Hammerschmidt v. Boone County, 76607

• Decision Date: 17 March 1994
• Docket Number: No. 76607,76607
• Citation: 877 S.W.2d 98
• Parties: Bob HAMMERSCHMIDT, Appellant, v. BOONE COUNTY, Missouri, etc., et al., Respondents.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 98

877 S.W.2d 98

Bob HAMMERSCHMIDT, Appellant, v. BOONE COUNTY, Missouri, etc., et al., Respondents.

No. 76607.

Supreme Court of Missouri En Banc.

March 17, 1994.

Thomas M. Schneider, Columbia, for appellant.

John L. Patton, Asst. Pros. Atty., Boone County, Columbia, for respondents.

Don G. Busch, Springfield, amicus Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., John A. Christiansen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for amicus Mo. Atty. Gen.

ROBERTSON, Judge.

In Missourians to Protect the Initiative Process v. Blunt, 799 S.W.2d 824 (Mo. banc 1990), this Court enjoined the Secretary of State of Missouri from placing an initiative before the voters that purported to "reorganize the legislature and, at the same time, impose constitutional ethical restrictions on officers, officials and employees of the legislative and executive departments." Id. at 831. The Court rested its holding on the constitutional limitation the people imposed on themselves by prohibiting an initiative petition from containing "more than one subject and matters properly connected therewith." Mo. Const. art. III, § 50. In this case, we consider whether House Committee Substitute for House Bills 551 and 552 (H.C.S.H.B.s 551 and 552), enacted by the 87th General Assembly, First Regular Session (1993 Laws of Mo. ----) (West's No. 102, 1993 Vernon's Missouri Legislative Service No. 4, 668-676), violates the constitutional limitation the people imposed on the legislature that "[n]o bill shall contain more than one subject which shall be clearly expressed in its title...." Mo. Const. art. III, § 23.

The circuit court found the law constitutional and refused to enjoin Boone County from proceeding to an election under the H.C.S.H.B.s 551 and 552. This Court has exclusive appellate jurisdiction. Mo. Const. art. V, § 3. The judgment of the circuit court is reversed and the cause is remanded for entry of a permanent injunction enjoining Boone County from proceeding with an election under section 2 of House Committee Substitute for House Bills 551 and 552.

I.

On January 20, 1993, two members of the House of Representatives introduced House Bills 551 and 552 as separate items of legislation. House Bill 551 permitted voter registration by mail and was entitled, "An Act To repeal section 115.159, RSMo 1986, relating to elections, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject." House Bill 552 amended "The Mail Ballot Election Act" and bore the title: "An Act To repeal sections 115.652 and 115.660, RSMo Supp.1992, relating to elections, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to the same subject." The Speaker referred both bills to the House Elections Committee. That committee conducted hearings, combined the bills into a single piece of legislation, and reported House Committee Substitute for House Bills 551 and 552 to the full House of Representatives with a "do pass" recommendation.

On March 1, 1993, the full House took up H.C.S.H.B.s 551 and 552. On the House floor, another representative offered an amendment containing seven subsections that, among other things, provided that "any county of the first classification which has a population of more than one hundred thousand inhabitants but less than two hundred thousand inhabitants ¹ and adjoins no other county of the first classification may adopt an alternative form of government and frame a county constitution." The House approved the amendment and attached it to the bill as section 2. The new title of the bill read: "An Act To repeal section 115.159, RSMo 1986, and sections 115.562 and 115.660, RSMo Supp.1992, relating to elections, and to enact in lieu thereof five new sections relating to the same subject."

On March 3, 1993, the bill was read for the third time and passed the House as amended. The Senate adopted the bill on May 4, 1993, with amendments of its own. After conference, the House and Senate agreed to some of the Senate amendments. The final bill amended laws relating to election procedures, changed filing procedures for candidates for health center trustees, authorized specified counties to adopt county constitutions, and adopted procedures for reimbursement of expenses of employees of governmental entities. The bill's new title read: "An Act To repeal sections 115.159, 115.283, 115.291 and 205.041, RSMo 1986, and sections 115.123, 115.135, 115.652 and 115.660, RSMo Supp.1992, relating to elections, and to enact in lieu thereof eleven new sections relating to the same subject." The bill was finally passed on May 11, 1993. The governor approved the bill on June 14, 1993. It took effect on August 28, 1993. The provisions of H.C.S.H.B.s 551 and 552 (and S.B. 67 and S.B. 88, see footnote 1, supra ) relating to the framing of county constitutions are combined and codified at Sections 66.700 to 66.710, RSMo Supp.1993.

On November 16, 1993, the Boone County Commission adopted an order calling an election for April 5, 1994, to permit the voters of Boone County to authorize the appointment of a county constitution framing commission for Boone County. The county commission's order does not claim authority under Sections 66.700, et seq., but instead purports to present to the voters the question whether Boone County should begin the process of framing a county constitution "[p]ursuant to ... the authority vested in the County Commission of Boone County, Missouri under Section 2 of House Committee Substitute for House Bills 551 and 552."

Bob Hammerschmidt is a resident and taxpayer of Boone County. He challenges the constitutionality of the county commission's order, claiming the commission has no authority to form a county constitution because the legislation purporting to grant that authority violates several provisions of the Missouri Constitution. Hammerschmidt seeks a permanent injunction against the county commission proceeding with its planned election. He claims, among other things, that H.C.S.H.B.s 551 and 552 violates article III section 23 of the Constitution in that the bill contains more than one subject. ²

The trial court heard the matter on stipulated facts, determined that H.C.S.H.B.s 551 and 552 did not violate the Constitution in any respect and sustained Boone County's motion for summary judgment. Hammerschmidt appealed.

II.

A.

Article III, section 23, is one of several procedural limitations imposed by the people through the Constitution over legislative action. It provides with exceptions not pertinent here: "No bill shall contain more than one subject which shall be clearly expressed in its title." A similar provision has appeared in every Missouri Constitution since 1865. See Mo. Const. art. IV, § XXXII (1865). ("No law enacted by the General Assembly shall relate to more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.")

The constitutional prohibition against bills containing more than one subject is a corollary to the constitutional requirement that "no bill shall be amended in its passage through either house as to change its original purpose." Mo. Const. art. III, § 21. Together, these constitutional provisions serve "to facilitate orderly legislative procedure. By limiting each bill to a single subject [and requiring that amendments not change a bill's original purpose], the issues presented by each bill can be better grasped and more intelligently discussed." Ruud, "No Law Shall Embrace More Than One Subject", 42 Minn.L.Rev. 389, 391 (1958).

A second purpose of article III, section 23, is to prevent "logrolling"--the practice of combining a number of unrelated amendments in a bill, none of which alone could command a majority, but which, taken together, combine the votes of a sufficient number of legislators having a vital interest in one portion of the amended bill to muster a majority for its entirety. City of St. Louis v. Tiefel, 42 Mo. 578, 590 (1868); State v. Miller, 45 Mo. 495, 498 (1870). The prevention of logrolling is essentially the same rationale as that employed by the Court in Missourians to Protect the Initiative. Speaking of the similar constitutional provision applicable to the initiative process, the Court said: "The prohibition is intended to discourage placing voters [legislators] in the position of having to vote for some matter which they do not support in order to enact that which they earnestly support." Id., 799 S.W.2d at 830.

Third, the constitutional provision serves to defeat surprise within the legislative process. It prohibits a clever legislator from taking advantage of his or her unsuspecting colleagues by surreptitiously inserting unrelated amendments into the body of a pending bill. State ex rel. Normandy School Dist. of St. Louis County v. Small, 356 S.W.2d 864, 868 (Mo. banc 1962).

Fourth, article III, section 23, is designed to assure that the people are fairly apprised, "through such publication of legislative proceedings as is usually made, of the subjects of legislation that are being considered in order that they have [an] opportunity of being heard thereon...." Small, 356 S.W.2d at 868.

Finally, article IV, section 26, permits the governor a line item veto of those portions of appropriations bills with which the chief executive disagrees. The governor's line item veto over appropriations exists precisely because the Constitution expressly permits the General Assembly to include multiple subjects in appropriation bills. Mo. Const. art. III, § 23. Because the governor may not employ a line item veto over legislation generally, the effect of the Constitution's single subject rule is to prevent the legislature from forcing the governor into a take-it-or-leave-it choice when a bill addresses one subject in an odious manner and another subject in a way the governor finds meritorious. Thus, by limiting the subjects a bill may address to one, the Constitution maintains appropriate checks by the governor over legislative...