Opinion ID: 1174938
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Authority for the expenditure

Text: The inquiry in cases brought under ORS 294.100 has been first to examine by what authority public officials expended public funds and then to consider whether the expenditures were within the amounts and for the purposes authorized. In only one case, Porter v. Tiffany, supra , was government speech involved and the Court of Appeals did not address the issues which lay beyond the threshhold requirement of authority for the expenditure. We first examine the authority under which the local boards of health operate. The county governing body is required to establish a county board of health when authorized to do so by a majority of county electors. ORS 431.412. The board, in turn, appoints a public health administrator. ORS 431.418. The composition of the board, the qualifications and terms of its members and administrator, and their powers are regulated by ORS 431.414 through 431.440. The authority of the local public health officials derives from statute. [9] Defendants assert that the expenditure of public monies was authorized by ORS 431.416, which, at the time relevant to this case, directed district and county departments of health to [c]onduct activities necessary for the preservation of health or prevention of disease in the area under [their] jurisdiction. ORS 431.416(2). It is pursuant to this statute that the county claims to have maintained its ongoing public health education program about fluoridation for the past 10 years. The expenditure in this case was for the purpose of promoting fluoridation of the water supply. Health officials did more than attempt to motivate individuals to take measures conducive to preserving their personal health. The populace was not exhorted to floss, brush after meals, avoid sweets, or make any number of other changes in individual behavior that public health officials believed would contribute toward a healthier life. Instead, officials attempted to direct government behavior by soliciting citizens to vote to preserve a particular government policy, fluoridation. Fluoridation is undertaken by governments, not individuals. There may be a question about whether authority to motivate individual behavior in matters of health, arguably encompassed within ORS 431.416, extends to persuading the public to support a chosen government policy. If the issue were only whether the authorizing statute, ORS 431.416, includes involvement in an election issue, without regard to the effect of ORS 260.432 on the propriety of this expenditure, we might still have difficulty deciding that involvement in the fluoridation project during an election period fell within authorized boundaries. However, ORS 260.432 leaves no doubt about the statutory policy. The legislature has made it clear that whatever authority county health officials have to promote health practices does not extend to requiring public employes to oppose a measure during an election.