08/14/92 Joseph Sonneman V. Governor Hickel

This case challenges the act which created the Alaska Marine Highway System Fund, ch. 193, § 1, SLA 1990, AS 19.65.050-100, on the grounds that the fund is dedicated to a special purpose in violation of article IX, section 7 of the Alaska Constitution. The trial court ruled that the act was constitutional because it merely "'allows' the legislature to appropriate funds from the fund to the Alaska Marine Highways but does not require it." We conclude that most of the act is constitutional, that the limitation on departmental power to request that the fund be appropriated for capital improvements violates article IX, section 7, and that this section is severable from the rest of the act.