Opinion ID: 1452513
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The So-called Public Policy as Law

Text: According to the proponents, the proposed measure is a law within the meaning of Art. 5, § 1, Okl. Const. [27] They reason that (a) every statute is a law and a statute declaring public policy must, by settled practice, be treated as law, and (b) if statutory law may embody public policy, it follows that the reserved power of initiative implies popular authority to declare the public policy of this State. Proponents point to the terms of 25 O.S.1991 § 302 [28] as a statutory example that embodies this State's notion of legislatively declared public policy. I view this argument as utterly lacking in jurisprudential support. Oklahoma's public policy is derived from the established law of the State to be found in her constitution, statutes and judicial decisions. [29] Section 302, enacted as a part of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act, [30] is designed as an interpretive device for giving the act its legislatively intended meaning. The cited statute is clearly distinguishable from the terms of this measure's declaration of public policy. The latter provides that (a) federal senate and house office terms should be limited and (b) state legislators be instructed to apply to the U.S. Congress to call a national constitutional convention as a vehicle for achieving the popularly desired goal. Because the initiative's statement of public policy stands by itself, detached as it is from any viable legal norm that is to be enacted, the measure can have no effect as law.