Court Opinion

ID: 9790203
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:48:47.112615+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:27.351645
License: Public Domain

TRAYNOR, J., Concurring.
The vital question in this proceeding is whether an initiative petition that fails for want of enough signatures to qualify the proposed measure for submission to the voters at the next general election after the receipt of the petition by the Secretary of State, remains effective indefinitely thereafter, enabling the proposed measure to qualify for the ballot on the basis of any general election for governor that succeeds the receipt of the petition by the Secretary of State. The answer to this question turns on the meaning of the second paragraph of section 1 of article IV of the California Constitution, which provides: “Upon the presentation to the Secretary of State of a petition certified as herein provided to have been signed by quali*809fied electors, equal in number to eight per cent of all the votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the last preceding general election, at which a Governor was elected, proposing a law or amendment to the Constitution, set forth in ftill in said petition, the Secretary of State shall submit the said proposed law or amendment to the Constitution to the electors at the next succeeding general election occurring subsequent to 130 days after the presentation aforesaid of said petition, or at any special election called by the Governor in his discretion prior to such general election.”
This provision is ambiguous. It does not make clear what constitutes the presentation of the petition, for it speaks, mot simply of the presentation of a petition, but of the presentation of a petition certified to have been signed by the requisite number of qualified electors. It cannot be determined whether such a petition has been presented without first ascertaining what is the last preceding general election, which is the basis for determining whether the 8 per cent requirement has been met. The last general election preceding the presentation of the petition, however, as well as “the next succeeding general election occurring subsequent to 130 days after the presentation” of the petition, cannot be ascertained without first determining what constitutes that presentation. The identification of either event depends upon the identification of the other under a literal construction of the second paragraph of section 1, and is therefore bound to be frustrated in this circle.
The attorney general, conceding that the paragraph in question is ambiguous, contends that the riddle is solved by the thirteenth paragraph of section 1 if the word “filed” therein is construed, as he contends it should be, to mean “presented.” That paragraph provides: “A petition shall be deemed to be filed with the Secretary of State upon the date of the receipt by him of a certificate or certificates showing said petition to be signed by the requisite number of electors of the State.” Even if it were assumed that the word “filed” in the foregoing provision is synonymous with the word “presented,” however, the last preceding general election as well as the presentation of the petition, would remain unidentified, for the petition would not be filed or presented until the Secretary of State received certificates showing the petition “to be signed by the requisite number *810of electors of the state. ’ ’ Since the Secretary of State would not know whether the petition was signed by “the requisite number of electors of the state” until he knew what “the last preceding general election” was, the attorney general’s contention leads directly back to the second paragraph of section 1.
It is contended that since the petition may be presented in sections, the presentation of the petition is not a single act but a continuing process. Under this theory the receipt of the last certificate is as much a presentation of the petition as the receipt of the first, so that the last preceding general election may be regarded as the one preceding the receipt of the last certificate if all the certificates show that the petition has been signed by the requisite number of electors. There is no more reason, however, for selecting the date of receipt of the last certificate as the date of presentation than there would be for selecting the date of receipt of the first. Moreover, if all the certificates in the hands of the Secretary of State prior to 130 days before the next general election do not show that the petition has been signed by the requisite number of electors the receipt of neither the first certificate nor the last can fix the date of presentation.
The contention is then advanced that regardless of how many general elections occur after the certificates are first received by the Secretary of State, as soon as any general election occurs at which a governor is elected and at which the total number of votes cast for all candidates for governor is such that the total signatures shown by the certificates then in the hands of the Secretary of State equals at least 8 per cent of that total vote, the petition must be regarded as presented, and that election becomes the “last preceding general election.” Under this theory the date of presentation would be a constantly shifting one that would not become fixed unless the number of signatures certified to be signed to the petition equalled at least 8 per cent of the votes cast at the most recent general election at which a governor was elected. The identification of one unknown, namely, the date of presentation, is thus arrived at by determining that the other unknown, namely, “the last preceding general election,” is any general election after the initiation of the process that would qualify the measure. Under this interpretation the words “the last preceding general election at which *811a governor was elected” would become the most recent general election at which 8 per cent of the total number of votes east for all candidates for governor equals or falls short of the number of signatures certified to have been signed to the petition. “The last preceding general election” could thus be any general election succeeding the institution of the initiative proceeding, depending upon the number of votes cast at the election and on the number of signatures certified to be signed to the petition. The words “the last preceding general election” however indicate plainly that the framers of section 1 were referring to one particular election. The general election preceding the institution of the initiative proceeding seems more likely to be in accord with their intention than one of a number of general elections succeeding the institution of such proceeding. In any event, the attorney general’s interpretation is certainly not compelled by the language of section 1. Since it would lead to the absurdities so graphically described in the majority opinion and thus violate the principle that constitutional provisions will not be interpreted to produce an unreasonable or absurd result, it must be rejected. (See 23 Cal.Jur. 722-3, 766-7.)
It remains for the court, therefore, in the light of section 1 as a whole, to identify “the last preceding general election,” as well as the presentation of the petition, so that the section can operate in accord with the probable intention of its framers. A consideration of the instances in which there can be no doubt as to the operation of the section removes much of the confusion regarding its operation in a case like the present one.
If the Secretary of State receives a petition, prior to 130 days before the next general election, certified to be signed by electors equal in number to at least 8 per cent of all the votes cast for governor at the general election at which a governor was elected preceding the receipt of the petition, he must submit the proposed law or constitutional amendment to the electors at that next general election, or at any special election called by the governor before such general election. If he receives a petition that, prior to 130 days before the next general election, is not so certified, he cannot submit the proposed law or constitutional amendment to the voters at that next general election, or at any intervening special election. What happens to such a petition? Is it *812revitalized by the receipt of additional certificates certifying that more signatures have been added to the petition? If the base election for determining whether the petition has the requisite number of signatures is the election preceding the receipt of the petition by the Secretary of State, it would be idle for the Secretary of State to receive additional certificates certifying that more signatures have been added to the petition, for it cannot be submitted at the next general election following the receipt by the Secretary of State of the petition. That election may already have been held. In any event the 130-day requirement cannot be met; for that reason the Secretary of State in 1940 refused to accept signatures from Tuolumne County certified to be signed to the very petition involved in this case, for they were received within less than 130 days before the election held on November 5, 1940.
It appears from the foregoing description of the procedure followed when a proposed measure clearly does or does not qualify for submission at a particular election, that the base election must be the election preceding the receipt of the petition by the Secretary of State, for otherwise he could never determine whether a petition had, within the time prescribed, the requisite number of signatures. He makes that determination in the only way that he can under the Constitution by ascertaining the total vote for all candidates for governor at the last general election at which a governor was elected preceding the receipt by him of the petition. If the petition were not regarded as presented to him, he could not proceed with his determination whether it had, within the prescribed time, the requisite number of signatures. Only by regarding the receipt by him of the petition as the presentation of the petition to him can he determine what is the next preceding general election, the basis of his determination whether the petition has been signed within the prescribed time by electors equal in number to at least 8 per cent of the total vote for all candidates for governor at that election.
Since the foregoing procedure is the one that the Secretary of State follows, and the only one that he can follow if he is to comply with the 8 per cent requirement and the 130-day limitation in passing upon initiative measures that clearly do or do not qualify for submission to the electors *813at a particular general election, it must be regarded as the procedure that the framers of section 1 envisaged for all cases. This procedure conforms to the provisions of section 1. Thus it appears that the presentation of the petition may be made in sections (par. 9); that the presentation of each section consists of the transmission by a county clerk or registrar of a printed copy of the petition with his certificate showing the number of qualified signatures thereto that have been filed in his county (par. 10); that the presentation of the several sections may occur at different times, since each county clerk or registrar is required to transmit his section as soon as he completes his examination of the signatures (par. 10); that the Secretary of State has no duty to perform in this regard other than to receive the sections presented to him by the county clerks or registrars until the total number of signatures certified in the several sections is at least 8 per cent of all the votes cast for governor at the last general election at which a governor was elected preceding the presentation. If the signatures certified in the sections meet that requirement prior to 130 days before the next succeeding general election, the Secretary of State must submit the proposed measure at that election. It follows that a petition is presented to the Secretary of State upon the first date when one or more sections, containing “a full and correct copy of the title and text of the proposed measure” are received by him duly accompanied by a certificate from the county clerk or clerks transmitting the petition as to the number of signatures obtained in the particular county or counties. Thereafter the Secretary of State simply keeps count of additional signatures certified to be signed to the petition, to determine whether or not the measure qualifies for submission at the next general election occurring more than 130 days after the receipt of the petition. If it qualifies it goes on the ballot; if not, it does not go on the ballot and is thenceforth defunct. The Secretary of State is without authority to submit a measure at a subsequent election, that does not qualify for submission at the election succeeding the presentation of the petition, for the Constitution authorizes submission of the measure only at the next succeeding general election occurring subsequent to 130 days after the presentation of the petition or at any special election called by the Governor before such general election. If the *814measure qualifies for submission to the electors at that next succeeding general election, however, but for any reason it is not submitted, then under the seventh paragraph of section 1, it may be submitted at a succeeding general election.
Since the proposed measure did not qualify under the prescribed procedure for submission to the electors at the election held on November 5, 1940, and since the Constitution does not authorize the Secretary of State to submit, at any subsequent election, a measure that fails to qualify for the next succeeding general election occurring after the presentation of the petition, the proposed measure cannot be submitted to the electors.