Court Opinion

ID: 9583651
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:40:49.965358+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:29.556775
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I agree with the majority on Issue II that “AGC has failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the legislative determination of the unclaimed percentage is unconstitutional,” citing Smith, 216 N.W.2d 149. In other words, the legislative determination that 35% of the motor fuel tax fund attributable to nonhighway uses goes unre-funded is constitutional under the present challenge. Although the 35% determination remains subject to constitutional challenge in the future, for the present, it is constitutional.
With that background, the question under Issue III is whether HB 1009 unconstitutionally diverts highway funds or whether it simply diverts future unclaimed funds from the motor fuel tax fund attributable to nonhighway uses. As stated in the majority opinion:
Any legislative act is accorded a presumption in favor of constitutionality and that presumption is not overcome until the unconstitutionality of the act is clearly and unmistakenly shown and there is no reasonable doubt that it violates fundamental constitutional principles.
(Citations omitted.) If the diversion of funds created by HB 1009 comes from the legislatively determined percentage, it properly comes from funds attributable to nonhighway uses rather than improperly from funds attributable to highway uses, which are restricted. Since AGC has failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the diversion comes from the highway funds, rather than from the nonhighway funds, it has not shown the diversion to be unconstitutional. Therefore, I dissent on this issue.