Trust fund Victory

Court to Governor: No more raidingTuesday's landmark ruling by the NC Court of Appeals is just now being understood by many. To be sure the court said that former Governor Mike Easley was wrong in transferring money from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund in order to balance the budget. But this ruling goes far beyond that verdict. The NC Constitution states pretty clearly in Article 3 that the governor's authority is to ensure that the state doesn't run a deficit in any fiscal year and is to monitor revenues so as to "effect the necessary economies in state expenditures..." Judge Robert N. Hunter was pretty clear in saying that there are any number of things the governor can do in administering the budget but essentially he or she must either increase the revenues or decrease spending. Governor Perdue has indicated that the state will appeal. AG Cooper hasn't publicly said anything yet. To be sure the state doesn't like losing lawsuits, especially another one to lawyer Gene Boyce and son, Dan. But some are questioning how wise such an appeal might be. The court ruled on one essential element of the lawsuit but it basically avoided another. The plaintiffs wanted the court to rule on Article 5, Section 5 that 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." The Supreme Court might rule on this argument. For more discussion about this significant ruling be sure to catch this week's NC SPIN.