Opinion ID: 836572
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Interpretation of the Separate-Vote Requirement

Text: Having concluded that the separate vote requirement applies to initiated constitutional amendments, we turn to plaintiffs' contention that Measure 40 contains two or more amendments in violation of that requirement. In response to plaintiffs' challenge, the state contends that the scope of the separate-vote requirement of Article XVII, section 1, is defined by Article IV, section 1(2)(d), which requires merely that a constitutional amendment embrace one subject only. If a proposed amendment embraces a single subject under Article IV, section 1(2)(d), the state argues, it necessarily constitutes a single amendment, rather than multiple amendments, under Article XVII, section 1. In the state's view, Measure 40 embraces a single subject either crime victims' rights or, more broadly, crime and, therefore, constitutes only a single amendment to the constitution. The parties' respective positions require us to examine both the meaning of the separate vote requirement of Article XVII, section 1, and the relationship, if any, between that requirement and the single-subject requirement of Article IV, section 1(2)(d). In doing so, we emphasize that, when interpreting the Oregon Constitution, we must assume that every word, clause and sentence therein have been inserted for some useful purpose. School Dist. 1, Mult. Co. v. Bingham et al., 204 Or. 601, 611, 283 P.2d 670, modified on rehearing 204 Or. 601, 284 P.2d 779 (1955); see also State ex rel. Gladden v. Lonergan, 201 Or. 163, 177, 269 P.2d 491 (1954) (An elementary rule of construction is that[,] if possible, effect should be given to every part and every word of a Constitution and that unless there is some clear reason to the contrary, no portion of the fundamental law should be treated as superfluous. (Internal quotation marks omitted.)). Thus, because we are concerned here with two requirements that are worded differently and are located in different parts of the Oregon Constitution, we must assume that they have different meanings and that neither requirement is superfluous. In conducting our inquiry into those meanings, we are guided by the construction methodologies set out in Priest, 314 Or. at 415-16, 840 P.2d 65, and Ecumenical Ministries v. Oregon State Lottery Comm., 318 Or. 551, 559, 871 P.2d 106 (1994). See 327 Or. at 256, 959 P.2d at 53 and n. 4 (setting out methodologies).
We begin by examining the specific wording of Article XVII, section 1, which, as noted, prescribes the procedure for amending the constitution by legislative proposal, as well as setting out requirements for amendment by legislative proposal or initiative petition. The separate-vote requirement of Article XVII, section 1, provides: When two or more amendments shall be submitted in the manner aforesaid to the voters of this state at the same election, they shall be so submitted that each amendment shall be voted on separately. Although Article XVII, section 1, does not define what is meant by two or more amendments, it is important to note that the text focuses upon the potential change to the existing constitution, by requiring that two or more constitutional amendments be voted upon separately. Additionally, as a textual matter, the words shall be submitted in the manner aforesaid to the voters (emphasis added) could speak to the form that a proposed amendment must take as it passes through the legislative or initiative process, up to the time of its submission to the people. That particular text establishes, at a minimum, that the separate-vote requirement prevents the combining of several proposed amendments, which have been labeled from their inception as separate amendments, into one proposed amendment subject to a single vote. That is, all proposed amendments must be submitted to the voters in the same form in which they passed the legislature or were circulated by initiative petition. [6] However, it is not clear from the text that that construction is all that is meant by the separate-vote requirement. We now turn to the historical circumstances surrounding the development of Article XVII, section 1. As noted earlier, when the Oregon Constitution went into effect in 1859, Article XVII provided the only method for amending the constitution: