Opinion ID: 681319
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Effect on State Treasury

Text: 31 Noatak's second argument to avoid the Eleventh Amendment bar is that an award of the $611 would not affect the state treasury. 32 The Eleventh Amendment does not prevent suits for monetary relief against state officials in their individual capacities, even when the damages are retroactive compensation for past harms. Suits against state officials that seek payment of money from the state treasury, however, are barred by the Eleventh Amendment, Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165-68, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3104-06, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985); Shaw v. State of Cal. Dep't of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 788 F.2d 600, 604 (9th Cir.1986), because the state effectively is the real party in interest. Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury, 323 U.S. 459, 464, 65 S.Ct. 347, 350, 89 L.Ed. 389 (1945); Almond Hill Sch. v. United States Dep't of Agriculture, 768 F.2d 1030, 1033 (9th Cir.1985). 33 Noatak concedes that the money technically may now be in the state treasury, but argues that its recovery of the $611 will not affect the treasury because the funds have already been appropriated, and all that remains is a determination of their proper allocation. According to Noatak, if the money is not awarded to Noatak, it will be distributed among the other potential recipients of the revenue-sharing program. Noatak therefore argues that the state treasury will not be affected by any determination of rights to the money in this proceeding. 34 Under Alaska law, appropriations of funds which are unobligated at the end of the fiscal year are voided, and the money automatically reverts to the treasury. Alaska Const. Art. IX, Sec. 13; Alaska Stat. Sec. 37.25.010 (1993). If there is an indebtedness arising from a prior year for which the appropriation has lapsed, it is paid from the current year's appropriations if ... the original obligation date is not more than two years from the requested date of disbursement. Alaska Stat. Sec. 37.25.010(b). 35 According to these provisions, the money at issue in this case will revert to the state treasury if it does not go to Noatak. If any other potential recipients of the funds are entitled to an unpaid sum, the debt will be paid from the state treasury out of a new appropriation because the appropriation for the year the debt arose has expired and the money has reverted to the treasury. Because two years have passed since the sum of money would have been due the other recipients, any unmade claim to the money would be void. Thus, if the $611 is not awarded to Noatak, it will revert to the state treasury. Accordingly, Noatak's claim that its action will not affect the state treasury is unfounded. 36 Noatak offers no authority which specifically states that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar a suit where a state has appropriated treasury funds and is holding them pending the resolution of a dispute about the proper disbursement of those funds. Noatak cites and analogizes impoundment cases, where individuals sought to compel the government to spend money appropriated for a particular purpose. All these cases simply involved the question of whether a state official may be sued in state court, or a federal official in federal court, for release of impounded funds. They do not authorize a suit against a state official in federal court. Therefore, they are inapposite here as far as the Eleventh Amendment is concerned. 37 As final authority for its argument that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar its claim for the appropriated funds, Noatak cites Florida Dep't of State v. Treasure Salvors, Inc., 458 U.S. 670, 102 S.Ct. 3304, 73 L.Ed.2d 1057 (1982). In that case, a plurality of the Supreme Court held that the Eleventh Amendment did not bar a suit by a salvage company for the execution of a warrant which would transfer possession of specific artifacts, held by state officials, to the salvage company. Id. at 699, 102 S.Ct. at 3322. The case, however, does not help us in resolving Noatak's claim. In Treasure Salvors, the warrant sought possession of specific property, did not seek attachment of state funds, and imposed no burden on the state treasury. In fact, the state officials in that case had no title over, or colorable claim to possession of, the property in question. Noatak's claim for the $611 involves a recovery of state money and would affect the state treasury. Therefore, Noatak's claim for the payment of the funds in this case is barred by the Eleventh Amendment.