Court Opinion

ID: 9725564
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:53:09.533887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:16.707305
License: Public Domain

Boslaugh, J.
This is an original action brought to determine whether L.B. 376 was duly enacted by the First Session of the Eighty-seventh Legislature. The bill in question relates to banking and, among other provisions, authorizes banks to establish and maintain additional “detached auxiliary offices” at which banking transactions may be made.
The plaintiffs made application to the Department to establish detached auxiliary offices as authorized by L.B. 376. Upon the advice of the Attorney General that L.B. 376 was not effective, the Department refused to act upon the applications. The plaintiffs then commenced this action against the Department and its director to determine whether L.B. 376 was effective.
The essential facts are admitted by the pleadings. The case presents only questions of law.
On May 28, 1981, L.B. 376 was on final reading in the Legislature. All 49 senators and the Lieutenant Governor were present. On the question, “Shall the bill pass?” 24 senators voted in the affirmative, 24 senators voted in the negative, and one senator abstained. The Lieutenant Governor, as president of the Legislature, then declared the Legislature equally divided, voted in the affirmative, and declared the bill passed. The first issue to be determined is whether the Lieutenant Governor, as president of the Legislature, was entitled to vote on the bill on final reading.
There are two constitutional provisions which must be considered. Article III, § 13, of the Nebraska Constitution provides in part: “No bill shall be passed by the Legislature unless by the assent of a majority of all members elected . . . .” Article III, § 10, of the Nebraska Constitution provides in part: “The Lieutenant *229Governor shall preside, but shall vote only when the Legislature is equally divided.” The plaintiffs contend that the Lieutenant Governor was entitled to vote on final reading and that L.B. 376 was duly passed. The defendants contend that L.B. 376 failed to receive “the assent of a majority of all members elected” and, thus, failed to pass.
The parties have cited decisions in other states which have arrived at different conclusions under similar constitutional provisions. We consider none of these authorities to be controlling.
The language of article III, § 13, is so clear that we believe there can be little doubt about its meaning. That provision requires “the assent of a majority of all members elected” to the Legislature. The Lieutenant Governor is not a member of the Legislature. Since the Legislature consists of 49 members, a bill must receive the affirmative vote of 25 senators on final reading before it can become law. Because L.B. 376 received the affirmative vote of only 24 senators on final reading, it failed of passage and did not become law.
This interpretation does not destroy the meaning of article III, § 10, but harmonizes the two provisions and gives effect to both. The Lieutenant Governor is eligible to vote on all other questions before the Legislature, when it is equally divided.
This interpretation also finds support in some of the earlier decisions of this court on somewhat related questions.
In State v. Gray, 23 Neb. 365, 36 N.W. 577 (1888), two members of a four-member city council voted “aye,” two members abstained, the mayor voted “aye” and declared the motion passed. The statute required “a concurrence of a majority of the whole number of members elected to the council,” and further provided, “The mayor . . . shall have a casting vote when the council is equally divided, and none other . . . .” This court stated at 369, 36 N.W. at 578-79: “Considering these sections together, there can be no doubt that to *230pass an ordinance for the reorganization of the city by increasing the number of wards, and of the membership of the council, it required the concurring vote of a majority of all the councilmen elected, and the vote of two members of a council consisting of four members was not sufficient, and that the vote of the mayor added nothing to the significance of the proceeding.”
In Rohrer v. Hastings Brewing Co., 83 Neb. 111, 119 N.W. 27 (1908), the applicable statutes gave the mayor “a casting vote when the council is equally divided,” and further required “a concurrence of a majority of the whole number of the members elected to the council” to pass an ordinance. We held at 114, 119 N.W. at 28: “As to every other act of the council, except the passage of ordinances, the mayor may vote in case of a tie vote of the councilmen.”
The parties have briefed and argued another question which should be decided because of its importance in regard to the legislative process.
After L.B. 376 had been declared passed, the Lieutenant Governor signed the bill while the Legislature was still in session. L.B. 376 was then presented to Governor Thone. On May 29, 1981, an aide to the Governor brought the engrossed copy of L.B. 376 to the Clerk of the Legislature, together with a letter from the Governor. In the letter the Governor stated that he was not vetoing the bill, but simply returning it based upon an Attorney General’s opinion that the bill had not been passed by the Legislature since only 24 senators had voted in the affirmative the previous day. The Clerk attempted to refuse delivery of the engrossed copy of the bill, but it was left on the receptionist’s desk outside the Clerk’s office.
When the Governor’s letter was read to the Legislature on May 29, 1981, one senator moved that the Legislature reconsider the bill. Another senator raised a point of order to the effect that the motion to override was out of order since the bill had not been vetoed. The Chair declared the motion to override out of order, and a *231motion to overrule the Chair was defeated. The bill was not again reconsidered by the Legislature.
The letter which the Governor sent to the Legislature on May 29, 1981, stated in pertinent part: “I have on my desk LB 376. On the advice of the Attorney General, with which I most certainly agree, it appears that LB 376 has not been passed by the Legislature.
“The Legislature’s Journal clearly indicates that LB 376 received only 24 votes from elected members of the Legislature. Twenty-five votes are needed for a Constitutional majority. Therefore, this bill did not meet the Constitutional requirement and was not passed by the Legislature.
“The return of LB 376 to the Clerk of the Legislature is a clerical function and is not, and should not be construed as, an exercise of the Governor’s authority under Article IV, Sec. 15 of the Constitution of the State of Nebraska. In other words, I am not by this action exercising my Constitutional authority to veto this purported piece of legislation which was never legally passed by the Legislature.”
The Constitution limits the action the Governor may take when the Legislature presents a bill to him for his consideration. “Every bill passed by the Legislature, before it becomes a law, shall be presented to the Governor. If he approves he shall sign it, and thereupon it shall become a law, but if he does not approve . . . he shall return it with his objections to the Legislature . . . . Any bill which shall not be returned by the Governor within five days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, shall become a law in like manner as if he had signed it; unless the Legislature by their adjournment prevent its return; in which case it shall be filed, with his objections, in the office of the Secretary of State within five days after such adjournment, or become a law.” Neb. Const. art. IV, § 15.
In the present case the Governor did not sign the *232bill. He returned the bill within 5 days with a message stating his objections.
The Nebraska Constitution does not give the Governor the power to return a bill to the Legislature as a “clerical function.” The Constitution clearly provides that if the Governor returns the bill to the Legislature with his objections, the bill shall be reconsidered and become a law if it is repassed by a vote of three-fifths of the members elected.
The Governor’s letter stated his objections to the bill. The fact that the objections did not go to substantive provisions of the bill was of no consequence. See Birdsall v. Carrick, 3 Nev. 154 (1867).
In this case, the return of L.B. 376 to the Legislature by the Governor with his objections would have prevented the bill from becoming law unless it was reconsidered by the Legislature and passed as provided in the Constitution.
It is unnecessary to consider any of the other questions raised by the parties.
For the reasons stated in this opinion, the judgment is in favor of the defendants.
Judgment for the defendants.