The number of people suing the state increased by two yesterday, because of the way Gov. Mike Easley tried to balance the state’s budget the last fiscal year.
And while the plaintiffs’ lawyers are familiar faces in lawsuits against the state, these litigants are new.
Former State Sen. Bill Goldston and former Secretary of Transportation Jim Harrington filed a complaint in Wake County Superior Court yesterday, because Easley in February transferred $80 million from the state’s Highway Trust Fund to balance the general budget. The lawsuit argues that transferring any money from the dedicated fund violates the state constitution.
“My single goal in this lawsuit,” said Harrington, “is to make sure the taxes that have been diverted are returned to the Highway Trust Fund and used for the original intended purposes, as our constitution says it must.”
Both men repeatedly referred to Article 5 Sec. 5 of the constitution, which says, “Every act of the General Assembly levying a tax shall state the special object to which it is to be applied, and it shall be applied to no other purpose.”
Goldston and Harrington were key leaders who helped establish the Highway Trust Fund in the late 1980s. Goldston, a Rockingham County Democrat, chaired the Senate Transportation Committee and the State Highway Study Commission, which created the plan for expanding and improving intrastate highways, urban loops, city streets and secondary roads. Harrington, who served under former Republican Gov. Jim Martin, initiated and later consulted for the Highway Study Commission. The commission’s work resulted in the 1989 Highway Trust Act.
The two plaintiffs are represented by the Raleigh law firm of Boyce & Isley. The attorneys are also representing several counties and cities in another lawsuit against the state, because Easley used tax reimbursement money intended for municipalities to help close the state’s budget gap.
The state constitution requires the governor to keep the budget in balance, and in Feb Easley transferred revenues from several sources to do so. However attorney Gene Boyce argues that the constitution only authorizes the governor to “effect the necessary economies in state expenditures,” and may not use money from dedicated funds.
In addition to last year’s transfer, the state budget for this year takes $205 million from the Highway Trust, $125 million of which is intended to be repaid to the fund.
“The Legislature does not have the authority to appropriate those funds,” Harrington said at a press conference. “That’s why we went to the trouble to [set it up] the way we did.”
Chesser is associate editor of Carolina Journal.