Court Opinion

ID: 9704990
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:53:54.535232+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:07.186247
License: Public Domain

Mulroney, Hays and Oliver, JJ.
(specially concurring)— We concur fully in the majority opinion but would say also:
The people of Iowa voted a bonus for veterans of World War I, exclusively.
Chapter 256, Acts of the Fifty-fifth General Assembly takes from the bonus board $2,000,000 of this money, places it in the hands of the state board of control “for the construction and equipment of a nursing home at the Iowa Soldiers Home at Marshalltown, Iowa, which nursing home and the use thereof shall constitute an additional bonus for the amelioration of the condition of residents of this state, as defined in section four (4) of said chapter [Ch. 332, Acts 39th G.A.], who are suffering from disability.” Section 1.
The Act further provides: “Before any of said sum shall be expended it shall be determined by the state board of control, with the approval of the legislative budget and financial control committee, that the expenditure shall be for the best interests of the state.” Section 2.
At no place in the Act does it appear that the building at Marshalltown is to be erected for the exclusive use of the veterans of World War I. In fact it states the governing factor is “the best interests of the state.” The statement in the dissent that the statute “says the new structure is intended solely for the use of” World War I veterans is erroneous. (Italics supplied.)
*1102It is clear the effect of the Act would be to divert this fund from the object and purpose provided in chapter 332, Acts of the Thirty-ninth General Assembly, to one of general benefits to veterans of all wars, as provided by section 219.1, Code of Iowa, 1950.