Source: http://fsmlaw.org/fsm/decisions/vol7/7fsm358_365.htm
Timestamp: 2017-04-27 03:42:05
Document Index: 352036855

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 4', '§ 10', '§ 8', '§ 10', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 2']

7 FSM Intrm. 358-365 THE SUPREME COURT OF THE
II A. Article V , § 8(a) Salary of Members of the Legislature This section of the constitution strictly proscribes the compensation that any member of the Legislature may receive. The section states that "No member [of the Legislature] may receive as salary and expense allowance a total amount greater than 3/4 of the equivalent to which the Governor is entitled by law." Chk. Const. art. V, § 8(a). Another requirement of Article V, § 8(a) is that the salaries of the members of the Legislature be set by statute. Chk. Const. art. V, § 8(a) ["Except as limited by this Constitution, members of the Legislature shall receive annual salaries as prescribed by statute."]. The court takes judicial notice that there is no specific statute independent of the budget acts that sets the annual salary of the members of the Legislature. Nonetheless, the First Chuuk Legislature that came into existence after the effective date of the Constitution set the annual salaries of the members of the Legislature. Chk. S.L. 190-10. This was the FY-91 Budget Act that took effect on October 1, 1990.4
II B. Article V , § 8(b) Expense Allowance of Members of the Legislature Since the annual salary of the members of the Legislature has been fixed by Chk. S.L. 190-10, the constitution is quite explicit on the amount they may receive for expenses. "The expense allowance for each member of the Legislature may not exceed 1/5 of the member's annual salary." Chk. Const. art. V, § 8(b) [emphasis added]. Thus, no member may receive an expense allowance that is more than twenty (20%) percent of his salary. Accordingly, the court must find based on the Constitution that those members whose salary is set at $21,600.00 may receive an expense allowance of up to a maximum of $4320.00.5 Thus, the combined total that a member of the Legislature may annually receive based on the salary set in Chk. S.L. 190-10 and the § 8(b) expense limitation is $25,920.00. The Speaker and the President, based on the salary set for them by Chk. S.L. 190-10, may each receive a maximum expense allowance of up to $4800.006 under the formula prescribed in § 8(b). This results in a combined annual total for each of these two members of $28,800.00. The total of combined salaries and expenses are subject to the ¾'s limitation of § 8(a). The court now turns to the determination of the § 8(a) equivalent.
II C. The Equivalent to Which the Governor is Entitled by Law The language of § 8(a) specifically provides that "No member may receive as salary and expense allowance a total amount greater the 3/4 of the equivalent to which the Governor is entitled by law." Chk. Const. art. V, § 8(a) [emphasis added]. The Legislators, in opposing motion for summary judgment, claim that this phrase creates an issue of material fact.
The Legislators contend that the Governor is entitled to his salary of $36,000.007 which is set by statute independent of the budget act. The Legislators assert that in addition to the statutory salary the Governor may be entitled to other sums. The other sums the Legislators speculate the Governor may be entitled to are portions of the monies appropriated for operation of the Governor's office. The thrust of this contention is that since the Legislature has appropriated funds for the operation of the Governor's office he is somehow entitled to at least a portion of those monies "by law." What portion the Governor is entitled to "by law," the Legislators admit, is not clear from the budget act. Therefore, [7 FSM Intrm. 363]
II D. Representation Allowance The court first notes again there is no statute independent of the budget act that has been brought to the attention of the court that authorizes a "representation allowance." Thus, there is no statutory limitation on how or for what these funds may be spent. As a result, the affidavits of the two members of the Legislature stating how they spent their "representation allowance" are of no consequence to the determination of the legality of this appropriation. The "representation allowance" funds in the absence of a specific statutory limitation may be spent for any purpose whatsoever.
The result is an appropriation made available to individual members of the Legislature that has no statutorily defined purpose, no statutory restriction as to the amount that may be made available, and no statutory control on how or for what the members may spend the money. The Legislators have produced no authority, constitutional or statutory, that allows this type of unrestricted funds be made [7 FSM Intrm. 364]
The Director of Finance is a party to this action and it will be the order of the court that he be [7 FSM Intrm. 365] enjoined from issuing salary checks on an annual basis to any member of the Legislature that exceeds $21,600.00, excepting the Speaker and the President to whom the Director shall not issue annual salary checks in excess of $24,000.00. The Director will be further enjoined from issuing any expense allowance to any member of the Legislature that exceeds $4,320.00 in a fiscal year, excepting the Speaker and the President to whom the Director shall not issue any expense allowance in excess of $3,000.00 for the same period.
2. The "representation allowance"[in past years termed `members allowance' or `members representation'] in FY-95 when this action was started amounted to $656,000.00. This equals a "representation allowance" of $17,000.00 for each of the 28 members of the House and $18,000.00 for each of the 10 members of the Senate. Chk. S.L. 2-94-13, § 2(3)(iii) [Others]. The "representation allowance" was in addition to a salary of $21,600.00 which each member of the legislature received [the Speaker and the President each received a salary of $24,000.00]. Additionally, each member of the House and Senate received a expense allowance of approximately $5100.00. Chk. S.L. 2-94-13, § 2(3)(i) [Contractual Services]. 3. In support of its opposition, the Legislature offered affidavits from two of the its thirty-eight members stating that they had not used the representation allowance for salary or office expenses. One affidavit stated that the member spent the money for "emergency food for my constituents, funerals and weddings, meetings, miscellaneous food items for gatherings and special needs." The other member stated that he spent the funds on "funerals; I have also purchased caskets twice; meetings; Christmas, New Years, and municipal constitution celebrations; Miscellaneous food items for gatherings and special needs, such as rice, soft drinks, sardines and pigs for roasting. Each year I give 100 sacks of rice to each of the 4 municipalities I represent." 4. Chk. S.L. 190-10 increased the salaries over what they had been pre-constitution as passed by the last Truk State Legislature in the FY-90 Budget Act. Article XV, § 4 , provides that the First Legislature under the constitution was the begin in May 1990. Article XV , § 10 of the Constitution states that "[n]o change in salary pursuant to this Constitution may take effect until after the general election held in March of 1990. The Budget Act [Chk. S.L. 190-10] for FY-91 was the first applicable legislation to occur after the First Legislature convened. 5. Past budget acts reveal that the member's expense allowance maximum of 20% of salary under § 8(b) has been exceeded by the legislature in every year from FY-91 through FY-95. 6. The maximum expense allowance was exceeded for these two officers of the legislature in every year from FY-91 through FY-95 except in FY-91 [the Speaker's allowance was $3000.] 7. While this issue is not before the court, the court notes that Article XV , § 10 set the annual salary of the Governor at $25,000.00. The First Legislature by separate statute increased this salary to its present level of $36,000.00. There was no § 8(c) referendum held to validate this increase. Even if a referendum had been successfully held the $11,000.00 increase is beyond that allowed by § 8(c). 8. In FY-91 the "representation allowance" amounted to $5375.00 for each member of the House [except the Speaker $3000.00] and $8500.00 for each member of the Senate. This appropriation continued to increase and in FY-95 the "representation allowance" had increased 300% to $17,000.00 for each member of the House and more than doubled to $18,000.00 for each member of the Senate. In the current year (FY-96), the "representation allowance" stands at $14,000.00 for each of the 38 members of the Legislature, a total appropriation of $532,000.00. 9. The court notes but does not decide that the appropriations for "representation allowance" funds that have no defined public purpose and are made directly available to individual members of the legislature appears to violate Article VIII, § 2 of the Constitution . ["No person may be made a direct recipient or beneficiary of public funds, unless pursuant to a public purpose . . . ."]. 10. This appears to be a violation of the Financial Management Act which requires documentary evidence of any obligation against the State. Truk S.L. 5-44.