City of Alturas v. Elliott
City of Alturas v. Elliott
Opinion of the Court
Pursuant to an act of the legislature, Statutes of 1909, page 1096, as amended in 1935, Statutes of
Pursuant to this ordinance and for the purposes expressly stated in the ordinance the electors authorized the city to issue general obligation bonds to acquire certain bonds of specified districts which were organized, and the bonds issued under and pursuant to the Statutes of 1925, page 849, and amendments thereto, and also provided for the acquisition of certain outstanding bonds issued under the Improvement Act of 1915.
Respondent, as city clerk, refused to countersign the foregoing bonds, and this writ is sought to compel him so to do. To this petition respondent demurred, asserting insufficiency of the facts to justify the relief sought.
No question is raised as to the legal compliance with any of the statutes. Respondent also concedes that the Refunding Act of 1935 is constitutional in so far as it authorizes bonds to be issued for the purpose of purchasing or acquiring bonds issued under the Improvement Act of 1915, inasmuch as that issue was determined in City of Dunsmuir v. Porter, 7 Cal. (2d) 269 [60 Pac. (2d) 836].
However, respondent contends that the Refunding Act of 1935 is unconstitutional in so far as it purports to authorize the acquisition of bonds issued under the Acquisition and Improvement Act of 1925, claiming that it violates the provisions of section 31 of article IV of the state Constitution in that it authorizes a gift of public money, and also violates the state and federal Constitutions as to impairment of contracts and due process clauses.
Section 1 of the Refunding Act, supra, specifically provides that every municipal corporation may incur a bonded indebtedness to acquire any bonds issued under the Improvement Act of 1915 and the Acquisition and Improvement Act of
It would be of no value therefore to again review the authorities or cite reasons for the validity of the statute under attack, for a reference to City of Dunsmuir v. Porter, supra; City of San Diego v. Hammond, supra; County of Los Angeles v. Jones, 6 Cal. (2d) 695 [59 Pac. (2d) 489] ; City of Los Angeles v. Aldrich, 8 Cal. (2d) 541 [66 Pac. (2d) 647], is determinative of all of the issues here raised.
Therefore let the writ issue as prayed for.
Thompson, J., and Plummer, J., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.