Case Title: IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLIC. OF THE OKLA. CAPITOL IMPROVEMENT AUTHORITY FOR APPROVAL OF $5.5 MILLION

Citation: 2003 OK 85, 80 P.3d 131

Docket Number: 97935

State: oklahoma

Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Date: 2003-10-14T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLIC. OF THE OKLA. CAPITOL IMPROVEMENT AUTHORITY FOR APPROVAL OF $5.5 MILLION2003 OK 8580 P.3d 131Case Number: 97935Decided: 10/14/2003THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF THE OKLAHOMA CAPITOL IMPROVEMENT AUTHORITY FOR APPROVAL OF $5.5 MILLION OKLAHOMA CAPITOL IMPROVEMENT AUTHORITY STATE FACILITIES REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2002B. ORIGINAL PROCEEDING TO DETERMINE VALIDITY OF PROPOSED STATE FACILITIES REVENUE BONDS ¶0 The Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority resolved to issue state facilities revenue bonds in the amount of $5.5 million, pursuant to amendments to APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF $5.5 MILLION OKLAHOMA CAPITOL IMPROVEMENT AUTHORITY STATE FACILITIES REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2002B DENIED. W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma. Lynn C. Rogers, Assistant Attorney General, Gary M. Bush, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Douglas F. Price, Stillwater, Oklahoma, for applicant. Richard James, Stroud, Oklahoma for protestant John Cassidy, Jr. Protestant Jerry R. Fent, pro se, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Protestant Edwin Kessler, pro se, Norman, Oklahoma. BOUDREAU, Justice ¶1 In ¶2 Pursuant to the authority granted it in the 2000 amendments to § 301, the OCIA resolved to issue state facilities revenue bonds in the amount of $5.5 million to pay a portion of the cost of the Oklahoma State Capitol Dome project. The resolution is premised on the OCIA's finding that in the 2000 amendments to § 301, the Legislature "determined to provide a portion of the funding of the completion of the Oklahoma State Capitol Dome (the 'Project') for the Oklahoma Capitol Complex and Centennial Commission and the Department of Central Services (the 'Agencies') and to that end, has directed the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority to issue revenue bonds for such purposes". ¶3 Pursuant to ¶4 In a separate application filed in this Court on the same day this application was filed, the OCIA sought approval of a proposed bond issue in the amount of the entire second half of the obligations authorized in the 2000 amendments to § 301. Our opinion in that proceeding, Application of the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, No. 97,936, found that the 2000 amendments to § 301 do not specify the purposes for which the proposed bond proceeds may be used and concluded that the 2000 amendments to § 301 do not satisfy the purpose-of-borrowing requirement in Okla. Const., art. 10, § 16. We withheld approval of the $175 Million state facilities revenue bond proposal. Application of the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, ¶5 As we recognized in Application of the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, supra. at ¶22, the 2000 amendments to § 301 do not describe a single project to be funded by the borrowing of money. The statute merely identifies agencies and lists amounts of borrowed money to be allocated to the agencies. Here, § 301(A)(16)(d) identifies the Centennial Commission and allocates $5,470,101.00 of borrowed money to the Commission. The statute does not, however, designate the Capitol Dome project or any other project as the purpose for authorizing the borrowing of nearly $5.5 million. Because the statute does not specify a project for which the borrowed money is to be expended, our opinion in Application of the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, supra. controls the dispositive issue. Accordingly, the proposed bonds are not properly authorized as required by Okla. Const., art. 10, § 16. APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF $5.5 MILLION OKLAHOMA CAPITOL IMPROVEMENT AUTHORITY STATE FACILITIES REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2002B DENIED. WATT, C.J., OPALA, V.C.J., and HODGES, LAVENDER, HARGRAVE, BOUDREAU and WINCHESTER, JJ., concur. SUMMERS, J., dissents. KAUGER, J., not participating. FOOTNOTES 1 2000 Okla.Sess.Laws, ch. 376, § 1. 2 The Oklahoma Centennial Act, 73 O.S. 2001, §§ 98, et seq., enacted in 1996 Okla.Sess.Laws, ch. 358, created the Centennial Commission. 73 O.S.2001, § 98.2(A)(1). The Centennial Commission consists of 22 voting members, any 8 of which constitutes a quorum, and 16 ex officio members. 73 O.S.2001, § 98.2(A)(5). The voting members consist of the following: five persons appointed by the Governor, five appointed by the Senate Pro Tempore, five appointed by the Speaker of the House, six mayors and the executive director of the Oklahoma Humanities Council. 73 O.S.2001, § 98.2(A)(1) and (2). The ex officio members are the Governor, all living former Governors, the Senate Pro Tempore and two senators, the Speaker of the House and two House members, the chair of the State Capitol Preservation Commission, the executive director of the Oklahoma Arts Council, the executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, the Capitol Architect and Curator, the director of the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission, and the executive director of the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Commission. The Centennial Commission will be in existence until July 1, 2008. 73 O.S.2001, § 98.2(A)(1). It is charged with the development and implementation of a statewide master plan for commemorating the centennial of Oklahoma's admission to statehood in 1907 and beautification of the Capitol Complex in time for the state's centennial in the year 2007. 73 O.S.2001, §§ 98.1 and 98.3. The Act specifies several "projects and activities" which the Centennial Commission may include in the master plan. Although the Act provides that the Centennial Commission may include "Interior and exterior renovations of the State Capitol" in the master plan, 73 O.S.2001, § 98.3(B), it does not provide that the Centennial Commission shall be responsible for the Capitol Dome project. 3 2000 Okla.Sess.Laws, 1st Extraordinary Sess., ch. 7, § 1.