Opinion ID: 1629807
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Wisconsin Statutes (1961).

Text: Sec. 14.22. APPOINTMENTS SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION. Whenever the governor is authorized to make any appointment to office by and with the advice and consent of the senate, and the legislature is not in session at the time such office should be filled, he may make appointment thereto, subject to the approval of the senate at the next succeeding session of the legislature, and all such appointments shall be as valid and effectual from the time when so made until twenty days after such meeting of the legislature as if he possessed the absolute power of appointment. Sec. 17.03. VACANCIES, HOW CAUSED. Any public office, . . . shall become or be deemed vacant upon the happening of any of the following events: (1) The death of the incumbent. (2) His resignation. (3) His removal. (4) His ceasing to be an inhabitant of this state; . . . (5) His conviction by a state or United States court of and sentence for treason, felony or other crime of whatsoever nature punishable by imprisonment in any jail or prison for one year or more, or his conviction by any such court of and sentence for any offense involving a violation of his official oath, . . . (6) The decision of a competent tribunal declaring void his election or appointment or adjudging him insane. (7) The neglect or refusal of any person elected or appointed or re-elected or reappointed to any office to take and file his official oath or to execute or renew his official bond . . . (8) The neglect or refusal of any officer in office to execute and file an additional bond, when lawfully required, in the manner and within the time so required or prescribed by law. (9) The death or declination in writing of any person elected or appointed to fill a vacancy or for a full term before he qualifies, or his death or such declination before the time when, by law, he should enter upon the duties of his office to which he was elected or appointed. (10) On the happening of any other event which is declared by any special provision of law to create a vacancy. (11) Upon the failure of the first annual school meeting of a school district to elect school board members for the district. (12) The establishment of such offices upon the creation by the legislature of a new county and a new town, unless otherwise ordered by the legislature. Sec. 17.20. VACANCIES IN APPOINTIVE STATE OFFICES; How FILLED; TERMS. (1) General. Vacancies in appointive state offices shall be filled by appointment by the appointing power and in the manner prescribed by law for making regular full term appointments thereto, and appointees to fill vacancies therein shall hold office for the residue of the unexpired term or, if no definite term of office is fixed by law, until their successors are appointed and qualify. (2) Interim vacancies; terms. Vacancies occurring during the recess of the legislature in the office of any officer appointed by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate shall be filled by appointment by the governor for the residue of the unexpired term, subject to confirmation by the senate at the next regular session thereof if the term for which the person was so appointed has not expired. Any such appointment subject to confirmation by the senate shall be in full force until acted upon by the senate, and when confirmed by the senate shall continue for the residue of the unexpired term. The attorney general's position is that the power of the governor to appoint during a recess of the legislature depends upon a proper construction of secs. 14.22 and 17.20, Stats., and that under these sections, construed jointly, the governor can only appoint to fill vacancies. The respondent appointees contend that secs. 14.22 and 17.20 are separate in their application and that in the instant action the governor's power to appoint is governed by sec. 14.22, which is not restricted to vacancies. Sec. 17.03, Stats., provides in part that any public office shall become or be deemed vacant upon the death, resignation, or removal of an incumbent officeholder. The attorney general concedes that all of the interim appointments to fill vacancies as defined in sec. 17.03 were proper recess appointments under sec. 17.20. That section provides that vacancies occurring during the recess of the legislature shall be filed by appointment by the governor for the remainder of the unexpired term, subject to confirmation by the senate at the next regular session of the legislature, and that such appointment shall be in full force until acted upon by the senate. Sec. 14.22, Stats., provides that when the legislature is not in session at the time such office should be filled the governor may appoint a successor, subject to senate approval at the next succeeding session of the legislature,and that all such appointments are valid until twenty days after such meeting of the legislature. In support of their contention that the governor's appointments are valid under sec. 14.22, Stats., the appointees argue that the period of adjournmentAugust 6 to November 4, 1963was a time when the legislature was not in session within the meaning of that statute. The attorney general also concedes that there is no practical difference between the terms not in session (as found in sec. 14.22), and during the recess (as found in sec. 17.20 (2)). However, respondents Rahr, Charles Smith, Keliher, and Knutson, contend that the legislature was in session during the period of adjournment from August 6 to November 4, 1963, and that sec. 14.22 does not apply. Sec. 11, art. IV of the Wisconsin constitution, provides in part that the legislature shall meet at the seat of the government once in two years, and no oftener unless called into special session by the governor. This section, while not controlling in the instant action, is of great aid in interpreting the statutes in question, in that it clearly specifies that there is but one biennial session of the legislature. [3] If there is only one biennial legislative session, then the legislature, having convened on January 9, 1963, could not, if it had terminated its session, again convene, except in special session at the call of the governor, until January, 1965. When both houses adjourned on August 6, 1963, it was expressly provided that the adjournment was only until November 4, 1963, and such an adjournment did not operate to dissolve the 76th session of the Wisconsin legislature. Sec. 17.20 (2), Stats., uses the word recess as opposed to the phrase not in session as found in sec. 14.22. Webster's New International Dictionary (3d ed., unabridged), defines recess as a suspension of business or procedure (as of a legislative body, court, school) for a comparatively short time. We determine that the temporary adjournment of the legislature from August 6, 1963, to November 4, 1963, constituted a recess. See State ex rel. Sullivan v. Dammann (1936), 221 Wis. 551, 555, 267 N. W. 433. Since sec. 14.22 refers to appointments made when the legislature is not in session ( i.e., where there has been termination or dissolution of a session) and sec. 17.20 applies where the legislature is in recess ( i.e., a temporary adjournment during the biennial session), it necessarily follows that sec. 14.22 has no application to the appointments in question and the case resolves itself to a determination of the application of secs. 17.20 and 17.03. The ordinary form of termination of a session is by sine die adjournment, although we do not here decide that there could be no other form of adjournment which would terminate the session. We hold that one single session may be interrupted by recesses, and validly continue after a recess as long as such recesses can reasonably be said to be taken for a proper legislative purpose. The recess in the instant action fulfilled this requirement. It is clear from the language of sec. 17.20 (2), Stats., that this section applies only where there are vacancies in the appointive offices. The attorney general contends that there can be no vacancy when there is an incumbent lawfully holding over after expiration of his term, while the appointees argue that a vacancy does exist under such circumstances. Under sec. 10, art. XIII of the Wisconsin constitution, the power to declare when an office shall be deemed to be vacant is vested in the legislature. Sec. 17.03 provides that an office shall be deemed to be vacant upon (among other things) the death, resignation, or removal of the incumbent, but nowhere is it declared that an office is vacant when an incumbent holds over after expiration of the term for which he was initially appointed. Since the legislature has the power to declare the circumstances under which an office shall be deemed vacant, and has so declared in sec. 17.03, Stats., and since there is no provision in that statute, or any other, providing that a vacancy exists when a lawful appointee holds over, it cannot be said that an office is vacant for the purposes of sec. 17.20, where the incumbent holds over after expiration of his term. We now apply the principles stated above to the individual appointments made by Governor John W. Reynolds during the three-month recess of the legislature from August 6, 1963, to November 4, 1963.