Opinion ID: 2514000
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rational Unity

Text: We employ the rational unity analysis, having determined that I-713's title is general rather than restrictive. The first step is to determine whether there is a `rational unity' between the general subject and the incidental subdivisions. Kueckelhan, 69 Wash.2d at 403, 418 P.2d 443. The rational unity analysis focuses solely on the measure itself, not statements in the voters pamphlet. Amalgamated, 142 Wash.2d at 212, 11 P.3d 762. Here, the incidental subjects with which the initiative deals are body-gripping traps and two pesticides. It is logical to conclude that both body-gripping traps and pesticides each bear a rational relationship to the general subject of I-713the regulation of methods for trapping and killing animals. The second step in the rational unity analysis is to determine if the incidental subjects bear some rational relation to one another. See City of Burien, 144 Wash.2d at 826, 31 P.3d 659; Amalgamated, 142 Wash.2d at 216, 11 P.3d 762. Citizens claim that the test for determining whether the dual subjects of an initiative satisfy art. II, § 19's `rational unity' requirement as articulated by the Court in Amalgamated Transit and City of Burien is: `Does rational unity exist between the two subjects such that they might be considered necessary to implement the other?' Appellants' Reply Br. at 16 (citing Amalgamated, 142 Wash.2d at 217, 11 P.3d 762; City of Burien, 144 Wash.2d at 827, 31 P.3d 659). Citizens argue that there is no rational unity between banning body-gripping traps and the use of the pesticides because it is completely unnecessary to ban traps in order to implement the ban on the use of these chemical compounds as pesticides. Br. of Appellant at 32 (emphasis omitted). They claim that the initiative manifests the evils of logrolling, presumably by forcing voters to vote, in combination, on whether to ban certain traps as well as the pesticides. Br. of Appellant at 32. In Amalgamated, this court identified that I 695 had two purposes: to specifically set license tab fees at $30 and to provide a continuing method of approving all future tax increases. Amalgamated, 142 Wash.2d at 217, 11 P.3d 762. In City of Burien, the incidental subjects were nullification of tax increases and one time refund and a change in the method of assessing property taxes. City of Burien, 144 Wash.2d at 827, 31 P.3d 659; see also Wash. Toll Bridge Auth. v. State, 49 Wash.2d 520, 524, 304 P.2d 676 (1956) (title violated single subject rule because incidental subjects were unrelated and not germane to one another). In those cases, the subjects were so disjointed as to bear no relation to each other, thus the court's conclusion that they were unrelated because neither was necessary to implement the other. Of particular relevance, the initiatives in Amalgamated, City of Burien, and Washington Toll Bridge Authority each contained dual subjects, but one was more broad, long term and continuing than the other, a characteristic that suggests logrolling may be at issue. See Amalgamated, 142 Wash.2d at 217, 11 P.3d 762; City of Burien, 144 Wash.2d at 827, 31 P.3d 659; Wash. Toll Bridge Auth. v. State, 49 Wash.2d at 524, 304 P.2d 676. Citizens misconstrue the analysis in Amalgamated. The language upon which Citizens deduce their test reads as follows: Here, while the title of I-695 seems in part restrictive, i.e., the part which says that [s]hall ... license tab fees be $30 per year for motor vehicles[,] the balance of the title broadens its scope, similarly to the title in Wash. Toll Bridge Auth. v. State . We conclude that I-695 has a general title. However there is no rational unity between the subjects of I-695. Similar to the act in Wash. Toll Bridge Auth. v. State , I-695 also has two purposes: to specifically set license tab fees at $30 and to provide a continuing method of approving all future tax increases. Further, neither subject is necessary to implement the other. I-695 violates the single-subject requirement of article II, section 19 because both its title and the body of the act include two subjects: repeal of the MVET and a voter approval requirement for taxes. Amalgamated, 142 Wash.2d at 216-17, 11 P.3d 762 (emphasis added). Interestingly, this court, in both Amalgamated and City of Burien upon which Citizens rely for their test of rational unity, clearly expressed what has long been the true test of rational unity: the existence of rational unity or not is determined by whether the matters within the body of the initiative are germane to the general title and whether they are germane to one another. City of Burien, 144 Wash.2d at 826, 31 P.3d 659; Amalgamated, 142 Wash.2d at 209-10, 11 P.3d 762. An analysis of whether the incidental subjects are germane to one another does not necessitate a conclusion that they are necessary to implement each other, although that may be one way to do so. This court has not narrowed the test of rational unity to the degree claimed by Citizens. It is more likely that the statements made in Amalgamated and City of Burien in regard to the dual subjects being unnecessary to implement the other were made to further illustrate how unrelated the two were. Moreover, the instant title does not contain two subjects, where one is more broad and long term than the other. I-713's title therefore does not manifest the dangers of logrolling as did those in Amalgamated and City of Burien. Citizens go on to argue that the subject of I-713 is the use of traps used for recreation and commerce in fur and that the use of sodium cyanide and sodium fluoroacetate is not germane to this subject because these pesticides were already illegal in Washington when the initiative was put to voters. Citizens rely on testimony given after enactment of the initiative at a senate hearing. Section 19 analysis is limited to the title and body of the act. See Amalgamated, 142 Wash.2d at 212, 11 P.3d 762. The testimony on which Citizens relies is not relevant. In this case, I-713 embraces the general subject of banning particular methods of trapping and killing mammals. It also contains two incidental subjects: trapping with body-gripping traps and killing with two particular pesticides. These two subjects are germane to both the general subject and to each other.