Opinion ID: 1120174
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: public money

Text: [5] Const. art. 7, § 1 (amendment 14) provides in part: ... All taxes ... shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. The same limitation is imposed by this provision upon the expenditure of public money. State ex rel. Collier v. Yelle, 9 Wn.2d 317, 326, 115 P.2d 373 (1941). The Attorney General has advised that state expenditures for an individual's candidacy would not be for a public purpose. Attorney General Opinion, February 16, 1979, at 4; Attorney General Opinion, July 7, 1976, at 5-6. But these opinions evaluate the use of college facilities on behalf of candidates rather than ballot measure endorsements. The commission relies upon a New York decision holding the funding of campaign flyers and radio and television advertisements by a state agency is violative of constitutional prohibitions on giving or loaning money for private undertakings and prohibiting gifts of public funds (N.Y. Const. art. 7, § 8, Const. art. 8, § 1). Stern v. Kramarsky, 84 Misc.2d 447, 375 N.Y.S.2d 235 (1975). A campaign was not waged in the instant case. The public hearing was not an expenditure in support of the initiative so the constitution has not been violated.