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More local projects tossed by high court Friday, Jun 8, 2007 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Supreme Court on Thursday added four more local projects funded during the 2005 legislative session with state surplus money to the list of unconstitutional appropriations. The decision reverses a ruling by a Pulaski County Circuit Judge Willard Proctor, who had said $380,000 in funding for a museum, library and historic bridge in Jacksonville and the Cleburne County library was constitutional. In December, the high court declared a $400,000 appropriation from the 2005 legislative session for street and sewer improvements in Bigelow resulted from unconstitutional local or special legislation. The ruling, which also reversed a Proctor decision, prompted the Legislature this year to quit it's traditional method of allocating state money for local projects directly from the General Improvement Fund. Instead, lawmakers appropriated GIF funds to state agencies. The new method was designed to leave it up to the agencies to decide what projects across the state to fund, preventing legislative sponsors from directing money to projects in their own districts. Former state Rep. Mike Wilson of Jacksonville, who filed the original lawsuit challenging the way the 2005 Legislature appropriated surplus money, said Thursday that he was pleased with the court's latest decision. "I'm grateful and the taxpayers are grateful that the court has once again upheld the law," Wilson said, adding it was "clear that the members of the Legislature knew in 2005, and before, that special and local acts were unlawful and that they voted for them anyway." The former lawmaker said he filed the original lawsuit because he believed public funds were being misused for political gain. "It's not only wrong as a matter of public policy, but it's also illegal," Wilson said. Amendment 14 to the state constitution prohibits the Legislature for adopting local or special acts. Gov. Mike Beebe said Thursday's ruling "validates the concept of you can't do local projects steered and guided by and dictated by the Legislature." Sen. Bob Johnson, D-Bigelow, who led a Senate majority effort to increase lawmakers' share of state money for local projects in 2005 and whose hometown was targeted in the high court's initial ruling, said he welcomed Thursday's decision. Johnson also said he was not upset that the Bigelow appropriation was the example used to change the process. "I wish (the Supreme Court) had thrown (the latest projects) out with Bigelow all at once and given me cover," he joked. "The remedy had to start some where and if it had to start with Bigelow, that's fine," he said. "I support the way that it's being done now. Clearly, in my estimation, it is the best way to ensure that the dollars are being spent in a way that meets constitutional muster." Appropriations declared unconstitutional in Thursday's ruling were $50,000 for the Cleburne County Library; $10,000 for the Reed's Bridge Preservation Society in Jacksonville; $300,000 for upgrades at the Jacksonville Library; and $20,000 for the Jacksonville Museum of Military History. "While it could be said of both libraries, Reed's Bridge and the Jacksonville Museum that they are all worthwhile entities, that, again, is not the only criterion to be explored under Amendment 14," Justice Robert L. Brown wrote. "As previously stated, the relevant inquiry is whether their existed a rational and legitimate reason for applying the challenged acts to only one community in this state as opposed to others with comparable needs." Thursday's decision upheld Proctor's ruling that funding for two other local projects was unconstitutional, including $10,000 for the Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club and $20,000 for state assistance to the city of Jacksonville. |
