Wayne County v. Steele
| Decision Date | 19 June 1931 |
| Docket Number | 27704 |
| Citation | 237 N.W. 288,121 Neb. 438 |
| Parties | WAYNE COUNTY, APPELLEE, v. J. J. STEELE, APPELLANT |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the district court for Wayne county: DE WITT C. CHASE JUDGE. Affirmed as to first cause of action, and reversed and dismissed as to second cause of action.
AFFIRMED AS TO FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION, AND REVERSED AND DISMISSED AS TO SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION.
Syllabus by the Court.
A test of the validity of amendments is whether their provisions are " germane" to the provisions of statute sought to be amended.
An amendatory provision is germane to a law sought to be amended when it is " alike," " closely allied," " pertaining to," or " related to" the same.
Section 2, chapter 158, Laws 1925, as part of an act entitled, " An Act to amend Sections * * * 8337 * * * Compiled Statutes of Nebraska for 1922 * * * providing that the County Treasurer as agent for the Department of Public Works in each county shall retain as fees for his office five cents (5¢ ) for each original motor vehicle registration," etc., examined and approved as being properly within the title quoted, and germane to the provisions amended thereby.
" A liability which is created by statute to follow as a consequence of the doing or omission of some act, and the extent of which is not measured or limited by the damages caused by the doing or omission of the act, is in the nature of a penalty, and the statute penal in its character." Kleckner v. Turk, 45 Neb. 176, 63 N.W. 469.
" The title to a legislative act is a part thereof, and must clearly express the subject of legislation." State v. Burlington & M. R. R. Co., 60 Neb. 741, 84 N.W. 254.
Any provision in a legislative bill which is not clearly expressed in the title thereof cannot be enacted into law.
Additional Syllabus by Editorial Staff.
Provisions of Nepotism Act, prohibiting appointment of persons within certain relationship to lucrative public office or position, held not clearly expressed in title, rendering act invalid (Laws 1919, c. 227; Const. art. 3, § 14).
Laws 1919, c. 227, makes it unlawful for any person elected or appointed to any public office or position under laws of state to appoint to lucrative public office " any person related by blood or marriage to the person elected, appointed, or making such appointment," with certain exceptions, and provides penalty for violation of act.
Appeal from District Court, Wayne County; Chase, Judge.
Action by the County of Wayne against J. J. Steele. From the judgment rendered, defendant appeals and plaintiff cross-appeals.
Affirmed as to the first cause of action and reversed and dismissed as to the second cause of action.
William C. Dorsey, Montgomery, Hall, Young & Johnsen and Harry E. Siman, for appellant.
C. H. Hendrickson and H. D. Addison, contra.
Heard before GOSS, C. J., ROSE, DEAN, GOOD, EBERLY, DAY and PAINE, JJ.
In this case Wayne county seeks to recover from the defendant Steele, county treasurer of Wayne county, in an action at law upon two causes of action, viz.: On the first the sum of $ 660 for automobile license and registration fees earned and received between July 1, 1925, and July 1, 1928, inclusive, but retained by defendant and not accounted for by him; and upon the second cause of action the sum of $ 3,920 unlawfully paid by defendant as county treasurer, out of public funds in his possession, to Grace Steele, his sister, employed by him in the office of the county treasurer of Wayne county as a clerk and helper during the years 1925 to 1928, inclusive, all alleged to be in violation of sections 84-811 and 84-812, Comp. St. 1929. In the district court there was judgment on the pleadings for the plaintiff in the sum of $ 767.63 upon the first cause of action; and for the sum of $ 850.35 on the second cause of action. Defendant appeals. Plaintiff prosecutes a cross-appeal as to denial in part by the district court of its second cause of action.
As to the first cause of action, the controlling statutory provisions are sections 39-1405 and 60-325, Comp. St. 1929. The literal terms contained in these provisions plainly require the affirmance of the judgment of the district court upon the first cause of action. However, appellant insists that section 39-1405, which in its present form finds its source in chapter 158, Laws 1925, approved March 28, 1925, is invalid as having been passed in contravention of section 14, art. III of the Constitution.
Prior to the adoption of the amendment of 1925 by the legislature of that year, the matter under consideration was regulated by the following statutory provisions: Section 8379, Comp. St. 1922, which provided: "The following fee shall be paid upon the registration of each motor vehicle, in accordance with the provisions of this act," and thereafter sets forth the specific amount assessed against each class of vehicles. Section 8380, Comp. St. 1922, provided: "All registration fees provided for in this article shall be paid to the county treasurer of the county in which the applicant for registration resides, said fees shall be placed in a fund to be known as the highway fund and such treasurer shall dispose thereof as may be provided by law." Section 8337, Comp. St. 1922, provided: "The county treasurer shall transmit to the state treasurer three and one-half (3 1/2%) per cent. of all of the highway fund collected by him, said three and one-half (3 1/2%) per cent. shall be credited to the general fund and when appropriated shall be used by the department of public works to pay for the cost of administration of the motor vehicle law and the supervision of the maintenance of state highways: Provided, however, that when any of the clerical work that is being done by the department of public works in the administration of the motor vehicle law is transferred to the county treasurer's office of any county in the state, the department is hereby empowered to pay the county treasurer's office of such county an amount of money equal to the reduction of the expenses in said department by such transfer, provided, further, that any such money so paid shall be credited to the general fund of such county." Section 8389, Comp. St. 1922, provided: "The department of public works shall designate and appoint the treasurers of the various counties to be agents of the said department in such counties, for the purpose of registering motor vehicles, and for the granting of licenses to applicants, subject to the requirements of this article, and in accordance with such rules and regulations as shall be imposed by the department of public works."
It will thus be seen that the only sections providing for the disposition and remittance of the "highway fund" after the same has been collected, are sections 8337 and 8380, Comp. St. 1922. Section 8337 also provided, under conditions specified, for the payment to the county treasurer's office of certain compensation for work done and services rendered by that governmental agency in the administration of the motor vehicle law, which was to be credited to the general fund of the county.
Chapter 158, Laws 1925, the amendatory act attacked by the appellant as unconstitutional, carried as its title, not only the usual provisions, viz., "An act to amend sections * * * 8337 * * * Compiled Statutes of Nebraska for 1922, relating to state highways," but, also, there was added thereto, "providing that the county treasurer as agent for the department of public works in each county shall retain as fees for his office five cents (5 [cent]) for each original motor vehicle registration;" and there appears in the body of this act section 2, whereby section 8337 is amended to read as follows:
It must be conceded that "whatever might have been originally made a part of a law may at any time be ingrafted upon it by legislation professing to be amendatory." Richards v. State, 65 Neb. 808, 91 N.W. 878. The test of the propriety of the substance of amendments is whether they are germane to the provisions sought to be amended. "Germane" is defined by Webster's New International Dictionary as "Near akin; closely allied appropriate; relevant." By Corpus Juris, as "Alike; closely allied; pertaining to; related to." 28 C. J. 614. The latter definition has been, in part at least, approved by this court. State v. Majors, 85 Neb. 375, 379, 123 N.W. 429. The effect of the amendment to section 8337 here under consideration is, first, to make express what had been theretofore implied therein, viz., that "county treasurers shall act as agents for the department of public works in the collection of all automobile registration fees;" second, instead of a conditional payment to the office of county treasurers as compensation for services rendered, to be credited to the general fund, there was substituted a payment certain to the county treasurer as compensation for work thus performed, which should "be accounted for as other fees passing through their hands;" third, the percentage to be remitted to the state treasurer of the collections thus made was slightly reduced. Every change thus effected...
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Neb. Const. art. III § III-14 Bills and Resolutions Read By Title; Printing; Vote For Final Passage; Bills to Contain One Subject; Amended Section to Be Set Forth; Signing of Bills
...Neb. 835, 248 N.W. 374 (1933). Nepotism law was void because provisions for penalty were not embraced in title. Wayne County v. Steele, 121 Neb. 438, 237 N.W. 288 Act providing for control and eradication of disease among domestic animals was not invalid as containing more than one subject ......