222 N.W. 285 | Minn. | 1928
The controlling question presented is whether the commission of administration and finance is given power to disapprove, and thereby render of no effect, contracts for the construction of trunk highways executed by the commissioner of highways. No constitutional *585 question is involved as the authority of both is conferred by and rests upon statute.
In enacting statutes the legislature is presumed to know and have in mind all existing laws relating to the same subject matter or affected by the new enactment. If different statutes relating to the same subject matter may fairly be construed so as to give full effect to all, it is the duty of the court so to construe them. In so far as they are inconsistent, the latest expression of the legislative will controls. Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous and leads to no absurdity, there is no room for construction and it must be given effect according to its terms. 6 Dunnell, Minn. Dig. (2 ed.) §§ 8927, 8938, 8939, 8940.
The office of commissioner of highways was created and the powers and duties of the commissioner were declared and defined by L. 1921, p. 406, c. 323, known as the public highways act. This act, as amended in a few minor particulars not here material, is G. S. 1923, §§ 2542-2620. It gave the commissioner of highways power to locate, construct, improve and maintain the trunk highways of the state and to let all necessary contracts therefor. It provided for receiving bids for construction work but gave him power to reject all bids if unsatisfactory, and either to readvertise or have the work performed by labor employed by himself. That it gave him ample power to make the contract in controversy is conceded. The question is whether the power so conferred has been limited by subsequent legislation.
L. 1925, p. 756, c. 426, was enacted for the purpose of reorganizing the state government and consists of 20 articles. Art. I creates and establishes 14 departments and agencies of the state government, including a department of administration and finance and a department of highways, and then declares that:
"All of said departments and all officials and agencies of the state government shall be subject to the provisions and limitations of this act." *586
Art. XI reads:
"The Department of Highways as now created under the title of the commissioner of highways is hereby continued in charge of the commissioner of highways, who shall have and exercise the rights and powers and perform the duties now prescribed by law, subject to the limitations of this act."
Art. III, § 1, places the department of administration and finance under the supervision and control of the commission of administration and finance consisting of three members to be known respectively as the comptroller, the commissioner of the budget, and the commissioner of purchases. That body is designated in the act as the "commission" and will be intended by that term when used hereafter. Section 3 of the same article gives the commission power
"to supervise and control the accounts and expenditures of the several officials, departments, and agencies of the state government and of the institutions under their control; the making of all contracts and the creation or incurrence of all financial or contractual obligations; * * *."
Section 4 of the same article gives the commission power to purchase all
"tools, machinery, and materials to be used by the state in the construction and maintenance of state highways."
Section 5 of the same article provides that no appropriation to "any official, department, or agency of the state government * * * shall become available for expenditure" until an estimate in advance shall have been submitted to and approved by the commission.
Art. XX, § 2, states:
"All other acts or parts of acts now in effect inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby superseded, modified, or amended to conform to and give full force and effect to the provisions of this act."
Chapter 426 continues the highway commissioner in charge of the highway department but expressly makes him subject to that act. *587
It also supersedes, modifies and amends all other acts or parts of acts inconsistent therewith to the extent necessary to make them conform to that act and give full force and effect to its provisions. It continues the highway act in force, but only as so modified and amended. It is the plain purpose of the act to give the commission power to supervise and control the making of all contracts and the incurrence of all financial or contractual obligations by any of the several departments or agencies of the state. State ex rel. University of Minnesota v. Chase,
The relators urge that the highway act is a special act which completely covers the matter of the powers and duties of the commissioner of highways, and cite various decisions of this and other courts to the effect that a later general statute does not repeal or affect the special provisions of an earlier special statute unless it manifests an intention to do so. The instant case does not come within the rule invoked, for here the later statute expressly modifies and amends the earlier to conform thereto. State ex rel. Seng v. Peter,
G. S. 1923, § 2554, the section of the highway act defining the powers of the commissioner of highways, was amended by L. 1925, p. 430, c. 341, approved one day prior to the approval of c. 426. The amendment made no change in the substance of the section so far as it relates to the powers of the commissioner of highways. The relators argue that by re-enacting § 2554 the legislature intended to give the commissioner of highways the powers specified therein free from the limitations of c. 426. In support of this claim *588
they cite cases such as McMaster v. Gould,
The relators also cite State ex rel. Junk v. Herrick,
In 1921 the state of Michigan created a state administrative board and gave it supervisory control over all administrative departments. None of the Michigan decisions to which our attention has been called involved the question here presented; but the Michigan court recognizes that the "supervisory control" given to the administrative board gives that board the right to control the expenditures of the several departments except as otherwise provided by the constitution. Groesbeck v. Auditor General,
Although having no direct bearing on the present case, the decisions of the Pennsylvania court sustaining the constitutionality of the administrative code of that state and applying its provisions are of value. Commonwealth ex rel. Atty. Gen. v. Snyder,
Whether the bid of the relators or that of Wunderlich was the lowest has been argued at length by both parties. The proposals contained a large number of items and named a specific price for each. Which bid was the lowest depends upon the interpretation placed on the bid of Wunderlich for "excavation overhaul." The bid of the relators on this item was .01 1/4 per cubic yard, which all parties read as 1 1/4 cents per cubic yard. The bid of Wunderlich was 0.1 per cubic yard, which the highway department read as 10 cents per cubic yard. This brought the Wunderlich bid far above that of the relators. But the commission took the position that the decimal point had obviously been misplaced and that the bid intended was 1 cent per cubic yard, and Wunderlich claimed that such was the fact. Giving it that meaning his bid was more than $5,000 below that of the relators. We have no occasion to determine the controversy over this bid, for the commission in disapproving the letting of the contract to the relators was exercising the power given it by the statute, and we cannot say that it exceeded the power vested in it by the statute. When an executive or administrative body determines a matter involving the exercise of its discretionary power, the courts do not interfere. 4 Dunnell, Minn. Dig. (2 ed.) § 5753, and cases cited; 38 C.J. 745, and cases cited.
Judgment reversed.
HILTON, J. took no part. *590
