A N.D.ns For Lower Prescription Drug Prices v. Jaeger

• Citation: 788 N.W.2d 586
• Decision Date: 07 September 2010
• Docket Number: No. 20100272.,20100272.
• Parties: Eric M. THOMPSON, as Chairman of the Sponsoring Committee a/k/a North Dakotans for Lower Prescription Drug Prices, Petitioner v. Alvin A. (Al) JAEGER, Secretary of State of the State of North Dakota, Respondent.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of North Dakota

788 N.W.2d 586

Eric M. THOMPSON, as Chairman of the Sponsoring Committee a/k/a North Dakotans for Lower Prescription Drug Prices, Petitioner

v.Alvin A. (Al) JAEGER, Secretary of State of the State of North Dakota, Respondent.

No. 20100272.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Sept. 7, 2010.

Daniel M. Traynor (argued), Devils Lake, N.D., and Richard Westfall (on brief) and Ryan R. Call (on brief), Hale Westfall LLP, Denver, CO, pro hac vice, for petitioner.

Wayne K. Stenehjem (argued), Attorney General, Office of Attorney General, Bismarck, N.D., and Douglas Alan Bahr (appeared), Solicitor General, Office of Attorney General, Bismarck, N.D. for respondent.

SANDSTROM, Justice.

[¶ 1] The right to initiate and refer laws is part of the fabric of our liberty as North Dakotans. The people of North Dakota-through the state constitution-have reserved to themselves this check on the legislative process. But the people of North Dakota-through the state constitution-have also specified mandatory requirements for the exercise of this right to initiate and refer laws.

[¶ 2] Eric M. Thompson, as Chairman of the Sponsoring Committee of North Dakotans for Lower Prescription Drug Prices, asks this Court to order Secretary of State Alvin Jaeger to place an initiated measure on the November 2, 2010, general election ballot. The plain language of N.D. Const. art. III as enacted by the people requires petitions for initiated measures, including petitions circulated for signatures, to contain the names and addresses of the sponsors. Because the Sponsoring Committee failed to comply with the mandatory constitutional requirement that circulated petitions contain the sponsors' names and addresses, the Secretary of State correctly determined that the petitions submitted to him in this case were insufficient. We deny Thompson's request to direct the Secretary of State to place the initiated measure on the ballot for the November 2, 2010, general election.

I

[¶ 3] In October 2009, the Sponsoring Committee submitted a petition to the Secretary of State, under N.D. Const. art. III, for an initiated measure to amend N.D.C.C. § 43-15-35 to remove certain statutory provisions regarding corporate ownership and operation of a pharmacy in North Dakota. The petition submitted to the Secretary of State included a page listing the names and addresses of the twenty-five sponsors of the initiated measure. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem approved a statement drafted by the Secretary of State summarizing the initiated measure for inclusion within the petition, and the Sponsoring Committee inserted the statement into the appropriate section of the petition and resubmitted the petition to the Secretary of State. The parties do not dispute the resubmitted petition also included a correction to the page listing the sponsors' names and addresses. The Secretary of State approved the petition for printing and for circulation for signatures on October 20, 2009, and he informed Thompson the minimum number of qualified elector signatures necessary to place the initiated measure on the ballot was 12,844.

[¶ 4] On August 4, 2010, the Sponsoring Committee submitted 526 petitions containing nearly 14,000 signatures to the Secretary of State. According to a representative for North Dakotans for Lower Drug Prices, there were “at least 12,905 valid signatures on the petitions.” On August 5, 2010, the Secretary of State decided the 526 petitions that had been circulated for signatures and submitted to him were insufficient to place the initiated measure on the November 2, 2010, general election ballot, because those circulated petitions did not contain the first page of the approved petition listing the names and addresses of the twenty-five sponsors. The Sponsoring Committee refiled the page containing the names and addresses of the twenty-five sponsors from the initial petition submitted to the Secretary of State and asked him to approve the initiated measure for the November 2, 2010, general election ballot. The Secretary of State again decided the 526 petitions were insufficient to place the initiated measure on the general election ballot, because those petitions did not include the names and addresses of the twenty-five sponsors and were not circulated for signatures in their entirety.

[¶ 5] Thompson petitioned this Court to review the Secretary of State's decision. We have jurisdiction to review the Secretary of State's decision under N.D. Const. art. III, §§ 6 and 7. See Municipal Servs. Corp. v. Kusler, 490 N.W.2d 700, 701-02 (N.D.1992).

II

[¶ 6] Thompson argues the plain language of N.D. Const. art. III does not require petitions circulated for signatures to include the cover page with the sponsors' names and addresses. Thompson argues the Secretary of State was wrong in interpreting the state constitutional provisions and a related statutory provision to mean that every copy of a petition circulated for signatures must be accompanied by a sponsor page listing the names and addresses of the twenty-five sponsors. Thompson argues N.D. Const. art. III, § 2, “speaks only to the Secretary's approval, not to the form in which the petition must be circulated.” Thompson argues that provision must be read in conjunction with N.D. Const. art. III, § 3, to provide that petitions circulated for signatures need not be accompanied by a sponsor page because the circulated petitions “shall become part of the original petition when filed” and the original sponsor page suffices for all the circulated petitions. Thompson also argues, to the extent N.D.C.C. § 16.1-01-09(2) requires circulated petitions be accompanied by a cover page listing the sponsors' names and addresses, that statute imposes a requirement not contained in N.D. Const. art. III and violates the constitutional principle that “[l]aws may be enacted to facilitate and safeguard, but not to hamper, restrict, or impair” the initiative process under N.D. Const. art III, § 1.

[¶ 7] “Principles of construction applicable to statutes are generally available to construction of the Constitution.” McCarney v. Meier, 286 N.W.2d 780, 783 (N.D.1979). In Kelsh v. Jaeger, 2002 ND 53, ¶ 7, 641 N.W.2d 100, we outlined several principles for construing constitutional provisions:

When interpreting the state constitution, our overriding objective is to give effect to the intent and purpose of the people adopting the constitutional statement. City of Bismarck v. Fettig, 1999 ND 193, ¶ 8, 601 N.W.2d 247. The intent and purpose of a constitutional provision is to be determined, if possible, from the language itself. State ex rel. Heitkamp v. Hagerty, 1998 ND 122, ¶ 13, 580 N.W.2d 139. We give words in a constitutional provision their plain, ordinary, and commonly understood meaning. Tormaschy v. Hjelle, 210 N.W.2d 100, 102 (N.D.1973). When interpreting constitutional provisions, we apply general principles of statutory construction. Hagerty, at ¶ 13. We must give effect and meaning to every provision and reconcile, if possible, apparently inconsistent provisions. State ex rel. Sanstead v. Freed, 251 N.W.2d 898, 908 (N.D.1977). We presume the people do not intend absurd or ludicrous results in adopting constitutional provisions, and we therefore construe such provisions to avoid those results.

North Dakota Comm'n on Med. Competency v. Racek, 527 N.W.2d 262, 266 (N.D.1995).

Thompson, in essence, argues the term “petition” in section 2 has a different meaning than “petition” in section 3. But this Court has recognized a word or a phrase repeated in a statute is given the same meaning throughout the statute. State v. E.W. Wylie Co., 79 N.D. 471, 481, 58 N.W.2d 76, 82 (1953). See generally 82 C.J.S., Statutes § 388 (2009) ( “Courts ordinarily presume, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that identical words used in different parts of the same statute are intended to have the same meaning throughout the act.”).

[¶ 8] Article III, N.D. Const., deals with “powers reserved to the people” and delineates those powers in § 1:

While the legislative power of this state shall be vested in a legislative assembly consisting of a senate and a house of representatives, the people reserve the power to propose and enact laws by the initiative, including the call for a constitutional convention; to approve or reject legislative Acts, or parts thereof, by the referendum; to propose and adopt constitutional amendments by the initiative; and to recall certain elected officials. This article is self-executing and all of its provisions are mandatory. Laws may be enacted to facilitate and safeguard, but not to hamper, restrict, or impair these powers.

(Emphasis added.)

[¶ 9] Article III, § 2, N.D. Const., provides, in relevant part:

A petition to initiate or to refer a measure must be presented to the secretary of state for approval as to form. A request for approval must be presented over the names and signatures of twenty-five or more electors as sponsors, one of whom must be designated as chairman of the sponsoring committee. The secretary of state shall approve the petition for circulation if it is in proper form and contains the names and addresses of the sponsors and the full text of the measure.

(Emphasis added.)

[¶ 10] Article III, § 3, N.D. Const., provides:

The petition shall be circulated only by electors. They shall swear thereon that the electors who have signed the petition did so in their presence. Each elector signing a petition shall also write in the date of signing and his post-office address. No law shall be enacted limiting the number of copies of a petition. The copies shall become part of the original petition when filed.

Other mandatory provisions of that self-executing article identify the number of electors necessary to sign the petition, the time for submitting the petition to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State's obligation to pass on the sufficiency of the petition, this Court's review of the...