Court Opinion

ID: 9849986
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:50:27.549883+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:29.952028
License: Public Domain

Dimmick, J.
(dissenting) — The majority decides that Indian tribes which license and register motor vehicles pursuant to tribal statutes are not entitled to reciprocal registration under Washington's motor vehicle code. I disagree. Because of the majority decision, the only "jurisdiction" in the world not entitled to reciprocity is an Indian tribe. I do not believe that the statute was intended to produce that *6result.
The majority bases its decision on the language of RCW 46.85.020(2), which, in defining jurisdiction for the purposes of the reciprocal registration statute, fails to specifically mention Indian tribes. In the context of this statute, the omission is not dispositive.
The portions of the reciprocity statute relied on here were adopted nearly verbatim from the Uniform Vehicle Code. See Uniform Vehicle Code § 3-402.1 (1968). Most likely, at the time the uniform language was drafted, no Indian jurisdictions were registering and licensing vehicles. But whether that is so, the statutory language describing "jurisdiction" could hardly be more expansive. It appears intended to include all domestic and foreign authorities under which vehicles could be registered. Indeed, the statute's declaration of policy supports this broad reading:
It is the policy of this state to promote and encourage the fullest possible use of its highway system by authorizing the making and execution of motor vehicle reciprocal or proportional registration agreements, arrangements and declarations with other states, provinces, territories and countries with respect to vehicles registered in this and such other states, provinces, territories and countries thus contributing to the economic and social development and growth of this state,
RCW 46.85.010.
We are not "promot[ing] and encouraging] the fullest possible use" of our highway system by finding that the Legislature did not intend to extend reciprocity to vehicles registered under tribal laws. The policy underlying this statute should lead to precisely the opposite conclusion; that is, Indian tribes should be encompassed within the intent of the statute because the statute is meant to authorize reciprocal registration with all other governmental entities that license vehicles. Any other result is inequitable. The State will continue to freely use tribal highways, yet refuse similar privileges to tribal vehicles using state highways. Contrary to the intent of the statute, the relationship of the two licensing authorities will be under*7mined, rather than enhanced.
I am not persuaded that the exclusion of Indian tribes from this statute is mandated because the Legislature has specifically included tribal entities in other statutes. In each example cited by the majority, there was a much greater ambiguity regarding whether a tribal entity would logically fall within the listed categories. RCW 43.99.020(2) lists types of municipal corporations, which would not generally be understood to include Indian tribes. Similarly, in RCW 39.34.020, defining public agency, the statute refers to political subdivisions or units of local government, state and federal agencies. Without specific mention of Indian tribes, which are not agencies of the state or federal government, their inclusion would not be clear.
The reciprocal registration statute is entirely different. It is not describing a limited category of subjects upon which the statute will operate. It provides for all political entities that, at the time it was enacted, conceivably licensed vehicles. Neither its terms nor its spirit excludes tribal jurisdictions.
In the words of Judge Learned Hand:
There is no more likely way to misapprehend the meaning of language . . . than to read the words literally, forgetting the object which the document as a whole is meant to secure. Nor is a court ever less likely to do its duty than when, with an obsequious show of submission, it disregards the overriding purpose because the particular occasion which has arisen, was not foreseen.
Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. v. Commissioner, 159 F.2d 167, 169 (2d Cir. 1947). The State concedes tribal authority to license tribal government vehicles. The policy of the statute is to facilitate relationships with other licensing authorities. There is every reason, then, to assume that "jurisdiction" was meant to include all governmental entities functioning in the manner of a "state, territory, or possession of the United States" with regard to licensing motor vehicles.
I would answer the certified question affirmatively.