Opinion ID: 1426747
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Constitutional Text: Limits vs. Local

Text: As we have previously observed, Appropriate constitutional analysis begins with the text and, for most purposes, should end there as well. Malyon v. Pierce County, 131 Wash.2d 779, 799, 935 P.2d 1272 (1997). When construing the constitution, we are bound by the ordinary meaning of the words as they were understood on the date of popular ratification in 1889. State v. Brunn, 22 Wash.2d 120, 139, 154 P.2d 826, 157 A.L.R. 1049 (1945) (when construing the constitution it is standard practice to inquire: What was the accepted meaning of the words used at the time the provision was adopted?), superseded by statute as stated in State v. Jubie, 15 Wash.App. 881, 552 P.2d 196 (1976) and overruled in part on other grounds by State v. Matuszewski, 30 Wash.App. 714, 717, 637 P.2d 994 (1981); Westerman v. Cary, 125 Wash.2d 277, 288, 892 P.2d 1067 (1994) (We will presume the language [of our constitution] carries its ordinary and popular meaning, unless shown otherwise.); Robert F. Utter, Freedom and Diversity in a Federal System: Perspectives on State Constitutions and the Washington Declaration of Rights, 7 U. Puget Sound L.Rev. 491, 511-12 (1984). The very text of article XI, section 11, makes the critical distinction between the geographical limits of county legislation and the local nature of that legislation (Any county ... may make and enforce within its limits all such local police ... regulations....). Const. art. XI, § 11 (emphasis added). Were we to conclude, as does the majority, local simply means that which is within the political boundaries of the county, the word local would be robbed of any meaning independent of the word limits, rendering it superfluous. But such a construction violates the maxim which requires we give each word of the text a reasonable and independent meaning. Washington Econ. Dev. Fin. Auth. v. Grimm, 119 Wash.2d 738, 746, 837 P.2d 606 (1992) (We have, however, consistently stated that statutes or constitutional provisions should be construed so that no clause, sentence or word shall be superfluous, void, or insignificant.). Compare Thomas M. Cooley, A Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union 72 (6th ed. 1890) ([T]he courts must ... lean in favor of a construction which will render every word operative, rather than one which may make some words idle and nugatory. This rule is applicable with special force to written constitutions, in which the people will be presumed to have expressed themselves in careful and measured terms, corresponding with the immense importance of the powers delegated, leaving as little as possible to implication.) (footnote omitted). Indeed, on previous occasions we have recognized that just because a matter of legislative concern is situated entirely within the geographical boundaries of a local unit of government, such does not necessarily render the matter local in the constitutional sense. For example in Yarrow First Assocs. v. Town of Clyde Hill, 66 Wash.2d 371, 376, 403 P.2d 49 (1965), the court reversed municipal vacation of a street lying entirely within municipal boundaries, holding [T]he residents of a particular town possess no proprietary rights to the use of its streets, in priority to or exclusion of the general public. They may not use their power to the detriment of other citizens or municipalities of the state. Id. at 376, 403 P.2d 49. In so concluding, we reasoned the power to regulate streets is not the power to prohibit their use by nonresidents. Id. (citations omitted). Similarly, matters of court procedure, even though limited to the geographical limits of a municipality, are a matter of state rather than local concern. City of Spokane v. J-R Distribs., Inc., 90 Wash.2d 722, 727, 585 P.2d 784 (1978). Cf. Petstel, Inc., 77 Wash.2d at 159, 459 P.2d 937 (Local price fixing upheld because effect on business outside the county was only incidental.). Thus I would posit the term local when used in this context references not only that which is confined within the geographical limits of the political boundaries, but also connotes a qualitative interest which is of uniquely local, as distinguished from general, concern. Compare Black's Law Dictionary 938 (6th ed. 1990) (Local. Relating to place, expressive of place; belonging or confined to a particular place. Distinguished from `general,' `personal,' `widespread,' and `transitory.').