Relator filed petition for writ of mandamus directing the Secretary of State to withhold from general election ballot a referendum seeking to repeal act which established a program to provide $10 million in education scholarships to eligible students to pay costs associated with attending qualified private elementary and secondary schools.
The Supreme Court held that:
- Constitutional exception to the referendum power is narrow and prevents a referendum petition from being invoked only against any act or part of an act by the Legislature making appropriations for the expense of the state government or a state institution existing at the time of the passage of such act, and
- Act did not make an “appropriation” within meaning of constitutional exception to referendum power.