Opinion ID: 1190404
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure of Initiative to Define Nature or Purpose of Proposed Enactment

Text: As a justice of this court commented at the time of oral argument, The word constitution does not appear, in the initiative petition. There is nothing that would prevent the Secretary of State from drafting the initiative petition's proposals as a statutory enactment rather than as a constitutional amendment. The potential signers certainly were given no indication on the form that they signed that they were urging such momentous action as amending our state constitution. The Nevada Constitution is the fundamental law of our state, and if it is to be amended by an initiative, potential signers are to be made specifically aware of the solemnity of their act in signing that they may do so with full appreciation of the fact that they are participating in an effort to change the fundamental law, i.e., the constitution of their state. State ex rel. Scott v. Kirkpatrick, 484 S.W.2d 161, 164 (Mo. 1972). In Scott, the Missouri State Constitution required the enacting clause in an initiative to state that the constitution would be amended. Our constitution requires that there be an enacting clause stating: The People of the State of Nevada do enact as follows[]. Nev. Const. art. 19, § 3(1). When a constitutional amendment is being proposed, one would expect to find, after recital of the required enacting clause, some kind of proposal or declaration that the constitution was being amended, thus: The People of the State of Nevada do enact as follows: The Constitution of Nevada, Article ____, Section ____, is hereby amended to read as follows: `____' Without language specifying whether the initiative is intended to create a law, amend a law or amend the constitution, the Secretary of State has no guidance as to how the ballot proposition is to be drafted. This failure to specify the nature and purpose of the initiative is not merely an obscurity of language; it is a fatal omission that effectively prevents the signers from knowing what they are signing. If initiative petition signers are petitioning for enactment of a state law, the petition should state that law enactment is what the petition is about. If the petition signers are going further and seeking to amend the state constitution, certainly they should say this in their petition and not leave the choice up to the Secretary of State. The idea that all a petition for initiative must contain is a loose collection of ideas that can be crafted into legislative or constitutional form by the Secretary of State is contrary to the basic nature of the initiative process. Article 19, section 2(1) of the Nevada Constitution gives to the people the power to propose ... amendments to this constitution.... If the people are going to propose an amendment to the constitution, they must propose an amendment as an amendment to the constitution and not as a mere law nor as a loosely worded aggregate of ideas and philosophical ruminations. The initiative petition before us is not even ambiguous. It refers to a law, an act, not a constitutional amendment. (This act may be cited and referred to as the `Term Limitation Act of 1992.' (Emphasis added.)) It is not difficult to find case authority for the proposition that an initiative petition signer must be informed at the time of signing of the nature and effect of that which is proposed. Failure to so inform the signatories and voters is deceptive and misleading, and therefore the Petition is invalid. In re Initiative Petition No. 344, 797 P.2d 326, 330 (Okla. 1990). We cannot assume that people are indifferent whether they are asked to approve an ordinary law or to amend their constitution. Oregon State Homeowner's Ass'n v. Roberts, 703 P.2d 954, 955 (Or. 1985). Our constitution is too sacred a document to be amended by way of an initiative petition that does not mention the constitution and which is framed in terms of an ordinary law, an Act. The initiative petition clearly must fail on this ground alone.