Court Opinion

ID: 9772993
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:34:37.71622+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:49.624618
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, concurring. I agree with the result of the majority opinion for the reasons and citations contained in the first point of the opinion. I disgree with some statements under the first point and with the second point of the opinion. First, I disagree with the statement that the Arkansas Constitution is not a grant of enumerated powers because it obviously is such a grant. The preamble begins with the words, “We, the people of the State of Arkansas...” Section 1 of Article 2 reads as follows: All political power is inherent in the people and government is instituted for their protection, security and benefit; and they have the right to alter, reform or abolish the same in such manner as they may think proper. Section 2 of Article 2 states that the government derives its powers from the consent of the people. Article 4 establishes the three branches of government. Articles 5, 6 and 7 define the powers granted to each of the three departments. If the grant of powers were not limiting there would be no reason why the General Assembly could not enlarge or reduce the powers of the Executive or Judicial departments. Furthermore, there would be no need to define the duties of any branch of the government if the Constitution were not a grant of powers by the people. There are many reasons for considering the Constitution to be a grant of powers. For example, the General Assembly may not establish laws allowing interest rates above certain limits; the Governor must keep the General Assembly informed of the conditions and government of the state; and no Judge or Justice may preside in a cause in which he has a personal interest or is related to a party, by affinity or consanguinity, within such degree as is prescribed by law. Indeed the very question before us now is whether the General Assembly has been given authority to provide for the issuance of the bonds here in question. I also disagree with that portion of the majority opinion which states that we have held that bonds which are not general obligation bonds and are not prohibited by the Constitution do not have to be approved by the electorate. Such bonds also must not lend the credit of the state or municipal entity to secure the obligation. In Purvis v. City of Little Rock, 282 Ark. 102, 667 S.W.2d 936 (1984) [Purvis II] we held that the city of Little Rock had in fact lent its credit to La Quinta. The bonds were boldly entitled “limited obligation bonds of the city of Little Rock.” The bonds in the case before us do not purport to be obligations of the State of Arkansas. The majority opinion clearly expresses the reasons why these bonds are not obligations of the state and why they do not pledge the faith and credit of the state in any manner. There is absolutely no recourse against the state in the event the revenues do not meet the obligations imposed by the bonds. I do not agree with the majority where it quotes from a concurring opinion in Purvis II to the effect that this court has consistently held that it was unnecessary to hold an election on bond issues which authorized governments to incur long term debts to make authorized improvements for public purposes if the bonds were to be paid from revenue generated by the project. The statement leaves out essential ingredients. The public purposes for which revenue bonds are issued cannot be debts incurred by the municipalities and must be for a purely public purpose as defined by Article 16, Section 1, as amended. The reason the concurring opinion was written on this point was that a majority of the court did not agree that it accurately stated the law. What we stated in Purvis II was that “municipalities may issue pure revenue bonds for purely essential public purposes without holding an election.” [Emphasis added.] The last quoted statement is not the same as the part of the concurring opinion which states that the Constitution “authorize^] governments to incur long term debt, without elective approval, in order to make authorized improvements for pub lie purposes when the debt is to be paid out of revenues. ” [Emphasis added.] It seems clear to me that what we intended in Purvis II was to prohibit municipalities from issuing bonds pursuant to Amendment 49 without an election and further to make it clear that municipalities could authorize revenue bonds, which are not obligations of the municipalities, for those public purposes enumerated in Article 16 as amended. (Amendment 20 holds the state to the same restrictions as Article 16, as amended, does the municipalities.) Having decided that the State of Arkansas is not involved in this bond issue it becomes unnecessary to decide whether they were issued for a public purpose. If it were necessary to decide this issue I would hold that they were not issued for a public purpose as defined in Purvis II.