Request By:
Honorable Butch Burnette
Representative
Legislative Research Commission
Capitol
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You request the opinion of this Office as to the use of state road fund revenues for the purpose of funding and operating emergency medical services.
Your specific question is whether or not the General Assembly can constitutionally provide for the funding of emergency medical services, i.e., that portion of emergency medical services serving victims of motor vehicle accidents, through the state road fund. House Bill 203, you say, provides for such funding.
We assume you are referring to the amendment of KRS 431.105, contained in Section 10 of House Bill 203. That section, with the proposed amendment underscored, reads:
"Section 10. KRS 431.105 is amended to read as follows:
Notwithstanding any other statutory provisions to the contrary, all fines and forfeitures recovered in any court as a result of a conviction for the violation of any of the provisions of KRS 189.221, subsection (1) of 189.222 or 189.270, which violation occurred on a state-maintained highway and arrest was made by any peace officer other than a member of the bureau of state police, bureau of highways or bureau of vehicle regulation, shall inure to the benefit of the state, shall be paid to the state treasurer for the use and benefit of the bureau of highways, and no part shall be returned to the local governmental units from which they were sent. These fines and forfeitures shall be paid into the state treasury by the court collecting same and within thirty (30) days after imposition and collection. The state shall receive ten dollars ($10) from each fine collected for each violation of KRS Chapter 189, which shall be placed in the state treasury and used solely for the purposes of Sections 2 through 4 and Sections 6 through 8 of this Act."
KRS 431.105, in its present form, provides that all fines and forfeitures recovered in any court as a result of certain convictions under KRS Chapter 189, which violations occur on a state-maintained highway and arrest was made by any peace officer other than a member of the state police, department of highways or department of vehicle regulation, inure to the benefit of the state and are to be paid to the state treasurer for the sole use and benefit of the bureau of highways. However, the amendment of KRS 431.105 provides that "The state shall receive ten dollars ($10) from each fine collected for each violation of KRS Chapter 189, which shall be placed in the state treasury and used solely for the purposes of Sections 2 through 4 and Sections 6 through 8 of this act."
This chart reflects the gist of the sections of the bill just referred to:
Section 2: Relates to a Kentucky emergency medical services advisory council.
Section 3: Requires CHR to maintain a program for the planning and development of emergency medical services throughout the state.
Section 4. Relates to Kentucky emergency medical services graduated foundation program. It provides for 50/50 state and local matching of funds for such medical services programs.
Sections 6 & 7: Relate to emergency medical technicians.
Section 8: Relates to Kentucky institute for trauma care.
Section 230 of the Kentucky Constitution reads:
"No money shall be drawn from the State Treasury, except in pursuance of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published annually. No money derived from excise or license taxation relating to gasoline and other motor fuels, and no moneys derived from fees, excise or license taxation relating to registration, operation, or use of vehicles on public highways shall be expended for other than the cost of administration, statutory refunds and adjustments, payment of highway obligations, costs for construction, reconstruction, rights of way, maintenance and repair of public highways and bridges, and expense of enforcing state traffic and motor vehicle laws."
A great portion of § 230 of the Constitution contains the prohibition that no money derived from excise or license taxation relating to gasoline and other motor fuels, and no moneys derived from fees, excise or license taxation relating to registration, operation, or use of vehicles on public highways, shall be expended for other than public highways and bridges purposes.
Since the revenue in question, in Section 10 of the bill, is actually coming from certain fines and forfeitures recovered in court from violations of certain parts of KRS Chapter 189, the expenditure of such state court fines revenue is not subject to that narrow prohibition contained in Section 230 of the Constitution (taxation revenues relating to gasoline and other motor fuels, etc.).
The Court of Appeals, in Ferguson v. Oates, Ky., 314 S.W.2d 518 (1958), dealt with the other concept expressed in Section 230 of the Constitution, i.e., that no money shall be drawn from the State Treasury, except in pursuance of appropriations made by law. The court wrote that Section 230 of the Kentucky Constitution and KRS 41.110 were designed to prevent the expenditure of the state's money without the formal consent of the General Assembly (by budget or statutes). As relates to gasoline taxes and license taxes involving vehicles used on public highways, even the General Assembly is restricted to using that revenue for only purposes involving directly the public highways and bridges.
If you have in mind further amending House Bill 203 to provide partial funding for the Emergency Medical Services program out of the state road fund (money generated from motor fuels and licensing taxation) , the question is whether or not such revenue would be expended for a public road purpose.
The court, in Keck v. Manning, 313 Ky. 433, 231 S.W.2d 604 (1950), in construing Section 230 of the Constitution, ruled that the highway tax revenues could be used for the publication and distribution of truck and highway maps of the state. The court wrote that the maps show the condition and suitability for travel of the highways throughout the Commonwealth. Chief Justice Sims, for the court, wrote that the Constitution is concerned with substance and not with form. The Constitution, he said, presents a common-sense application of its provisions. He said that such maps and booklets assist in safely directing and distributing traffic over our roads, and since the administration of the highway system is concerned with the safety of travelers, which requires it to consider traffic density or intensive use by the traveling public, the publication of the booklet was an item of administrative expense.
Under the somewhat liberal and common-sense view expressed in Keck v. Manning, above, it is our opinion that a provision in the bill providing for expenditure of fuel taxes revenue, etc., on the emergency medical services program would be constitutional, provided that it was expended solely on that portion of the program relating directly to the emergency medical services program serving victims of motor vehicle accidents which actually take place along the public roads of Kentucky. We are referring specifically to the program as it directly involves motorists traveling along the public roads of Kentucky and who may need emergency medical services program help. Such funds so used for serving victims of motor vehicle accidents along the public highways would directly relate to the administration of the highways system; and this conclusion is in conformity with the general view expressed in Keck v. Manning, supra.