Opinion
No. 36777
Decided May 3, 1961.
Constitutional law — Date legislative acts effective — Approval by Governor — Emergency legislation — Teachers retirement — Survivor benefits — Required service credit — Section 3307.49, Revised Code.
IN MANDAMUS.
The relatrix has invoked the original jurisdiction of this court for the purpose of obtaining a writ of mandamus to require the respondents, the State Teachers Retirement Board and the members thereof, to pay survivor benefits to her from the date of her husband's death to the date of the filing of this petition and for an order directing the payment of monthly benefits during the rest of her life.
Relatrix's husband was a teacher in the public schools and a member of the State Teachers Retirement System from September 1957 until his death on July 30, 1959, a period of 23 months. Relatrix, the designated sole beneficiary to receive benefits from the retirement fund, made application to the respondent board for survivor benefits pursuant to the provisions of Section 3307.49, Revised Code. The application was denied by the board.
Section 3307.49, Revised Code, was amended in 1959 (128 Ohio Laws, 157, 201). The amending act was passed as an emergency measure on July 21, 1959, and was signed by the Governor on August 1, 1959. The amended statute, as it relates to the instant case, changes the required service credit of a member of the retirement system, which is necessary for a beneficiary to qualify for survivor benefits, from three years of service credit to one and one-half years. Decedent's service credit of 23 months was not sufficient for his widow to qualify before the amendment but was sufficient for her to qualify under the section as amended.
The question presented is whether the section as amended was in effect on July 30, 1959, the date of decedent's death.
Messrs. Gurney Miller, for relatrix.
Mr. Mark McElroy, attorney general, and Mr. Gerold J. Celebrezze, for respondents.
It is the contention of relatrix that the amending act was passed as an emergency measure and as such went into effect immediately upon its passage on July 21, 1959, and, therefore, was in effect on July 30, the date of her husband's death, and that her rights should be determined under the section as amended.
Section 1 c of Article II of the Constitution provides that no law passed by the General Assembly shall go into effect "until 90 days after it shall have been filed by the Governor in the office of the Secretary of State, except as herein provided"; Section 1 d of Article II provides that emergency laws "shall go into immediate effect"; and Section 16 of Article II provides that every bill passed by the General Assembly shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor for his approval and, if he approves, " he shall sign it and thereupon it shall become a law and be filed with the Secretary of State."
In construing the above-quoted provisions, this court, in State v. Lathrop, 93 Ohio St. 79, held that emergency laws, as defined in Section 1 d of Article II of the Constitution, "go into immediate effect when signed by the Governor." On authority of that decision, the act amending Section 3307.49, Revised Code, reducing the required service credit from three years to one and one-half years, did not become effective until August 1, 1959, after the death of relatrix's decedent.
The decedent not having had three years of service credit at the time of his death, the relatrix as sole beneficiary is not entitled to make an election to take survivor benefits. Hence, there is no duty specially enjoined upon respondents to grant survivor benefits to relatrix under Section 3307.49, Revised Code, as in effect on July 30, 1959.
A writ of mandamus is denied.
Writ denied.
WEYGANDT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, TAFT, MATTHIAS, BELL, RADCLIFF and O'NEILL, JJ., concur.
RADCLIFF, J., of the Fourth Appellate District, sitting by designation in the place and stead of HERBERT, J.