Opinion ID: 1191734
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The role of referendum in our system

Text: Article II of our constitution allocates legislative power between the people and the Legislature. The very first sentence of article II, section 1, expressly states that, while generally the legislative power is vested in the Legislature, the people reserve to themselves the power of referendum. This reservation goes to the heart of our system and reflects the constitutional mandate that All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed (Const. art. I, ง 1), while also reflecting the fact that the state constitution is most importantly a limitation on the power of the state Legislature. In re Elliott, 74 Wash.2d 600, 604, 446 P.2d 347 (1968). [5] By the constitutional text the people's power of referendum is superior to and antagonistic to the normal prerogatives of the Legislature. This court has characterized the popular right of initiative and referendum as the first of all the sovereign rights of the citizenโthe right to speak ultimately and finally in matters of political concern.... State ex rel. Mullen v. Howell, 107 Wash. 167, 171, 181 P. 920 (1919). Appointing the Legislature to guard the people's right to refer legislation to referendum is appointing the fox to guard the henhouse. The power of referendum was added by the seventh amendment to our state constitution in 1912. This referendum power created a sort of fourth branch of government whereby the people reserv[e] the right to assert its will over the legislative department of the government. State ex rel. Brislawn v. Meath, 84 Wash. 302, 318, 147 P. 11 (1915). The question before us is not a question involving the separation of judicial from legislative power but the separation of the power of the people from legislative encroachment. As the Court of Appeals observed in 1993, the people passed the seventh amendment because they had become impressed with a profound conviction that the legislature had ceased to be responsive to the popular will. Save Our State Park v. Hordyk, 71 Wash. App. 84, 89, 856 P.2d 734 (1993) (citing State ex rel. Mullen v. Howell, 107 Wash. 167, 172, 181 P. 920 (1919)). An early Washingtonian noted that the referendum's purpose is to democratize legislation, to enable people to assume control of affairs, and to insure responsible as well as responsive government.... [6] We have also held that by enacting the seventh amendment, the people fixed a limit beyond which the legislature cannot go without doing violence to the will and voice of the people. State ex rel. Gray v. Martin, 29 Wash.2d 799, 804, 189 P.2d 637 (1948).