Weekly journal-miner., 1915-12-29
HUNTS VETO OF REVENUE BILL
 SUSTAINED
STATES HIGH COURT DE- CIDES HE WAS WITHIN HIS RIGHTS BY EXERCIS- ING PREROGATIVE.


 most important decisions which it has made for some time past when it found for the appellee in the action of State Auditor J. C. Callaghan vs. Jesse Boyce, the famous "appropria' ton case" which mas been hanging fire in the courts since last July and on the outcome of which depended the payment of a large number of claims of various State departments.
 The action grew out of the refusal of State Auditor Callaghan to issue warrants for the expenses of several of the State officers, Mir Callaghan contending that he had no authority 10 issue the warrants on account of the failure of the legislature to make a specific appropriation for the bills at the special session of that body held here last Spring.
 The decision of the States highest tribunal was made public at o'clock yesterday the opinion having been written by Judge Cunningham, Judges Ross and Franklin concurring. By this decision. all of the bills which have been held up for the past sew eral months will become payable in a few days, and a number of the de- partments which have been hampered in their activities by the lack of funds will be able to resume their accus- toned stride
 It will be remembered that last February, when the regular session of the legislature convened, that body, for some reason or other, failed to make any appropriation for some of the State departments, and later on Governor Hunt called special ses- sion for the purpose of having the f. nancial matters attended to. The ap- propriation, which was made at the special session was considered by Governor Hunt to be too small and he accordingly vetoed the measure, and it was not passed again over his veto, consequently the State officials who were affected by the measure, de- cided that their expenses should be paid out of the States general fund, and began to draw warrants against tfe fund. Auditor Callaghan, fearing that he would not be protected if he made the payments, refused to honor the warrants, stating that there was TO fund which was available ill taking care of the bills.
 A number of the State house em- ployes assigned their claims to Jesse Boyce, secretary of the State tax commission, and acting for the entire number, Boyce started action in the Maricopa Superior court, asking that a mandamus be issued directed to the auditor as defendant, requiring him to show cause, if any he had, why ne lad failed to audit, allow and draw warrants upon the proper funds for the payment Of the various bills which lad been presented to him. The lower court gave a decision in favor of Boyce, and upheld the right of Governor Hunt to veto the appropri- ation measure, if in the latter's mind, it had been insufficient to meet the needs of the departments for which it was intended The governor s yetocs mad been directed principally against certain clauses of the bill which might be called lieu clauses because of the fact that they were ln- tended to act in place of- passages ot former laws which had covered prac- tically the same thing, and were de signed to prevent double appropria- tions. In the finding of the Superior court, MT. Callaghan was upheld in his contentious that the chief eXccu- five mad been in error when he direct cd his vetoes against these lieu claus cs. the court holding that when he (Hunt) had vetoed the lieu clauses he had destroyed the whole bill. In this respect, the finding favored Cal lagnan. but in the main, the lower courts verdict was decidedly against him. Desiring to further contest the matter, Callaghan carried the case tc the Supreme court, but yesterday decision was modified in only a small snd technical way from the finding oi the Superior tribunal.
 While the funds of nearly all oi the State departments had been some what intcrfcrcd with by Cdllaghan attitude in the matter of the payment of the warrants, there were four de partments of the State organization which had been rather hard hit by the auditors refusal 10 pay their claims viz, the adjutant generals office (mli itary department, the tax connnis sion, the board of control and certain branches of the State corporation