Redmond v. Ray

Decision Date26 July 1978
Docket NumberNo. 61602,61602
Citation268 N.W.2d 849
PartiesJames M. REDMOND and Earl M. Willits, Appellees, v. Robert D. RAY, Governor of Iowa, Melvin D. Synhorst, Secretary of State and Wayne A. Faupel, Code Editor, Appellants.
CourtIowa Supreme Court

Richard C. Turner, Atty. Gen., and Richard E. Haesemeyer, Sol. Gen., for appellants.

James M. Redmond, Cedar Rapids, and Earl M. Willits, pro se.

En Banc. *

McCORMICK, Justice.

We must here construe and apply Ia.Const. Art. III § 16 which provides the Governor's veto power. Plaintiffs Redmond and Willits are state senators. They allege Senate File 7 (SF 7), passed by the Sixty-seventh General Assembly, became law at midnight on June 3, 1977, because of defendant Governor Ray's failure to act upon it within three days of its May 31, 1977, submission to him. The trial court entered a declaratory judgment that under Art. III, § 16 the Governor had three calendar days, Sunday excepted, from the date of submission within which to veto the bill. Because the Governor did not purport to veto the bill until July 11, 1977, the trial court held it became law without his signature. Defendants Secretary of State Synhorst and Code Editor Faupel were ordered to record and publish SF 7 as a statute of Iowa. Defendants appeal. We affirm the trial court.

Iowa Const. Art. III § 16 provides in relevant part:

Every bill which shall have passed the General Assembly, shall, before it becomes law, be presented to the Governor. If he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections, to the house in which it originated, which shall enter the same upon their journal, and proceed to re-consider it; if, after such re-consideration, it again pass both houses, by yeas and nays, by a majority of two thirds of the members of each house, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the Governor's objections. If any bill shall not be returned within three days after it shall have been presented to him, Sunday excepted, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the General Assembly, by adjournment, prevent such return. Any bill submitted to the Governor for his approval during the last three days of a session of the General Assembly, shall be deposited by him in the office of the Secretary of State, within thirty days after the adjournment, with his approval, if approved by him, and with his objections, if he disapproves thereof.

Under this provision a governor ordinarily has three days after a bill is presented to him, not counting Sunday, within which to veto it. If he does not veto it in those three days the bill becomes law without his signature. If he wishes to veto it, he must endorse his disapproval upon the bill and return it before the deadline to the house in which it originated so the legislature may reconsider it and possibly pass it by sufficient votes to override the veto.

One exception is made. A bill does not become law through the governor's failure to sign or veto it within the regular period if the general assembly "by adjournment prevent such return." Bills presented during the last three days of a session come within this exception because final adjournment shortens the available period for returning them. Adjournment would thus prevent the return of bills held by the governor for the full period of consideration. Therefore, instead of becoming law automatically if not approved within that period, bills submitted in the last three days of a session do not become law unless the governor endorses his approval on them. Art. III § 16 gives him 30 days after adjournment within which to decide whether to do so.

This court has explained the exception as follows:

This latter provision is clearly a negative provision. It creates an exception to the rule established by the preceding provision. It provides, in effect, that bills which have been presented to the governor within the last three days of a session of the general assembly, and which he neither signs nor returns with objections before adjournment, become laws only in case he subsequently approves them.

Darling v. Boesch et al., 67 Iowa 702, 707, 25 N.W. 887, 889 (1885).

Because bills which come within the exception are deemed disapproved unless approved within the 30-day period, the exception constitutes a "pocket-veto" provision.

Under our constitutional system of checks and balances, the veto right constitutes a qualified negative check upon legislative power. It is essentially a defensive tool, the purpose of which is to help preserve the separation of powers. Thirteenth Guam Legislature v. Bordallo, 430 F.Supp. 405, 409 (D. Guam 1977); see Ia. Const. Art. III § 1.

As a general rule a veto provision has two purposes: (1) to give the executive suitable opportunity to consider the bills presented to him, and (2) to give the legislature a suitable opportunity to consider the executive's objection to bills and in appropriate cases to seek to pass them over the veto. The provision should generally be construed to further these purposes. Wright v. United States, 302 U.S. 583, 596, 58 S.Ct. 395, 400, 82 L.Ed. 439, 446-447 (1938).

The pocket veto power is an exception to the general rule that the legislature can override an executive veto. Because it makes the veto power an absolute rather than a qualified negative, it must be limited to the specific purpose it is intended to serve. Otherwise it invades the legislative function and violates the separation of powers. The pocket veto exception should apply only when the legislature by adjournment has prevented the return of a disapproved bill. See Kennedy v. Sampson, 167 U.S.App.D.C. 192, 199-200, 511 F.2d 430, 437-438 (1974).

This case presents three questions under Art. III § 16. Two concern the meaning of the provision and the other its application. The first question is whether "the last three days of a session of the general assembly" are legislative or calendar days. The second question is whether an intrasession adjournment of the general assembly during which each house designates an agent to receive messages from the Governor will trigger the pocket veto provision. The third question is whether SF 7 became law under the general veto provision.

Regarding the first question, plaintiffs contend the last three days of a session are its last three calendar days; defendants allege they are the last three session days in which at least one house of the legislature actually meets before formal adjournment. As to the second question, plaintiffs contend such an intrasession adjournment will not trigger the pocket veto provision; defendants assert it will. On the final question, plaintiffs contend SF 7 became law because of the Governor's failure to veto it within three days of its submission to him; defendants maintain it was effectively vetoed.

Before discussing the merits of these questions, we note the similarity in language between the veto provisions in the United States and Iowa Constitutions. In relevant part, U.S. Const. Art. I § 7 provides that, "If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law."

When the federal and state constitutions contain similar provisions, we usually deem the provisions to be identical in scope, import and purpose. Chicago Title Ins. Co. v. Huff, 256 N.W.2d 17, 23 (Iowa 1977). We remain the final arbiters of the meaning of the Iowa Constitution, but we accord special respect and deference to United States Supreme Court interpretations of similar language in the Federal Constitution. See City of Waterloo v. Selden, 251 N.W.2d 506, 509 (Iowa 1977).

Such respect and deference are particularly appropriate in the present case. The similarity in language between the pocket veto provisions of U.S. Const. Art. I § 7 and Ia. Const. Art. III § 16 is more than coincidence. The Northwest Ordinance, the organic act for the Wisconsin Territory of which Iowa was a part, contained a provision modeled on the federal constitutional language, although it gave three instead of ten days for consideration of bills. It provided in relevant part: "If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within three days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Assembly by adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law." 5 U.S.Stat. 356, 357. This provision was carried almost intact into the 1846 Constitution of Iowa: "If any bill shall not be returned within three days after it shall have been presented to him, Sunday excepted, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the general assembly, by adjournment, prevent such return." 1846 Const. of Iowa, Art. III § 17. The Northwest Ordinance links the comparable provisions of the federal and state constitutions and helps confirm their similarity of meaning and purpose.

The only change in the 1857 Constitution was to add the next sentence of Art. III § 16: "Any bill submitted to the Governor for his approval during the last three days of the General Assembly, shall be deposited by him in the office of the Secretary of State, within thirty days after the adjournment, with his approval, if approved by him, and with his objections, if he disapproves thereof." This sentence was added to enlarge the time for the Governor to consider bills which adjournment prevented him from returning in the regular way. The framers believed the Governor should have more time to consider those bills because so many important bills are passed during the waning hours of a session. The sponsor of the amendment explained its purpose as follows:

Mr. Wilson: * * * My reason for desiring...

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