State Highway Commission v. Spainhower

• Decision Date: 10 December 1973
• Docket Number: No. 1,No. 57767,57767,1
• Citation: 504 S.W.2d 121
• Parties: STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION of Missouri, Respondent, v. James I. SPAINHOWER, State Treasurer of Missouri, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 121

504 S.W.2d 121

STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION of Missouri, Respondent, v. James I. SPAINHOWER, State Treasurer of Missouri, Appellant.

No. 57767.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

Dec. 10, 1973.

Motion for Rehearing or to Transfer to Court en Banc Denied

Jan. 14, 1974.

Robert L. Hyder, Chief Counsel, Jefferson City, for respondent.

John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., Richard L. Wieler, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for appellant.

HIGGINS, Commissioner.

Appeal by State Treasurer from adverse decision in action for declaratory judgment involving construction of the Constitution of Missouri.

The State Highway Commission of Missouri, under the 1945 Constitution of Missouri and subsequent laws, supervises and expends the state road fund, which was created by the Constitution and consists of all state revenue derived from highway users including all state license fees and taxes on motor vehicles, trailers, and motor vehicle fuels.

The State Treasurer of Missouri under the Constitution is the custodian of all state funds, including the constitutionally created state road fund.

At the September 21--22, 1967, meeting of the State Highway Commission, the Commission determined that the state road fund contained sums which were not required for expenditure within the ensuing twelve months and were available for investment. The Commission directed its chief counsel 'to write the State Treasurer to invest fifty million dollars from the State Road Fund on interest for a minimum period of six months, with the further provision that if the Treasurer can get an increased rate by investment for a twelve-month period, he be so instructed, with all interest therefrom to be paid into the State Road Fund.'

The Commission's directive to its chief counsel was executed by letter of September 28, 1967, to the then State Treasurer, M. E. Morris. The letter also told the treasurer: 'Should you disagree * * * with the Commission's request that the interest be paid into the State Road Fund, it is asked that you so advise * * * in order that a declaratory judgment may be sought and any subsequent necessary steps be taken to place the interest where * * * it properly belongs. Regardless of your position * * * it would seem * * * to be to the interest of the State that the investment be made in any event with the interest to be allocated at the end of the period should you be prevented from returning it to the State Road Fund.'

The Treasurer, by letter of October 4, 1967, advised the Commission that the Treasurer could not comply with the Commission's request to return interest from investment of the state road fund to the state road fund, but was making an investment in time deposit-open accounts in Missouri banks with interest received to be returned to the general revenue fund. The investment so made of the state road fund covered the period October 4, 1967, to October 4, 1968, and netted interest in excess of $31,000 which the Treasurer, per his expressed intention, credited to the general revenue fund.

Plaintiff's position in the trial court was that Section 30.240, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S. relied upon by the State Treasurer in refusing to credit the interest in question to the state road fund, does not relate to the state road fund; and, if construed to affect the state road fund, it was unconstitutional and void, being in conflict with Section 15, Article IV, Missouri Constitution, V.A.M.S., with respect to interest and income from particular funds. Plaintiff also asserted the statute to be unconstitutional, being in conflict with Sections 29, 30(a) and 30(b), Article IV, Missouri Constitution, V.A.M.S. with respect to limitation upon use of the state road fund.

Plaintiff, by separate count, asked for an accounting of the interest in question in the event of a favorable declaratory judgment.

The trial court found 'that all interest and income from the investment of the State Road Fund must be credited to such fund and not diverted to General Revenue,' and, in so holding, found it unnecessary to hold Section 30.240 unconstitutional.

The trial court ordered, adjudged and decreed 'that interest and income from the investment of the State Road Fund must be credited, when received, to such fund and may not be expended for any other purposes than those prescribed in Section 30(b) of Article IV of the Constitution and in Section 226.220.'

The court designated this a final and appealable judgment, 'but in the absence of an appeal or after determination of such appeal, the parties proceed to the accounting requested in Count II * * * to determine the amounts which should be properly credited to the State Road Fund and which have heretofore been deposited by the defendants in other funds.'

Appellant contends: (I) Article IV, Section 15, Missouri Constitution, does not require that proceeds from investment of the state road fund be credited to that fund; and (II) Article IV, Section 30(b), does not require the Treasurer to credit the interest from investment of the state road fund to the state road fund.

Respondent's contention (I) is the converse of appellant's Point I; and by (II), contends that Article VI, Section 30(b), requires that interest from investment of the state road fund be expended on the state highway system.

The issue is whether interest from investment of the state road fund must be credited by the State Treasurer to the state road fund to be used for highway purposes as contended by the Highway Commission and as found by the trial court, or whether such interest is to be credited to the general revenue fund as contended by the State Treasurer.

Pertinent parts of the applicable constitutional and statutory provisions follow:

Article IV, Section 15: '* * * All revenue collected and moneys received by the state from any source whatsoever shall go promptly into the state treasury, and all interest, income and returns therefrom shall belong to the state. Immediately on receipt thereof the state treasurer shall deposit all moneys in the state treasury to the credit of the state * * * and he shall hold them for the benefit of the respective funds to which they belong and disburse them as provided by law.'

Article IV, Section 30(b): 'For the purpose of constructing and maintaining an adequate system of connected state highways all state revenue derived from highway users as an incident to their use or right to use the highways of the state, including all state license fees and taxes upon motor vehicles, trailers and motor vehicle fuels, * * * shall be credited to a special fund and stand appropriated without legislative action for the following purposes, and no other. (All the enumerated purposes are road purposes.)'

Section 226.220, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S.: 'There is hereby created and set up the state road fund which shall receive all moneys and credits from (enumerated sources). * * * No payments or transfers shall ever be made from the state road fund except for an expenditure made (1) Under the supervision and direction of the state highway commission; and (2) For a purpose set out in subparagraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of section 30, article IV, of the constitution (now Section 30(b)).'

Section 30.240: 'The state treasurer shall hold all state moneys, all deposits thereof, time as well as demand, and all obligations of the United States government in which such moneys are placed for the benefit of the respective funds to which they belong and disburse the same as authorized by law. All yield, interest, income, increment, or gain received from the time deposit of state moneys or their investment in obligations of the United States government shall be credited by the state treasurer to the general revenue.'

Section 30.280: 'The state treasurer shall keep separate accounts of the funds of the state showing the name of the fund, the moneys belonging to it, deposits, * * * and all yield, interest, income, increment or gain received on the moneys.'

Section 33.080: 'All fees, funds and moneys from whatsoever source * * * shall * * * be placed in the state treasury to the credit of the particular purpose or fund for which collected, and shall be subject to appropriation * * * for the particular purpose or fund for which collected * * *.'

With respect to Article IV, Section 15, appellant asserts that it simply directs the Treasurer to deposit all moneys received to the credit of the funds to which they belong, and that interest and income shall belong to the state. Appellant argues that in the absence of a requirement in Section 15 that income or interest from the investment of state moneys in a special fund be credited to that fund, the General Assembly has the power to provide for the disposition of such increments, State ex rel. Jones v. Atterbury, 300 S.W.2d 806, 810(2) (Mo. banc 1957); that the legislature has made such a direction by Section 30.240, and, if there is doubt as to the meaning of Section 15, the construction placed on it by the legislature by Section 30.240 is persuasive, In re V_ _, 306 S.W.2d 461, 465(5) (Mo. banc 1957).

With respect to Article IV, Section 30(b), appellant, utilizing the same argument, asserts that it does not support a determination that income and interest from investment of the state road fund should be credited to that fund.

Respondent's argument is that the quoted provisions of Article IV, Section 15, contemplate that interest and income from special funds be credited to such funds; that when Section 15 is read with Article IV, Section 30(b), it shows the intention that the state road fund occupy a peculiar position in the state treasury for state highway purposes, and that neither it nor income derived from it can be diverted to general...