State ex rel. Gammons v. Shafer

• Decision Date: 10 February 1933
• Docket Number: No. 6135.,6135.
• Citation: 63 N.D. 128,246 N.W. 874
• Parties: STATE ex rel. GAMMONS v. SHAFER et al., State Auditing Board.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

63 N.D. 128

246 N.W. 874

STATE ex rel.GAMMONS

v.SHAFER et al., State Auditing Board.

No. 6135.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Feb. 10, 1933.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. The provisions of section 25 of the Constitution, relating to initiated and referred legislation, are a part of article 2 of the Constitution, relating to the legislative department, and initiated and referred legislation is subject to all constitutional restrictions the same as laws passed by the legislative assembly.

2. In determining the constitutionality of a legislative act, under section 61 of the Gonstitution, the title of the act is to be construed in the light of the general object and purpose of the act, and if so construed the provisions of the act appear to be in furtherance of the general provisions existing in the title, the act will be upheld as having the subject-matter expressed in the title.

3. A general law, applied to different classes of officials and different classes of employees, is not in conflict with section 11 of the Constitution providing that all laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation if all persons in each class are treated alike in like circumstances and conditions.

4. Statutes which are complete in themselves are not in conflict with section 64 of the Constitution merely because they amend other statutes by implication.

5. A statute complete in itself, and which is not dependent upon other statutes for the complete expression of the legislative purpose, does not conflict with section 64 of the Constitution.

6. A law is amended when it is, in whole or in part, permitted to remain, and something is added to it or taken from it.

7. A measure which purports to make a change in all existing laws relating to salaries or compensation of appointive public officials and employees of the state government, by reducing such salaries or compensation according to a method which cannot be given effect without recourse to the laws purporting to be changed and leaving these laws otherwise intact so that the new provisions are intermingled with the remaining provisions of the old laws, violates section 64 of the Constitution.

Appeal from District Court, Burleigh County; R. G. McFarland, Judge.

Mandamus proceeding by the State of North Dakota, on the relation of John Gammons, against George F. Shafer and others, constituting the State Auditing Board of the State of North Dakota. From an order quashing an alternative writ of mandamus, the relator appeals.

Reversed.

Scott Cameron, of Bismarck, for appellant.

Arthur J. Gronna, Atty. Gen., Charles A. Verret, Asst. Atty. Gen., and B. F. Spalding, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from an order quashing an alternative writ of mandamus issued to the auditing board and denying the application of petitioner for a peremptory and permanent writ requiring the state auditing board to audit and allow the certified claim of appellant for his salary for the month of December, 1932, in the amount for which the same was certified and presented. Appellant claims that under the Session Laws of 1923 (chapter 182) his salary was fixed in the sum of $2,800 per year, payable monthly in the sum of $233.34.

Appellant claims that section 2 of the initiated measure, purporting to reduce salaries of officials and employees, submitted to and voted for by a majority of the qualified electors of the state in November, 1932, is unconstitutional and that he is entitled to his salary as provided by the laws of 1923 (chapter 182).

The initiated measure is as follows, to wit:

“Petition for the Initiation of a Law Reducing and Fixing Salaries or Compensation of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor and Each Commissioner of Railroads, to be Elected at the General Election in November, 1932, and Subsequent Elections, and Reducing and Fixing the Salaries of all Appointive State Officials, Members of all Appointive State Boards, Bureaus and Commissions, Now Provided for by Law, Reducing and Fixing the Salaries or Compensation of all Deputies, Assistants, Secretaries, Clerks and Other Employees of State Officials and State Boards, Bureaus and Commissions, Defining the Persons and Classes of Persons Whose Salaries or Compensation are Reduced, Specifying the Time When Said Law Shall Take Effect, and Repealing All Acts, or Parts of Acts Insofar as They Conflict Herewith.

To the Secretary of State of the State of North Dakota:

We, the undersigned, qualified electors of the State of North Dakota, consisting of over ten thousand of the electors at large, hereby propose and initiate the following law, and we request that the same be placed upon the ballot in the manner and form provided by law and submitted to the qualified electors of the State of North Dakota for their approval or rejection at the general election to be held November 8, 1932.

As such petitioners we hereby present and propose the following ballot title under which such law shall be submitted, to-wit:

Reducing and Fixing the Salaries or Compensation of Certain Elected State Officials, and Reducing and Fixing the Salaries or Compensation of All Appointive State Officials, Members of All State Appointive Boards, Bureaus and Commissions Provided for by Law, and Reducing and Fixing the Salaries or Compensation of all Deputies, Assistants, Secretaries, Clerks and Employees of All State Officials, Boards, Bureaus and Commissions

An Act reducing and fixing the salaries or compensation of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Attorney-General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor and each Commissioner of Railroads, to be elected at the general election to be held November 8, 1932, and all subsequent elections, and reducing and fixing the salaries or compensation of all appointive state officials and members of all appointive state boards, bureaus and commissions provided for by law, and reducing and fixing the salaries or compensation of all deputies, assistants, secretaries, clerks and employees of all state officials, state boards, bureaus and commissions, defining the persons and classes of persons whose salaries are reduced or fixed, specifying the time when this act shall take effect, and repealing all acts or parts of acts insofar as they conflict herewith.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of North Dakota:

Section 1. The Governor shall receive an annual salary of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00); the Lieutenant Governor shall receive an annual salary of Eight Hundred Dollars ($800.00); the Attorney General shall receive an annual salary of Three Thousand Dollars ($3000.00); the Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor, and the Commissioner of Insurance shall each receive an annual salary of Two Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($2,400.00); and each Commissioner of Railroads shall receive an annual salary of Two Thousand Four Hundred Dollars, ($2,400.00).

Section 2. The salaries or compensation of all appointive state officials, including members of all appointive state boards, bureaus and commissions, now provided for by law, and the salaries or compensation of all deputies, assistants, secretaries, clerks and employees of all state officials, state boards, bureaus and commissions are hereby reduced and fixed as follows: The salaries or compensation of all persons mentioned in this section, which are now fixed by law, are hereby reduced and fixed at an amount equaling eighty per cent of the amount at which the salaries of such persons were paid or fixed as of the month of January, 1932, whether such salaries or compensation are fixed or computed on an annual, monthly or per diem basis; the salaries or compensation of all persons mentioned in this section which are not fixed by law shall in no event hereafter exceed an amount equaling eighty per cent of the amount at which such salaries not fixed by law were paid or computed as of the month of January, 1932, whether such salaries or compensation are fixed or computed on an annual, monthly or per diem basis, and until otherwise changed by the proper authority such salaries are hereby fixed at eighty per cent of the amount computed or paid as of the month of January, 1932; provided, that the salary or compensation of no deputy, assistant, secretary, clerk or employee shall exceed the salary or compensation of the state officer or member of the state board, bureau or commission by or under whom such deputy, assistant, secretary, clerk or employee is employed or acts; and provided further that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed as prohibiting or preventing the legislature from abolishing or consolidating any or all Offices, Boards, Bureaus or Commissions now provided for by law or from eliminating the provision of any law fixing the amount of salary or compensation of any official, member of any Board, Bureau or Commission, or any deputy, assistant, secretary, clerk or employee, or from reducing below the amounts provided by this Act the salary or compensation of any person or persons.

Section 3. The terms elected and elective state officials shall include all state officials specified in Section 1 hereof. The terms appointed or appointive state officials and members of appointive state boards, bureaus and commissions and the terms deputies, assistants, secretaries, clerks and employees shall include all such persons whose office or employment is held by virtue of any appointment or employment however made, other than an election by the voters of the state, whether or not such office or employment is created by an act of the Legislature.

Section 4. In the event any se...