In re Initiative State Question No. 10

• Decision Date: 22 June 1910
• Citation: 110 P. 647,26 Okla. 554,1910 OK 185
• Parties: In re INITIATIVE STATE QUESTION NO. 10.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

110 P. 647

26 Okla. 554, 1910 OK 185

In re INITIATIVE STATE QUESTION NO. 10.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

June 22, 1910

Syllabus by the Court.

Senate Bill No. 126 (Sess. Laws 1910, pp. 121-127, c. 66), styled "An act carrying into effect provisions relating to the initiative and referendum; prescribing the method of procedure for submitting and voting for proposed amendments to the Constitution and other propositions, and prescribing the method of appeal from petitions filed or from the ballot title; repealing sections 6, 7, and 16 of article one chapter forty-four of the Session Laws of Oklahoma 1907-8," approved by the Governor on March 17, 1910 became effective on that date.

The written notice to the Secretary of State and to the party or parties who filed the initiative petition, embodying a protest against said petition, having been filed with the Secretary of State, it becomes his duty then and there to fix a day not sooner than five days thereafter in which to hear the same, and it is not essential that such notice be served otherwise upon the party or parties filing said initiative petition.

The action of the Secretary of State in overruling a motion for continuance will not be disturbed on review here unless it affirmatively appears that he abused his discretion.

The constitutionality or validity of a proposed or initiated measure cannot be determined on a hearing before the Secretary of State.

Appeal from Order of the Secretary of State.

In the matter of Initiative State Question No. 10. From an order of the Secretary of State, there was an appeal. Affirmed.

W. H. Chappell and P. S. Nagle, for appellants.

A. C. Cruce and Fred P. Branson, for appellees.

WILLIAMS J.

1. In order to dispose of this case, it is essential to determine whether Senate Bill No. 126 (chapter 66, Sess. Laws 1910, pp. 121-127), styled, "An act carrying into effect provisions relating to the initiative and referendum; prescribing the method of procedure for submitting and voting for proposed amendments to the Constitution and other propositions, and prescribing the method of appeal from petitions filed or from the ballot title; repealing sections 6, 7, and 16 of article one, chapter forty-four of the Session Laws of Oklahoma, 1907-8," is now in force, so as to apply to this proceeding. Sections 6, 7, 16, art. 1, c. 44, Sess. Laws 1907-08, relate to the sufficiency of initiative and referendum petitions, right of appeal, speedy trial assured, title, and the canvass and return of the votes cast on initiative and referendum measures. Section 58 of article 5 of the Constitution of Oklahoma provides: "No act shall take effect until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it was passed, except enactments for carrying into effect provisions relating to the initiative and referendum. ***"

In Re Norris et al. v. Cross, secretary of State, 105 P. 1000, it is said: "The word 'enactment,' as used in the saving clause, is synonymous with the word 'act.' It is to be noted that the language of this clause excepts only 'enactments,' and not 'enactments or parts of enactments,' putting in force the initiative and referendum provisions of the Constitution. The word 'act,' as used in the general enacting clause of section 58, means a bill passed by the Legislature, as to which all of the formalities required to make it a law have been performed, and refers to the entire statute enacted, and we think that the matters excepted from the general clause were of the same character, and it was intended to except the whole statute passed as one act for the purpose of putting in force the initiative and referendum provisions, and that it was not intended that a bill, whose object and purpose was other than mentioned in the saving clause, should be included because it contains some clause or section that incidentally or directly relates to the initiative and referendum provisions. Senate Bill No. 179 consists of 70 or more sections, only 4 of which deal directly with the initiative and referendum. All the other sections pertain to matters any law upon which it was unquestionably the intention of the framers of the Constitution, and the people who adopted it, should not become effective until 90 days after the adjournment of the session of the Legislature at which it was passed, unless passed as an emergency measure, and that the people should have the right of referendum thereon. To give the saving clause the construction that any act containing a clause or provision that relates to the initiative and referendum becomes effective immediately, and is included and cannot be referred, would open the door for making numerous acts effective at once, and preventing the referendum thereon, that were not intended by the Constitution to be made effective until 90 days after the adjournment of the session at which they should be attached. A construction which is so in conflict with the purpose, and spirit of the other section of the Constitution relative to the referendum should not be given to this clause, but the strict construction should be applied. We therefore hold that only acts whose sole purpose is to put in force the initiative and referendum provisions are included within the clause of section 58, reading: 'Except enactments for carrying into effect provisions relating to the initiative and referendum.' An...