Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-04-17
Validity of Appropriation Bill Hangs In Balance In Supreme Court.
BILL IS DISQUALIFIED
Question Is "Is General Assembly" The Pe0ple-Many Laws Will
 Re Affected by Decision.

llIHc III tie ulSlOIy ol liie Alhalisd' Judiciary, the entire Supreme court has been disqualified to sit in a case which indirectly involves the ques- tion of the validity of the general ap- propriation bill under which all de- partments of the State are being run
 It is only one of the many compli- cations that have arisen under the Initiative and Referendum amend ment to the Constitution, and the diff ficulty of law makers to get the emergency clause and the enacting clause clearly defined and expressed The emergency clause has already been passed upon, so has the double enacting clause, but now comes the question of the single enacting clause.
 There is possibility that the de- cison in the case of Keel vs. Terrell: from Jackson county, may make It impossible for any employe or off cial of the State not provided for by specific act, to draw one cent Of pay until the legislature meets next Jan uary and remedies the defect, unless special session is called. The State is already on scrip basis, being un- able to meet any of It's obligations and $25O,000 in arrears on rlnnlns expenses, and should the special Su- preme court decide that the genera appropriation lbill was hot Illegally passed it will only complicate mat ters ard make service for the State more like working for a bankrupt concern.
 It was generally decided by the last legislature, and this has been upheld by the Supreme court that with the direct legislation amendment in force each act shall contaiA the. double enacting clause: Be iS.aenA- acted by the people of Arkansas, and ana Be it enacted by the General As senlbly of the State of Arkansas. The case of Keel vs. Terrell assahs the validity of levee improvement district act for Jackson county on the ground that, only the General AS sembly clause WAS used. Now, the Supreme court has discovered that only the People clause is used ill the general appropriation act. The mem bers of the court are indirectly lh- terested because their salary depends upon the general act. Fortunately when Governor Donaghey approved the act June 1, 1911, he vetoed the item "for the salaries of specla judges and chancellors, otherwise snecial judges themselves would not have been qualified to sit in the case
 In the opinion per curiam, chiei Justice McCulloch says:
 ..The validity of the Qevee) act IS assailed on the ground chat the en- acting caluse does not conform to the Constitutional requirements, be it enacted by the people of the stase of Arkansas Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ar kansas The general appropriation hill enacted by the last legislature
 
 covering appropriations for the eX- Denses of the executive and Juolcla' departments, including the salaries O. iudges, bars the enactlng clause. .Be i. enactad by the people of the s,ate of Arkansas, and a majority of the judges have decided that 'he attitude of the case disqualifies then from sitting in judgment for the reason that the decision of the DO h' in this case necessarily results ill the decision of the question of the val aidity of he appropriation bill.
 .The Constitution says: No judge or just ce shall preside in the trial of any cause in the events of whlch he may be interested
 If the judges sit in Judgement ,in this ca.e, they will necessarily de- eide whether or not their saiarles for the curreE,t year can ae paid or ,uhether Nor nct raey must wait until tie General Assembly shall pass an cthcr approlviat on bill. The amoun of their galariaS is filed by the, con- et,sution and is not dependent Apon statute, but the paymen. of the same is dependent. upon the will or the Legislature in aDpropriating funds for thsS purpose, and unless there fs a valid apprcpr ation bill she sal aries cannot Ee paid
 seThe Judges of this court are no' p rties to tie suit nor are they etrictly. or technically speaking m tereg! !ed in the result of this par E c,;SIar ittiketson. but they are as,|
 ,,ef Intafa6fed in the result as II S2| x Sl ls directly deciding the 1er cs not their sal