f
v " " ASTORIA, - OREGON; MOyPA DECEEB 2l7 1903 I " - -
GOVERNOR'S
MESSAGE
Is
Terse and to the PointTreats Solely of Tax hat-
'ter; Recbmmeriding Legislation That Will
V Straighten Out Difficulties.
V- , . r - V" f I
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GOV. GEORGE E. CHAMBERLAIN.
Salem, Dec. 21. (Special) Governor Chamberlain's mes
sage was presented to the legislature upon the convening of the
extra session today. The message deals entirely with the tax
law muddle, recommending the passage, of amendatory legisla
tioh'which will make effective the law purposed by.the last leg
islature, or the re-enactment of the old law. The message, that
is made up largely of quotations from decisiops of the supreme
ourt, is as follows: '
Geniietiien 'of the Senate and Ilouse of Representatives :
The constitution of this state provides that the governor may
on extraordinary occasions convene the. legislative assembly by
proclamation, and that instrument makes it his duty to state
to both houses when assembled the purpose for which they shall
have been convened.
An act was passed at the last session of the legislature en
titled " An Actj.to provide a more efficient method for tlia as
sessment,'and collection of taxes, and to amend sections 3057,
3060, 3082, 3084, 3085, 3090, 3098, 3106, 3107, 3112, 3116, and
3120 of Bellinger and Cotton's Annotated Codes and Statutes
of Oregon." '.(See Acts 1903, page 295.) '
In order to test the validity of this law, and to ascertain the
., effect of certain changes made thereby in existing laws, a suit
was instituted in the circuit court of Multnomah county a few
months since to enjoin tha officers of said county from proceed
ing to levy tax on the assessment roll of 1903. ,)a
By express provision, the law referred to was to go into effect
and be in force from and after the first day of January, 1904.
The purpose thereof was to change the dates upon which the '
several official acta required to be pei formed by the assessors,
by the county courts, and by the governor, secretary of state,
and state treasurer were to be performed by them.
A decree waa rendered by the circuit court enjoining the
levying of tax by the county court of Multnomah county on the
roll of 1903, and on appeal to the supreme court the judgment
of the lower court was affirmed.
In discussing the question involved in the" suit the supreme
court in the case referred to say: "All the dates in the process
are completely shifted. -That is to say, instead of beginning the
assessment on the first Monday in March, and making it as of
that date, returning the roll on or before the first Monday in
September, giving notice of the meeting of the board of equal
ization on the last Monday in August to examine and correct
the roll,'" making the estimate and levying the tax at the Jan
uary term of the county court, and apportioning the revenues
by the said board to the several counties in January, the amend
ments contemplate that the assessment shall begin on the first
Monday in January and be made as of that date j that the re
turn shall be made on or before the first Monday in July, and
notice given of the meeting of the board of equalization to be
held on that day; that the estimate be made nd tax levied at ,
the September term of the eounty court, and that the appor
tionment of revenues to the several counties shall be made in
July, and instead of the tax becoming payable on the first Mon
day in April and October, and requiring the sheriff to proceed '
to collect after the first Monday in May, to extend the delin
niwnt !?st on tbe roll after the first Monday in October, and give
tax shall become payable on or before December 31st and the ,
first Monday in April following ; that the sheriff shall proceed
with collections after the first Monday in February, extending
the delinquent list after the first Mounday in April and give
notice for the delinquent sale to be held not later than October
1st. The true situation is perfectly manifest. The old statute
relative to the niatters alluded to is to be replaced by the amend
ments, thus abrogating completely the law as it now stands.
It is not the case of a" repeal, either directly or by implication,
except asthe amendments supersede and displace the old stat
ute. The new. is substituted for the old, leaving no vestige of
the old for operation. . The logical consequence is
that the county court or the board of county commissioners will
be left without power or authority to estimate the amount of
money to be raised for, county' purposes, or to apportion the
same with the state and school taxes according to the valuation
of the taxable property in the county, or to levy a tax thereon '
for the purpose of raising revenue at its January term. So with
the governor, secretary of state and state treasurer. They can ,
not act in apportioning the revenues for the state among the
counties until July. Whatever act shall be or shall have been
regularly done under the old law up to the time of taking effect
of the amendatory act must stand as perfectly' valid and effect
ual ; but no act can be performed thereafter under the sections
of the old law falling within the purview of the amendments,
simply because it will not then exist or be at all operative, .
having been wholly obliterated and displaced by such amend
ments. Such is the necessary and inevitable effect of the legis
lation, adopted no doubt in its present form through casual
oversight, and, although it may operate unfortunately in leav
ing the state and its subordinate political subdivisions without
adequate revenues for the current year, the courts ai-e powerless
to remedy the, evil. They can not legislate, but must construe
the law and determine its effect as they find it, and beyond that
they cannot assume to act." .
FLANDERS VS. MULTNOMAH COUNTY ET AL., DECIDED OCT. 31, 1903.
The result of the decision of the court is, that whilst there
may be a valid assessment of property for the year 1903, made
' prior to the taking effect of the amendments, no levy was made
or" could be made under the old law,' and there will exist no
power or authority under the new law or elsewhere to make any
levy prior to the next September term 6f the county courts or
boards of county commissioners, nor will any tax become due
or payable until on or before December 31st and the first Mon
day in April following, and no remedy will remain or exist to
be applied for its collection until after that date.
Under this decision, the work done by the assessors of the
several counties in making the assessment rolls for 1903 is
work thrown away unless some immediate legislation is had
empowering the county authorities to levy a tax thereon, and
the governor, secretary of state and state treasurer to make
an aportionment of the revenues to be raised for the state
among the several counties thereof. Consequently no revenues
could be raised on the assessment rolls of 1903 for state, county, .
school district, or city purposes without new and express legis
lative authority. As a result of this there would be insufficient
moneys in the state, county, school district, and city treasuries
to meet current expenses, and warrants drawn would of neces
sity be endorsed "Not paid for want of funds," and would each
and all bear interest until provision could be made by -subsequent
appropriate legislation to raise money sufficient to meet
the deficiency. It is impossible to determine at this time how
great the deficiency would be and how large an interest pay
ment would be required to be made later on by all of these mun
icipalities. Chaos in fiscal affairs of the state would be the re
sult, and to avoid this condition I have felt it incumbent upon
me, after personal investigation and after correspondence with
'members of the legislature and numerous representative bodies
and citizens of the state, to convene the legislature in extraordi
nary session, to the end that the act referred to may be amend
ed so as to give it force and immediate vitality, or repealed and
the law reinstated as it existed prior to the attempted amend
ment ' "
, That the tax laws of the state need revision there can be no
question. Repeated amendments from time to time have but
made confusion worse confounded, and it was for this reason
that in my last message to your body I earnestly recommended
the creation of a tax commission with ample powers to pre- -pare
and report to a, subsequent session of the legislature a "
law which would reduce the crazy-quilt legislation now on the '
statute books to a harmonious whole, and give it the order and
method of a code.
Take as one instance of inconsistency in the tax legislation
passed at the last session of the legislature: Seetion 3098 of
Bellinger and Cotton's code provides that "It shall be the duty
of each school district and of each incorporated town and city
to notify in writing the clerk of the county court with
. in which the school . district, town or city is respective
ly situate, of the rate per cent of the tax levy made
by it on or before the first day ' hi February in each "
year,' which notice shall be kept , on file by the several
clerks and remain a part of the records of the office. " On page
1 aaaIv Aran K '-: fir, -nam 295. acts 1803. tills same
January iuhkujhu..' f-o-, (r , -
tion of the statute is attempted to be amended so as to require
the clerk of the county court to be notified on or before the first
day of September in each year. ; This is one 01 me many m- j
ntinuu nf similar inconsistent acts and amendments. .; I
dmuivvd v. - I
,- The fiscal year of nearly every city in the state ends December
- .. . , , . : . v 4-Via A:: . i
,31,' and a full knowledge 01 xne requirement i wuea m
the necessary revenue to be derived from taxation ior an ensu
ing year can not be obtained until after' an accurate statement
of the finances of each city is made at the close 01 a current yearj
' and therfore a levy of taxes made prior to, January 1 would notf
be based upon any omciai accuracy, moreuvei, uci v u ot wet
.itv nfiarters have been drawn with the purpose of making a
levy after January 1. Consequently the amendment to sectiotf
' 3098 "of Bellinger and Cotton's code as touna in tne acts of 1903
. at cm 22 onffht to be repealed. . .. v s . -
In my opinion, sections .3057, 3060, 3082, 3084,,3085, 309C
3098, 3106, 3107, 3112, 3116 and 3120 of Bellinger ana Cotton'
annotated codes should be reinstated Dy appropriate iegisiatic
atfer the reDeal of the act found on pace 295 of the acts of 1903?
and after the repeal of that other act purporting to amend gel
tion 3098 of Bellinger and Cotton's codes found at page 21 ,
the acts of 1903i and I recommend this legislation tor your coa
sideration. GEO. E. CHAMBERLAIN, i
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