Miller v. Police Jury of Washington Parish

• Decision Date: 02 July 1954
• Docket Number: No. 41823,41823
• Citation: 74 So.2d 394,226 La. 8
• Parties: MILLER et al. v. POLICE JURY OF WASHINGTON PARISH.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 394

74 So.2d 394

226 La. 8

MILLER et al. v. POLICE JURY OF WASHINGTON PARISH.

No. 41823.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

July 2, 1954.

Carter, Erwin & Carter, Delos R. Johnson & Son, France W. Watts, Frankling, Jr., for plaintiffs-appellants.

James T. Burns, Covington, for appellee.

PONDER, Justice.

The plaintiffs, taxpayers of Washington Parish, brought suit against the Police Jury of Washington Parish, under the Declaratory Judgment Act, LSA-R.S. 13:4231-4246, attacking the constitutionality and legality of Act 426 of 1952 and the subsequent amendment to paragraph (b.2) Section 14 of Article 14 of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana which was approved by the voters at the November General Election of 1952. On hearing of the suit the lower court gave judgment rejecting the plaintiffs' demand and the plaintiffs have appealed.

Act 426 of 1952 was submitted to the people as a constitutional amendment and was approved and adopted by the voters at the November General Election in 1952 and is now paragraph (b.2) of Section 14 of Article 14 of the Constitution of this State which reads as follows:

'Any parish, ward or municipality of this State, in order to encourage the location of or addition to industrial enterprises therein may incur debt and issue negotiable bonds under the provisions of paragraph (a) of this (§ 14(a)) of the Constitution and in accordance with the provisions of the existing laws relating to incurring debt and issuing bonds, and use such funds derived from sale of such bonds, which shall not be sold for less than par, or bear a greater rate of interest than six per centum per annum payable annually or semi-annually, to acquire industrial plant sites and other necessary property or appurtenances for and to acquire or construct industrial plant buildings located within such parish, ward or municipality, as the case may be, and may sell, lease or otherwise dispose of, by suitable and appropriate contract, to any enterprise locating or existing within such parish, ward or municipality, a plant site, appurtenances and plant building, or buildings, either, both or severally; provided that the bonds so issued shall not exceed in the aggregate twenty per centum of the assessed valuation of the taxable property of such parish, ward or municipality to be ascertained by the last assessment for (of) parish, ward or municipality of (for) local purposes previous to incurring such indebtedness, nor shall such bonds run for a longer (period) than twenty five years from date thereof; provided further that any income or revenue accruing to such parish, ward or municipality from such contract shall be deposited in the sinking fund dedicated to the payment of any debt incurred herein; provided further, that before the calling and holding of an election to incur debt and issue bonds for such purpose, any existing similar and directly competing industry situated within such parish, ward or municipality, as the case may be, shall have first filed with the governing authority calling such election a written consent to the incurring of debt and issuing of bonds for such purpose of encouraging the location therein of such industrial enterprise; provided further, that before calling an election to vote on incurring debt and issuing bonds to carry out any plan to encourage the location of or additions to industrial enterprise, the State Bond and Tax Board and Board of Commerce and Industry or their successors in function, shall certify their approval of any proposed contract between such parish, ward or municipality and industrial enterprise to be aided, encouraged or benefited; provided further that a municipality may incur debt, issue negotiable bonds and use such funds derived from the sale of such bonds under the provisions of this paragraph to encourage the location of or addition to industrial enterprises in an adjoining area without the corporate limits of such municipality; provided further that the authority conferred herein on parishes, wards and municipalities shall apply with the same provisions on legally constituted industrial districts hereafter created which are hereby authorized, such districts may comprise a combination of or part of parishes, wards or municipalities, either, both or severally. This paragraph shall be self-operative, without any enabling Act.

'Said bonds shall be sold to the highest bidder, at a public sale, for not less than par and interest, after advertisement at least once a week, for not less than 30 days by said Public Body, reserving to said Public Body the right to reject any and all bids. In the event the Public Body rejects all bids, it shall have the right to re-advertise for new bids or to negotiate publicly with the bidding groups, and to sell the bonds on terms more advantageous than the best bid submitted.

'In the event that no bids are submitted, the Public Body shall have the right to sell the bonds on the best terms it can publicly negotiate, or to readvertise for new bids as provided herein. (As added, Acts 1952, No. 426, § 1, adopted November 4, 1952.)'

On September 26, 1953, the Police Jury of Washington Prish adopted a resolution calling an election to submit to the qualified taxpaying voters of the Parish the question of the issuance of $500,000 in bonds to run for twenty-five years and bearing interest at the maximum rate of 5% per annum for the purpose of acquiring a site and constructing and operating a milk processing plant and acquiring the necessary appurtenances for the operation of such plant, title to which to be in the public.

It is stated in the resolution that the principal occupation of the inhabitants of the Parish and their chief source of revenue is agriculture; that a substantial part of the agricultural lands of the Parish are devoted to dairying and the production of milk; that for a period of several years past the demand for milk production in the Parish has declined to the point that it is impossible to market the entire output of the milk which has resulted in the dumping of a great quantity of milk and inadequate prices for the remainder; that the foregoing situation seriously affects the welfare of the inhabitants and has made it imperative that a remedy be sought; that the Police Jury is of the opinion that the entire output of the milk could be sold if it was processed; and that they have entered into a contract with the Louisiana-Mississippi Milk Producers Association whereby it agrees to lease such plant and pay rental sufficient to pay the principal and interest on the proposed bonds; that the agreement has been approved by the State Bond and Tax Board and the Board of Commerce and Industry; that the State Bond and Tax Board has approved the bonds in the event they are issued; and that there is no similar competing industry in the Parish.

The election was duly held on November 3, 1953 and a majority in number and amount of the qualified voters approved the issuance of the bonds.

The appellants contend that the constitutional amendment submitted and approved by the electorate of the State is invalid and of no effect because it was not shown by the legislative journal to have been approved by the House of Representatives as required by the Constitution. They cite no authority to support their contention. The contention is in effect based on the ground that the bill as amended was never set out in full on the journal of the House or the journal of the Senate in the form in which it was finally passed even though the bill and amendments were separately entered in full in the journals. This same question was only recently presented to this Court in the case of Miller v. Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission, 225 La. 1095, 74 So.2d 387, this Court rejected the contention because a reference sufficiently identifying the amendments to be acted upon having been entered on the journals was a sufficient compliance with Section 1 of Article 21 of the Constitution of Louisiana.

The appellants contend that the constitutional amendment, Paragraph (b.2) of Section 14 of Article 14 of the Constitution of Louisiana is invalid and of no effect because it authorizes the taking of private property and the taxation of property for private purposes in violation of Amendments V and XIV of the Constitution of the United States and Section 2 of Article 1 of the Constitution of Louisiana. In support of their contention they cite Citizens Savings & Loan Association of Cleveland Ohio v. City of Topeka, 20 Wall. 655, 87 U.S. 655, 22 L.Ed. 455. The cited case is not in point.

A Mississippi statute containing provisions similar to the constitutional amendment involved herein was contested on the ground that it violated the due process law and was held by the Supreme Court of Mississippi not to be violative of the due process law. Albritton v. City of Winona, 181 Miss. 75, 178 So. 799, 115 A.L.R. 1436. This case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court and the appeal was dismissed for want of a substantial Federal question citing: Jones v. City of Portland, 245 U.S. 217, 38 S.Ct. 112, 62 L.Ed. 252, L.R.A.1918C, 765, Ann.Cas.1918E, 660; Green v. Frazier, 253 U.S. 233, 40 S.Ct. 499, 64 L.Ed. 878; Milheim v. Moffat Tunnel Improv. Dist., 262 U.S. 710, 717, 43 S.Ct. 694, 67 L.Ed. 1194, 1199; Carmichael v. Southern Coal & Coke Co., 301 U.S. 495, 514, 515, 57 S.Ct. 868, 81 L.Ed. 1245, 1256, 1257, 109 A.L.R. 1327. See Allbritton v. City of Winona, Mississippi, 303 U.S. 627, 58 S.Ct. 766, 82 L.Ed. 1088.

In the Allbritton case a statute was involved but here we have a constitutional amendment. While we realize that there are cases in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the United States that appear to hold a contrary view yet it would appear that the findings of the state court as to whether or not public interest is involved is accepted unless clearly unfounded. Green v. Frazier, supra; Jones v. City of Portland, supra. In ...