Barbour, et al. v. Delta Correctional Facility Auth., et al.
| Docket Number: | 2002-CA-01510-SCT | |
| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 04-22-2004 Opinion Author: Easley, J. Holding: Affirmed |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Partial veto - Appropriation bill - Miss. Const. art. 4 § 73 Judge(s) Concurring: Smith, C.J., Carlson, Graves and Dickinson, JJ. Non Participating Judge(s): Diaz, J. Dissenting Author : Cobb, P.J. Dissent Joined By : Waller, P.J. Procedural History: Bench Trial Nature of the Case: CIVIL - OTHER |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 09-03-2002 Appealed from: LEFLORE COUNTY CHANCERY COURT Judge: William Willard Disposition: Found the challenged law was constitutionally valid. |
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| Note: | Nature of Case: Whether Governor's veto was unconstitutional | |
| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | HALEY BARBOUR AND MISSISSIPPI
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS BY AND ON
BEHALF OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI |
JOHN L. MAXEY, II
CHRISTINA CARROLL |
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| Appellee: | DELTA CORRECTIONAL FACILITY AUTHORITY AND JIM HOOD, ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF MISSISSIPPI1 | HAROLD EDWARD PIZZETTA, III |
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Synopsis provided by:  If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
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| Topic: | Partial veto - Appropriation bill - Miss. Const. art. 4 § 73 |
| Summary of the Facts: | While in office, Governor Ronnie Musgrove approved Sections 1 and 2 of SB 3163 which addressed funding for prisons and vetoed Section 3. The Speaker of the House of Representatives requested an official opinion from the Attorney General on the partial veto. In the opinion of the Attorney General, the Governor’s veto of Section 3 was an improper execution of veto powers pursuant to Miss. Const. art. 4 § 73. Contending that the Governor and MDOC’s termination of its contract for private housing of prisoners was incorrect because the Governor’s partial veto was unconstitutional, Delta Correctional Facility Authority filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a verified complaint to enjoin the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the Governor from closing the Delta Correctional Facility. The Attorney General intervened to argue the question of constitutional validity of the partial veto. The chancellor found that SB 3163 was valid law in its entirety. The Governor and MDOC appeal. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Section 69 of the Mississippi Constitution provides that legislation cannot be engrafted on to an appropriation bill, but that the conditions to draw the money and the purpose for which the money will be paid may be prescribed in the appropriation bill. Section 72 provides for a legislative override of every bill and the legislative override process of a two-thirds vote of both Houses to overturn a governor’s veto. However, Section 73 specifically concerns appropriations bills as opposed to “every bill” and does not provide for a legislative override process. The true meaning of section 73 is that an appropriation bill made up of several parts (that is, distinct appropriations), different, separable, each complete without the other, which may be taken from the bill without affecting the others, which may be separated into different parts complete in themselves, may be approved, and become law in accordance with the legislative will, while others of like character may be disapproved, and put before the legislature again, dissociated from the other appropriations. To allow a single bill, entire, inseparable, relating to one thing, containing several provisions, all complementary of each other, and constituting one whole, to be picked to pieces, and some of the pieces approved, and others vetoed, is to divide the indivisible. Section 3 of SB 3163 was but a condition of Sections 1 and 2 which actually appropriated the funds by the Legislature. The Governor made clear that he exercised a partial veto on only a portion of Section 3 and not any veto on the appropriating Sections 1 or 2. The bill as written clearly makes Section 3 “[o]f the funds appropriated under the provisions of Sections 1 and 2, not more than the amounts set forth below...” contingent upon the preceding provisions of Sections 1 and 2 both of which state “[t]he following sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated ....” The language of the bill makes Sections 3 reliant upon Sections 1 and 2 and, in this case, thus, a condition of these sections. Therefore, the partial veto of SB 3163 exercised by the Governor was an unconstitutional veto of a condition of an appropriation bill as written and thus a nullity. |
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