Opinion ID: 1405270
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Authority to Submit Referendum 48 to the People

Text: We are reviewing a grant of summary judgment in favor of respondents. Review of summary judgment is de novo, with the appellate court engaging in the same inquiry as the trial court. Gunnier v. Yakima Heart Ctr., Inc., 134 Wash.2d 854, 858, 953 P.2d 1162 (1998). Summary judgment is proper if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. CR 56(c). Mr. Brower raises numerous constitutional challenges to the legislation. A statute is presumed to be constitutional and the challenger bears the burden of establishing the unconstitutionality of the legislation beyond a reasonable doubt. Island County v. State, 135 Wash.2d 141, 146-47, 955 P.2d 377 (1998); Leonard v. City of Spokane, 127 Wash.2d 194, 197, 897 P.2d 358 (1995). The presumption of constitutionality applies to measures approved by the people. State ex rel. O'Connell v. Meyers, 51 Wash.2d 454, 458, 319 P.2d 828 (1957); Washington Fed'n of State Employees v. State, 127 Wash.2d 544, 558, 901 P.2d 1028 (1995). The people's power to legislate directly takes two forms, the initiative and the referendum. Const. art. II, § 1. An initiative is a proposed law directly from the people through the filing of signed petitions with the Secretary of State. Const. art. II, § 1(a). An initiative may be an initiative to the people, or to the Legislature. The former is placed directly on the ballot for voter approval or rejection. The latter may be enacted by the Legislature, or the Legislature may decline to act on the measure, in which case it will be placed on the ballot, or the Legislature may enact an alternative to the initiative, in which case both the initiative and the legislative alternative will be placed on the ballot. Id. The referendum is the second power reserved to the people, permitting the voters to approve or reject a measure which has been enacted by the Legislature. Const. art. II, § 1(b). A measure may be referred to the people in two ways. First, voters may refer a measure by submitting petitions signed by the required number of voters to the Secretary of State within 90 days of the end of the session in which the measure was enacted. Id. at § 1(b), (c). Second, the Legislature may refer a measure to the people without the voters petitioning for a referendum. Id. This case involves a measure referred to the people by the Legislature. 1. Conditioning Act on agreement of private party to reimburse costs of special election. Mr. Brower maintains that the Legislature does not have general authority to refer a matter to the people, but instead has only that authority expressly set out in art. II, § 1(b). Here, the Legislature provided that the Act would be null and void unless the team affiliate entered into an agreement with the Secretary of State to reimburse the state and the counties for the costs of the special election. This, Brower contends, illegally placed the power of referendum in the hands of a private party, because no referendum would occur unless the team affiliate agreed to reimburse the costs of the special election. Brower further argues that aside from art. II, § 1(b), the Legislature does not have authority to grant a private party the power to perform a legislative act, particularly where, as here, the private party stands to benefit from the legislation. Respondents maintain that the Legislature did not delegate legislative authority, but instead validly conditioned the effectiveness of the Act on third party conduct, i.e., the contingency that a third party reimburse the state and counties for their election costs. The legislative authority of the State is vested in the Legislature, art. II, § 1, and it is unconstitutional for the Legislature to abdicate or transfer its legislative function to others, Keeting v. Public Util. Dist. No. 1, 49 Wash.2d 761, 767, 306 P.2d 762 (1957). [H]owever, conditioning the operative effect of a statute upon a future event specified by the Legislature does not transfer the state legislative power to render judgment to the persons or entity capable of bringing about that event. The Legislature, itself, determines the statute would be expedient only in certain circumstances. The power to make this judgment is not transferred merely because the circumstances may arise at the discretion of others. The substance of the act is complete in itself and the Legislature is the body which rendered the judgment as to the expediency of conditioning the operation of the statute upon the specified event. Diversified Inv. Partnership v. Department of Soc. & Health Servs., 113 Wash.2d 19, 28, 775 P.2d 947 (1989); see State v. Storey, 51 Wash. 630, 632, 99 P. 878 (1909) ([t]he mere fact that the act does not take effect until the contingency arises does not indicate a delegation of legislative power, even where the contingency depends upon the action of certain persons). Here, the Legislature determined that it was necessary to condition the Act on a requirement that the costs of the election be paid by the team affiliate in order to avoid the expenditure of any public funds in connection with a public stadium project unless the voters approved the Act. Because this judgment was made by the Legislature, no unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority occurred. Moreover, the Legislature may condition the effectiveness of legislation on the acts of a private party who may possibly benefit from the legislation. In Story, for example, legislation prohibiting livestock running at large in any county where three-fourths of the lands were fenced required county commissioners to determine whether three-fourths of the county was fenced when ten or more freeholders applied for enforcement of the act. Storey, 51 Wash. 630, 99 P. 878. The effectiveness of the act was thus conditioned on the acts of the freeholders, private persons, who had to apply for enforcement of the legislation, as well as upon private parties having fenced lands within the county. No unconstitutional delegation of legislative powers was found. As in Diversified Inv., the decision of what event made the legislation effective was made by the Legislature, not the third party. Moreover, by applying for enforcement of the act in Storey, the freeholders obviously sought to benefit from the provisions of the legislation. [2] Brower contends, though, that while the Legislature may enact measures whose effectiveness is contingent upon a future event, it has no authority to condition the referral of a measure in such a manner. The state constitution is not a grant but rather is a restriction on the law-making power. Clark v. Dwyer, 56 Wash.2d 425, 431, 353 P.2d 941 (1960). [T]he power of the legislature to enact all reasonable laws is unrestrained except where, either expressly or by fair inference, it is prohibited by the state and federal constitutions. Id. The power to enact contingent legislation has clearly been recognized. The question is whether any limitation on this power exists because the legislation is referred to the people. Article II, section 1(b) of the Washington Constitution provides: The second power reserved by the people is the referendum, and it may be ordered on any act, bill, law, or any part thereof passed by the legislature, except such laws as may be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, [or][ [3] ] support of the state government and its existing public institutions, either by petition signed by the required percentage of the legal voters, or by the legislature as other bills are enacted .... (Emphasis added.) The Legislature is granted the discretionary authority to refer an enactment to the people for approval or rejection. Art. II, § 1(b) also states that referral shall be as other bills are enacted, indicating that just as the Legislature can condition the effectiveness of other bills on third party conduct, it can condition the effectiveness of a provision referring an act to the people. The Legislature has authority both to refer a measure to the people and to condition the effectiveness of an enactment upon the happening of a future event, and nothing in art. II, § 1 restrains the Legislature from exercising the two powers in connection with one piece of legislation. Accordingly, section 606 does not unconstitutionally delegate legislative authority to the team affiliate. 2. Authority to refer only part of an act. Brower contends that the Legislature cannot refer only part of an act to the people. Here, sections 101 through 604 of the Act were referred to the people, but the sections concerning the Legislature's position on the measure, reimbursement of costs of the special election, conducting the election, and the emergency clause were not referred. Brower contends that while the people can order a referendum on any act, bill, law, or any part thereof passed by the legislature, the Legislature can order a referendum only as other bills are enacted[,] i.e., only if the act is a complete act. Const. art. II, § 1(a),(b). This argument is based on a misreading of art. II, § 1(b). The provision states in relevant part that a referendum may be ordered on any act, bill, law, or any part thereof passed by the legislature ... either by petition ... of the legal voters, or by the legislature as other bills are enacted.... Const. art. II, § 1(b) (emphasis added). The language plainly means that a referendum may be ordered on a part of any act, bill, or law by either of two methodspetition of the people, or by the Legislature in the same way that it enacts other bills. See State ex rel. Lofgren v. Kramer, 69 Wash.2d 219, 221-22, 417 P.2d 837 (1966) (treating words as other bills are enacted as relating to the process by which bills are enacted). Under art. II, § 1(b) the Legislature can constitutionally order a referendum on only part of an act. [4] 3. Whether legislation can be referred to the people where the Legislature takes no position on the value of the legislation. Mr. Brower also argues, as part of his claim that only a complete act can be referred to the people, that the Legislature cannot refer a measure on which it has refused to take a position. He maintains that Referendum 48 is unconstitutional because it is in fact an unlawful initiative to the people rather than a referendum. Because the constitution is a restraint on legislative power, Mr. Brower's argument will prevail only if something in or fairly inferable from the state constitution prohibits the Legislature from referring an act while taking no position on its value. See Clark, 56 Wash.2d at 431, 353 P.2d 941. Ordinarily, when a bill is passed by the Legislature the Legislature affirmatively adopts the provisions of the bill. The Act is clearly an unusual piece of legislation because the Legislature deliberately took no position on the value of the legislation before referring it to the people. Section 605. Nevertheless, examination of the state constitution leads to the conclusion that, although unusual, Referendum 48 is a valid referendum. The legislative rights of the people reserved in state constitutions are to be liberally construed in order to preserve them and render them effective. State v. Superior Court for Thurston County, 97 Wash. 569, 577, 166 P. 1126 (1917). In accord with this view, this court has rejected technical construction of statutes implementing art. II, § 1, as well as the constitutional provision itself, except insofar as necessary to fairly guard against fraud and mistake in the exercise by the people of this constitutional right. Id. at 578, 166 P. 1126 (quotation marks and citation omitted). For example, in an early case, the court applied a liberal construction of the provision by reading art. II, § 1(b) as allowing for a referendum by the Legislature of a joint resolution of the Legislature ratifying the federal constitutional amendment for national prohibition. State ex rel. Mullen v. Howell, 107 Wash. 167, 181 P. 920 (1919). The court rejected the notion that the matter could not be referred because it was not an act, bill, or law within the meaning of art. II, § 1(b). Thus, we apply a liberal construction to preserve the right of referendum. When the Legislature refers a measure to the people, it leaves the decision whether the measure will become law in the hands of the people. Further, while an initiative must have the signatures of the required percentage of legal voters, as does a referendum ordered by the people via petition, in the case of a referral by the Legislature the Legislature votes to refer a matter which it determines should be decided by the people. Whether the Legislature has affirmed the value of the measure or not, that vote assures that the Legislature has made a representative determination that the people should decide whether the measure becomes law. These considerations lead us to reject Brower's narrow construction as impeding the right of referendum. Whether the Legislature takes a stand on the merits of the legislation or not, the Legislature must vote to send the matter to the people and the people then make the final decision as to whether the matter becomes law. We do not find anything in or fairly inferable from the state constitution which indicates that the Legislature's power is restrained in this regard. Because we find the Legislature had authority to refer Referendum 48, it follows that we reject Brower's contention that the measure is actually an initiative to the people which is unlawful because it lacks sufficient signatures on a petition. Legislation may be referred to the people without petition signatures when the Legislature votes to refer.