Court Opinion

ID: 9627359
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:42:37.580865+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:45.056186
License: Public Domain

WATT, Justice,
with whom LAVENDER, OPALA and ALMA WILSON, JJ., join, dissenting:
¶ 1 The majority, through its original decision and by its vote today, sanctions the State’s use of long-term debt financing without a vote of the people. The actions of the Legislature — and of the majority of this Court in ratifying them — do not simply whittle away at the clear protecting mandates of Article 10, §§ 23 and 25 of the Oklahoma Constitution, their actions gut the State’s balanced budget amendments. Pursuant to the majority’s rationale, the State will never create a legally binding obligation against itself if it issues bonds that contain certain “magic” language disavowing the creation of any such debt, regardless of the economic realities of the situation. No decision of this Court should rest upon such a fallacy.
¶ 2 What is particularly disturbing about the ratification of the current bond issue is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our citizenry would be well advised to prepare for future large-scale deficit financing of capital projects by State officials. Approximately two-thirds of the on-going one billion dollar road improvement legislation will be financed via these so-called “moral obligation” bonds. There is evidence in the record that suggests similar bonds for prison construction is next. The majority’s decision will serve as no legal impediment for the issuance of “moral obligation” bonds for any capital improvement project. The taxpayers will eventually be called upon to foot the bill.