In re Opinions of the Justices, 33

• Decision Date: 11 September 1935
• Docket Number: 33
• Citation: 163 So. 105,230 Ala. 673
• Parties: In re OPINIONS OF THE JUSTICES.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

163 So. 105

230 Ala. 673

In re OPINIONS OF THE JUSTICES.

No. 33

Supreme Court of Alabama

September 11, 1935

Questions propounded by the Governor to the justices of the Supreme Court, under Code 1923, § 10290 et seq., as amended.

Questions answered.

Warrants and other securities which statute authorized counties to issue, payable out of gas tax collected by state and apportioned equally among counties, held not "bonds" within constitutional provisions prohibiting Legislature from passing special laws authorizing municipality to issue bonds and permitting Legislature to enact general laws authorizing municipality to issue bonds. Acts 1935, Senate Bill No. 184; Const.1901, § 104, subd. 17,§ 222.

September 3, 1935.

To the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama.

Gentlemen As Governor of Alabama, under the provision of section 10290 etc. Code of Alabama, as amended, I request an opinion on the following important constitutional questions concerning Senate Bill 184, authorizing certain counties in Alabama to issue warrants, assignments and other obligations payable out of the gasoline tax collected by the State of Alabama and apportioned equally among the sixty-seven (67) counties of the State.

I would like for you to consider and answer the following questions:

First. Would assignments or warrants issued by the counties affected by Senate Bill No. 184 against this gasoline tax be deemed debts of the counties under section 224 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901? Second. Is the classification of the counties under this law proper, so as to constitute a general law and not a local law under section 105 and section 110 of the Constitution?

Third. Does this law contravene the provisions of section 104 subdivision 17 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901?

A copy of said law is hereto attached.

Very respectfully,

Bibb Graves, Governor.

(S-184--Russell

No 117)

An Act To authorize and empower the governing bodies of all counties in this State, which are now collecting or may hereafter collect as much as Forty Thousand Dollars per year from any road or bridge tax of one-fourth of one per centum levied under Section 215 of the present Constitution of Alabama, to transfer and assign, sell or pledge not more than fifty per centum of the county's part of the gasoline taxes now or hereafter levied by the State of Alabama, and divided among the sixty-seven counties of this State, for a period of not exceeding twenty years, and to authorize the issuance and sale of warrants, securities, debentures or assignments of said taxes, and to provide for the payment of such warrants, debentures, securities or assignments out of such county's part of such gasoline taxes; and to provide for the use of such proceeds of sale of such securities in the construction, maintenance, repair, surfacing, or re-surfacing of roads and bridges, and the matching of funds with the State of Alabama or the United States of America for highway and bridge purposes; and to further provide for authority by the counties for the deposit of such proceeds with the State of Alabama for highway or bridge purposes.

Be it Enacted by the Legislature of Alabama:

Section One: That the provisions of this Act shall apply to all counties in this State which are now collecting or which may hereafter collect as much as Forty Thousand Dollars per annum from the proceeds of the road or bridge tax of one fourth of one per centum authorized by Section 215 of the present Constitution of the State of Alabama.

Section Two: That the Courts of County Commissioners, Boards of Revenue, or other governing bodies of such counties in this State, shall have power and authority, by resolution legally passed and adopted at any legal meeting of such Court or Board, to issue county warrants, debentures, certificates, or orders, or other like forms of securities against 50% of such county's part of the Gasoline Taxes levied by the State of Alabama and allocated or divided among the sixty-seven counties of this State herein described for a period of twenty years, such securities to be in such denominations and with such maturities, and to bear such rate of interest, not exceeding six per cent per annum, as the Court of County Commissioners, Board of Revenue, or like governing body of a county, may determine; and said securities, when so issued may be sold at public sale, either in whole or in part, as the money may be needed by such county for the purpose described in this Act. In the event of such public sale, notice of the same shall be given for ten days by publication at least two times in some newspaper published in the county, or, if no newspaper is published in the county, then by posting such notice at three public places in such county for a period of ten days; and, in like manner, such warrants or securities may be sold at private sale to any agency of the United States of America without public notice, provided that notice of the intention to sell at private sale to a purchaser other than a United States Agency, and the time and place of such private sale of such securities be given for ten days as herein provided for in case of public sale; and provided further that said...