Gardner v. Grills

Appellee brought this suit as a duly elected and legally acting member of the State Senate, and as a taxpayer and citizen of the State of Indiana, to enjoin defendant, Auditor of the State of Indiana, from ""allowing, auditing or countersigning every demand and claim presented for payment which arises out of any action taken by the State Budget Committee."" The complaint alleges that two duly elected and acting members of the State Senate and two duly elected and acting members of the House of Representatives of the State of Indiana, together with the State Budget Director, are purporting to act as the State Budget Committee; that on January 20, 1960, such committee authorized the expenditures of State funds and approved increases in the salaries of State employees under the terms of a statute[Footnote 1] which permitted the State Budget Committee and the Governor to establish classifications and schedules for fixing salaries and wages of all classes of State employees; that the State Budget Committee has approved additions to appropriations made by the General Assembly for State agencies; and ""[t]hat any claim or demand presented for payment arising out of the action of the purported State Budget Committee on January 20, 1960, is an illegal claim for the reason that a majority of the members of the State Budget Committee are members of the legislature, and the State Budget Committee is a department of the executive branch of the government and such membership is in violation of the provisions of Article III, Section I of the Constitution of Indiana because it attempts to confer executive administrative duties upon members of the legislature.""