Source: http://courts.mrsc.org/supreme/080wn2d/080wn2d0633.htm
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 04:30:03+00:00

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OF WASHINGTON et al., Appellants.
 Statutes - Construction - Ambiguous Terms. The courts will resolve a doubt as to the scope or meaning of a term in a statute, but will not interpret an unambiguous statute.
 Statutes - Municipal Corporations - Intent In Statute - Meanings. The term "municipal corporation" when used in a statute can refer to either a municipal corporation proper, such as a county or city government, or a quasi-municipal corporation. In each instance the meaning is to be ascertained by examination of the statute.
 Statutes - Construction - Purpose - In General. A statute is to be construed with reference to its manifest object, and if susceptible of two constructions, one of which will carry out and the other defeat the manifest object, it should receive the former construction.
 Statutes - Construction - Remedial Statutes. Remedial legislation should be given a liberal construction to effect its purpose.
 Municipal Corporations - Labor Relations - Labor Relations Acts -Irrigation District Employees. An irrigation district is a municipal corporation within the meaning of RCW 41.56.020, which renders the public employee collective bargaining rights of RCW 41.56 applicable to municipal corporations.
 Statutes - Construction - Exceptions - Effect on Remainder of Statute. An exception specifically mentioned in a statute operates to define the generality of the remainder of the statute.
 Statutes - Validity - Presumptions - Meaningless Statutes. It is presumed that the legislature does not enact unnecessary or meaningless statutes or provisions.
 Statutes - Construction - Meaning of Words - In General. A word used in a statute that is capable of more that one meaning takes its meaning from the context in which it is used.
 Statutes - Construction - Language Used. When legislative intent is clear, a court is governed by it despite the fact that the court might have used or preferred a somewhat different choice of language than that employed by the legislature.
Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court for Yakima County, No. 51911, Lloyd L. Wiehl, J., entered April 3, 1970. Reversed.
legislation. One of the defendants appeals from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff.
Slade Gorton, Attorney General, and Virginia O. Binns, Assistant, for appellants.
Schweppe, Doolittle, Krug, Tausend, Beezer & Beierle, by Mary Ellen Krug and Donald L. Logerwell, for respondent.
This chapter shall apply to any county or municipal corporation, or any political subdivision of the state of Washington except as otherwise provided by RCW 47.64.030, 47.64.040, 54.04.170, 54.04.180,28.72.010 through 28.72.090, and chapter 53.18 RCW.
It defined, in RCW 41.56.030, the term "public employee" to mean any employee of a public employer, with certain enumerated exceptions not pertinent in this action.
superior court held that the act in question did not apply to irrigation districts and consequently did not authorize the department to certify the bargaining agent of the employees of the district.
A declaratory judgment was entered accordingly, and the department has appealed.
The position of the department upon this appeal is that an irrigation district is either a municipal corporation or a political subdivision, within the meaning of RCW 41.56.020. Conversely, the irrigation district maintains that it is neither.
 Since the question is one of statutory interpretation, we approach it with the applicable rules of statutory construction in mind. Of course the basic rule is that, where the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, there is no room for judicial interpretation. King County v. Seattle, 70 Wn.2d 988, 425 P.2d 887 (1967). Here there is a dispute as to the meaning of the term municipal corporation, as well as the term political subdivision. We find it unnecessary to explore the scope of the latter, since we are convinced that the term municipal corporation, as used in this statute, is broad enough to include irrigation districts and that it was the legislative intent to include them.
A municipal corporation, in its strict and proper sense, is a body politic established by laW partly as an agency of the state to assist in the civil government of the country but chiefly to regulate and administer the local and internal affairs of the city, town or district which is incorporated. Sometimes the term municipal corporation is used in a broader sense and includes public quasi corporations, the principal purpose of whose creation is an instrumentality of the state, but not for the regulation of local and special affairs of a compact community. Dillon on Municipal Corporations (5th ed.), vol. 1, §§ 31 and 32.
In a rather comprehensive treatise, 3A C. Antieau, Local Government Law (Independent Local Government Entities) (1970), the author analyzes the nature of such entities as the one with which we are concerned here and points out that the following, while in strict logic not true municipal corporations, have nevertheless been called such in certain contexts: School districts (§ 30C.01); fire protection districts (§ 30D.00); airport authorities (§ 30E.00); housing authorities (§ 30F.00); sewerage and sanitary districts (§ 30G.00); port districts (pointing out that RCW 53.04.060 provides that the district shall become a municipal corporation, and that the decisions of this state accordingly treat port districts as municipal corporations) (§ 301.00); utility districts (also defined by statute in this state as municipal corporations) (§ 30J.00); drainage and irrigation districts (§ 30K.00); library districts (the author stating, "This is solely a matter of ascertaining the intent of the local legislature.") (§ 30L.00); park and recreation districts (§300.00); building authorities (§ 30P.11); road and highway district (§ 30P.15).
According to this writer, even a hospital authority has been called a "governmental subdivision of the state." (§ 30H.00). Also, he ventures the opinion that a parking authority may conceivably be a municipal corporation under certain statutes and for certain purposes.
corporation which exercises no governmental functions" (In re Horse Heaven Irrigation Dist., 11 Wn.2d 218, 227, 118 P.2d 972 (1941)), it also has recognized in Columbia Irrigation Dist. v. Benton County, supra, and cases cited therein, that the term may be used in a constitution or statute in either a broad or a limited sense, and in each case the meaning of the term must be ascertained by an examination of the statute to determine the legislative intent.
It is plain, therefore, that the legislature does use the term municipal corporation in its broad sense and has in fact used it in reference to irrigation districts. The question then becomes, did it intend to use it in a broad sense in RCW 41.56.020?
manifest object, and if the language is susceptible of two constructions, one of which will carry out and the other defeat the manifest object, it should receive the former construction. 2 J. Sutherland, Statutory Construction § 4704 (3d ed. 1943). In ascertaining the legislative purpose consideration must be given to all of the provisions of an act, and a construction must be adopted which is reasonable and in furtherance of the manifest purpose of the legislation. State v. Lee, 62 Wn.2d 228, 382 P.2d 491 (1963).
Here the declared purpose of the act was to promote the continued improvement of the relationship between public employers and their employees by providing a uniform basis for implementing the right of public employees to join labor organizations of their own choosing and to be represented by such organizations in matters concerning their employment relations with public employers. RCW 41.56.010.
The employees covered are "all public employees" except those expressly exempted. It appears evident, however, that the legislature did not intend to include employees of the state itself, but rather employees at the local level, since state employees are not referred to in RCW 41.56.020 (except insofar as employees of the toll bridge authority may be regarded as state employees, that authority covered by RCW 47.64.030 and .040, being expressly exempted).
«1» The employer in that case was a quasi municipal corporation described as a municipal corporation by both the legislature and the court.
however, are the provisions defining unfair labor practices (RCW 41.56.140 and .150) and providing remedies therefor (RCW 41.56.160 through .190). Other provisions affecting the improvement of employer-employee relations are contained in the remaining sections.
 This legislation, being remedial in nature, is entitled to a liberal construction to effect its purpose. Peet v. Mills, 76 Wash. 437, 136 P. 685 (1913).
The respondent does not suggest that an irrigation district is a private organization or that its employees are not public employees. Rather, its position is that the legislature intended to cover only employees of local governing bodies, such as cities, towns and counties. We find no such restrictive intent expressed in the statute. The service Which irrigation district employees render is a vital one in the areas which they serve. It is in the public interest to avoid interruption of irrigation services, just as it is to avoid interruption of services rendered by a city's fire or police department. We are given no plausible reason why the legislature should have chosen to deny such employees the protection of the act or to regard them as private employees, having the right to strike.
Motor Co. v. Automotive Machinists Lodge 942, 48 Wn.2d 519, 295 P.2d 305 (1956)). We find expressed in the statute no indication that the legislature intended to exclude employees who might conceivably be subject to federal regulation, or to exclude agricultural employees of public employers.
 Our examination of the legislative purpose and of other acts in which the legislature has used the term municipal corporation to describe bodies such as the respondent irrigation district, and in fact to describe irrigation districts themselves (RCW 54.04.030 and see RCW 53.48.010), convinces us that the legislature was accustomed to using the term in its broad sense and that it intended to use it in that sense here. But if any doubt remains, we think the context in which the term appears makes it clear that the legislature was not thinking of municipal corporations in any restricted sense. Having declared that the act shall apply to "any municipal corporation," it proceeded to list four exceptions. These exceptions are the Washington toll bridge authority (RCW 47.64.030 and .040), public utility districts (RCW 54.04.180), school districts (RCW 28A.72.010-.090) and port districts (RCW 53.18).
The reason for each of these exceptions is easily discerned, since the cited statutes contain other provisions for employer-employee relations procedures and remedies. Not only does this fact confirm the manifest purpose to extend the benefits of the act to public employees at the local level generally, but the very nature of the exceptions makes it indisputable that the legislature was aware of having used the term municipal corporation in its broad sense. This is true because not one of them is a municipal corporation in the strict sense, and at least two are quasi municipal corporations of a nature very similar to that of the respondent. We refer of course to public utility districts and port districts, neither of which exercises governing functions any more than does the respondent and both of which perform services which are essentially proprietary.
[6,7] If the legislature had used the term municipal corporations in its strict sense, it would have had no reason to expressly exclude certain quasi municipal corporations. An exception, like a proviso, operates to restrict the generality of legislative language. 2 J. Sutherland, Statutory Construction § 4936 (3d ed. 1943). Logically, then, a term which is restricted by an exception must have been used with the understanding that it was broad enough to include the exception, else engrafting the exception would have been an unnecessary and meaningless act. It is of course presumed that the legislature does not deliberately engage in such acts, and it would be anomalous to suppose that the exceptions attached to RCW 41.56.020 were placed there inadvertently.
 Also supporting this conclusion is the principle that a word which is capable of more than one meaning takes its meaning in a given case from the context in which it is used. State ex rel. Kadow v. Board of Adjustment, 77 Wn.2d 587, 464 P.2d 418 (1970).
 It is true of course that, if the legislature had expressly stated that the act should apply to all municipal corporations, including quasi municipal corporations, we would not be confronted with the problem of interpretation presented in this case. Nevertheless, where the intent of the legislature is clear, the court is governed by it, despite the fact that, as draftsman, it might have used or preferred a somewhat different choice of language than that employed by the legislature. Guinness v. State, 40 Wn.2d 677, 246 P.2d 433 (1952).
Examining the statute as a whole, and having in mind its expressed purpose, we are convinced that the legislature intended RCW 41.56 to cover irrigation districts such as the respondent.
HAMILTON, C.J., FINLEY, HUNTER, HALE, NEILL, STAFFORD, WRIGHT, and UTTER, JJ., concur.
Petition for rehearing denied August 30, 1972.

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