Title: IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF THE OKLAHOMA DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AUTHORITY
Citation: 2013 OK 74
Docket Number: 
State: Oklahoma
Issuer: Oklahoma Supreme Court
Date: September 24, 2013

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF THE OKLAHOMA DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AUTHORITY Annotate this Case IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF THE OKLAHOMA DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AUTHORITY 2013 OK 74 Case Number: 111789 Decided: 09/24/2013 THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA NOTICE: THIS OPINION HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE PERMANENT LAW REPORTS. UNTIL RELEASED, IT IS SUBJECT TO REVISION OR WITHDRAWAL. IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF THE OKLAHOMA DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AUTHORITY FOR APPROVAL OF OKLAHOMA STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION MASTER REAL PROPERTY LEASE REVENUE REFUNDING BONDS, SERIES 2013A AND 2013F; AND MASTER REAL PROPERTY LEASE REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2013B,C,D,E,G, AND H; AND MASTER EQUIPMENT LEASE REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2013A, AND MASTER EQUIPMENT LEASE REVENUE REFUNDING BONDS, TAXABLE SERIES 2013B. MEMORANDUM OPINION ¶1 Pursuant to 20 O.S. 2011 §14.1, original jurisdiction is assumed to address the protestants' challenge to several projects concerning the "Master Lease Program" of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education authorized by 70 O.S. 2011 §§3206.6-3206.6b. ¶2 This Act enables the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to provide lease financing for colleges and universities which are part of the Oklahoma State System for Higher Education. The Oklahoma Development Finance Authority (ODFA) seeks the approval of the bonds which would be used to build various projects. However, the primary focus of protestants' concerns seems to be on the construction of the Medical Examiner's Building on a college campus in Oklahoma. I. OUR PRECEDENTS MANDATE THE APPROVAL OF THESE BONDS. ¶3 We recognized In the Matter of the Application of the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, 2005 OK 90, 130 P.3d 232 , that bonds payable by the Regents are a special anomaly.1 We held that bonds issued by the Regents do not violate the balanced budget provisions because the Legislature has no authority to direct the entity's spending decisions.2 Because these bonds are payable only by the Regents, they cannot become debts of the state as a matter of law. The Regents have the sole constitutional authority to disburse funds appropriated to them in a lump sum by the Legislature.3 The Legislature cannot be forced to appropriate funds to repay the bonds because it has no authority to dictate such a specific expenditure to the Regents. ¶4 The same rationale is applicable to this cause. If these types of bonds are not debts of the state as a matter of law because the Legislature cannot be forced to appropriate funds to repay them, it follows that the same is true when the payment is coming from the colleges and universities whose allocations fall under the umbrella of the Regents. ¶5 Furthermore, much like the Trust Fund in Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, supra, entities such as the Medical Examiner and the Board of Medicolegal Investigations have a statutory revolving fund that may receive money from various sources, including grants, gifts and fees.4 So do colleges and universities. Funds from such monies may be used to pay building "rent." Consequently, we hold that In the Matter of the Application of the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, 2005 OK 90, 130 P.3d 232 , is dispositive of this cause and that the protestants' request for oral argument should be denied. II. THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS OF SEPARATION OF POWERS AND LOGROLLING ARE NOT VIOLATED. A. ¶6 The protestants also raise additional challenges beyond those which were presented in In the Matter of the Application of the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, 2005 OK 90, 130 P.3d 232 . They assert that the Master Lease Program violates the three branches of government's separation of powers5 because: 1) the Medical Examiner's office is a state agency that receives appropriated monies, and it is the constitutionally mandated role of the legislature to allocate operational monies to the Medical Examiner's Office; and 2) the Legislature, in 2013, declined to approve SB 653, which would have authorized a bond issue for the new offices, it is a separation of powers violation for the new structure to be funded by any other mechanism. ¶7 This is not a separation of powers issue. The Legislature enacted 63 O.S. Supp. 2010 §935.1, directing the State Medical Examiner to evaluate a move to the University of Central Oklahoma campus and to consider funding the building by a lease purchase agreement. Moreover, the Legislature has full veto power over the enterprise. ¶8 Title 70 O.S. Supp. 2010 §3206.6a requires the legislature to approve any bonds that the State Regents for Higher Education want to use to finance the acquisition of or improvements to real property under the master lease program. The Regents must submit to the President Pro Tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, as well as the Governor, an itemized list of proposed projects and the method of financing each project. The legislature has forty-five (45) days to pass a concurrent resolution disapproving all or part of the proposed issuance. If the legislature remains silent for forty-five days, then the bonds are deemed to have been approved. B. ¶9 The protestants' assert that the statute authorizing the Master Lease Program was unconstitutional at its inception because initially it was an appropriation bill containing more than one subject. The Legislature cured any logrolling error in the statute's original enactment when, on June 5, 2002 the Governor signed the single subject SB1358, amending the statute without logrolling it with any other subject. Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. v. State ex rel. Vassar, 1940 OK 137, ¶14, 101 P.2d 793 . APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF THE OKLAHOMA STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION MASTER REAL PROPERTY LEASE REVENUE REFUNDING BONDS, SERIES 2013A AND 2013F; AND MASTER REAL PROPERTY LEASE REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2013B,C,D,E,G, AND H; AND MASTER EQUIPMENT LEASE REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2013A, AND MASTER EQUIPMENT LEASE REVENUE REFUNDING BONDS, TAXABLE SERIES 2013B APPROVED. DONE BY ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT IN CONFERENCE THIS 24th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2013. 6 COLBERT, C.J., REIF, V.C.J., WATT, EDMONDSON, TAYLOR, GURICH, JJ., concur. COMBS, J. concurring in part, dissenting in part. WINCHESTER, J., disqualified. KAUGER, J. recused. FOOT