund Certain State Indebtedness-Notice of Hearing in Supreme Court Held Valid.
The court finds and determines that notice of the hearing on the application to fund was published and given in conformity to the provisions of section 4 of Senate Bill No. 239, Seventeenth Oklahoma Legislature, approved April 10, 1939, and that the same constitutes due and proper notice of this proceeding.
2. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--Power of Legislature to Confer Original Jurisdiction on Supreme Court.
In all matters of general public Interest, matters which directly affect the sovereign rights and powers of the state, the Legislature has power under section 2, article 7, Oklahoma Constitution, to confer original jurisdiction upon this court.
3. STATUTES--Act Providing for Funding Certain State Indebtedness Held to Embrace but One General Subject.
Senate Bill No. 239, Seventeenth Oklahoma Legislature, approved April 10, 1939, embraces but one general subject, the funding of certain state indebtedness, and does not violate section 57, article 5, Oklahoma Constitution.
4. OFFICERS--Act Providing For Funding Certain State Indebtedness--Provision as to Duties of Attorney General Held Valid.
There is no legal inhibition against the Legislature making the Attorney General a member of the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission and requiring him to execute a certificate on the back of each state funding bond that they are issued pursuant to law and are within the debt limitation.
5. STATES--State Debt not Created or Increased by Issuance of Funding Bonds--Act Effective Without Submission to Vote of People.
Bonds which are issued to fund a valid indebtedness neither create nor increase the debt of the state, but merely change the form of existing indebtedness, and Senate Bill No. 239, Seventeenth Oklahoma Legislature, approved April 10, 1939, providing for the issuance of such bonds, became effective without having been submitted to the people for their sanction.
6. SAME--Provisions for Maturity of State Funding Bonds.
State of Oklahoma "Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A", dated May 1, 1939, and maturing $750,000 on June 30th of each of the years 1940 to 1946, inclusive; $1,600,000 on June 30, 1947, to 1953, inclusive; and $1,706,681 on June 30, 1954, mature as authorized and provided by sections 3 and 9 of Senate Bill No. 239, Seventeenth Oklahoma Legislature, approved April 10, 1939.
7. SAME--Constitutional Provision for Levying Taxes Held not Exclusive Method of Taking Care of Deficiencies.
The provision of section 3, article 10, Oklahoma Constitution for paying deficiencies which may arise during any fiscal year, where the ordinary current expenses of the state exceed its income from current taxation and other resources, is not exclusive.
8. SAME--Provisions of Act Constituting Valid Pledge of State Revenues for Payment of Bonds.
The "Funding Bonds of 1039, Series A", of the State of Oklahoma, dated May 1, 1939, are to be paid from the revenues provided in section 9 of Senate Bill No. 239, Seventeenth Oklahoma Legislature, approved April 10, 1939, and the provisions of said section constitute a valid pledge of the revenues of the state therein referred to for the payment of the principal and interest of said bonds.
9. SAME--Constitution not Violated by Legislature Pledging Full Faith, Credit, and Resources of State to Payment of Valid State Obligation.
No provision of the State Constitution is violated by the Legislature pledging the full faith, credit, and resources of the state to the payment of an obligation which the state is legally bound to pay.
10. SAME--New Indebtedness not Created by Issuance of Funding Bonds to Be Sold and Proceeds Devoted to Discharge of Outstanding Debt.
The issuance of bonds for the purpose of funding a valid debt does not create a new indebtedness, although they are sold and their proceeds devoted to the discharge Of the outstanding debt, rather than exchanged for the evidence of such debt.
11. SAME--State Treasury Note indebtedness Held Valid and "Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A," Approved.
The state treasury note indebtedness of the state of Oklahoma funded by the "Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A," of said state is valid, and said funding bonds are issued in conformity to the provisions of Senate Bill No. 239, 'Seventeenth Oklahoma Legislature, approved April 10, 1939, and are approved in the total sum of $18,156,681.
Original application of the State of Oklahoma to determine the existence, validity, and amount of certain of its outstanding state treasury note indebtedness and to approve $18,156,681 of "Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A," of the State of Oklahoma issued for the purpose of funding said state treasury note indebtedness. Protest denied and bonds approved.
Mac Q. Williamson, Atty. Gen., and Randell S. Cobb, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the state.
D. D. Archer and Fred M. Black, for the Protestant.
¶1 This is an original proceeding brought in the Supreme Court through the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission, pursuant to the provisions of Senate Bill No. 239, enacted by the Seventeenth Legislature of the State of Oklahoma, approved by the Governor April 10, 1939, for the purpose of funding $18,000,000 of outstanding and unpaid state treasury notes of the State of Oklahoma, issued in anticipation of the general revenues of the state, pursuant to the provisions of article 3, ch. 27, S. L. 1937, page 123, which with the interest due thereon to May 1, 1939, amount in the aggregate to the sum of $18,156,681. It is made to appear from the application and evidence submitted in support thereof that it is the purpose of the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission to fund said state treasury note indebtedness by the issuance of negotiable coupon bonds of the State of Oklahoma, designated "Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A," in the sum of $18,156,681, dated May 1, 1939, and maturing $750,000 on June 30th of each of the years 1940 to 1946, inclusive; $1,600,000 oil June 30th of each of the years 1947 to to 1953, inclusive; and $I,700,681 on June 30, 1954. $12,145,000 of said bonds are to be exchanged for the simultaneous surrender and cancellation of $12,145,000 of state treasury notes; and $6,011,681 of said funding bonds have been sold for delivery on May 1, 1939, for $6,011,681 and a premium of $10, which amount of money is to be used in paying the interest due on said $12,145.000 of state treasury notes on May 1, 1939, and in paying the principal and interest due on $5,855,000 of state treasury notes due on May 1, 1939.
¶2 All of the $18,156,681 of bonds were sold at an advertised sale held on April 14, 1939. to the highest bidder agreeing to pay par and accrued interest for the bonds and bidding the lowest rate of interest the bonds are to bear, except that the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission required the successfill bidder to permit the exchange of $12,145,000 of said bonds for notes, making the amount of bonds to be delivered to the purchaser amount to $6,011,681. The bonds were sold to The Chase National Bank of New York, N. Y., and associates. The bonds bear the rate of interest fixed by said sale as follows:
¶3 Section 4 of Senate Bill No. 239 of the Seventeenth Legislature, approved April 10, 1939, conferred exclusive original jurisdiction upon the Supreme Court to hear and determine this application to fund. Notice was published in a legal newspaper on April 11, 1939, and in each daily issue of said newspaper to and including April 20, 1939, that the application would be presented to the Supreme Court for a hearing thereon on the 21st day of April, 1939, at 10 o'clock, a. m., and that the Attorney General would present for and on behalf of the State of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission in application to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma to approve $18,156,681 of State Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A, dated May 1, 1939, for the purpose of funding and paying $18,156,681 of treasury notes of the State of Oklahoma. The notice further stated that all persons interested might file a protest against the issuance of said bonds and be present at said hearing and contest the issuance of said funding bonds or any part thereof. This notice was sufficient to put any person interested upon inquiry. The fact that the notice stated that an application would be presented to the Supreme Court to approve $18,156,681 of state funding bonds for the purpose of funding and paying $18,156,681 of treasury notes of the State of Oklahoma instead of the principal and interest oil $18,000,000 of state treasury notes does not make the notice defective.
"Mere informalities in a notice which do not mislead will not vitiate it: and, while a particular form of notice required by statute must usually be followed with reasonable strictness, it is generally sufficient if the notice proceeds from an authentic source and fully informs the parties to be notified of the substance of the matters required to be noticed (citing 5 Words and Phrases, pp. 4842-4844; see, also, vol. 8, P. 7733)." Tooele Meat & Storage Co. v. Morse, 43 Utah, 515, 136 P. 965; Foster v. Focht, 102 Okla. 261, 229 P. 444; 46 C. J. 554.
¶4 It should be noted that in section 2 of Senate Bill No. 239 the state is authorized to issue its negotiable coupon bonds for the purpose of funding treasury notes, plus the accrued interest thereon to the date of the bonds issued to fund the same. We find and determine that the notice which was published is a...
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