State Ex Rel. Lofgren v. Kramer ( 1966 )

Ott, J.

(dissenting) — I dissent for the following reasons: (1) Article 3, § 12, of the state constitution, provides that “Every act which shall have passed the legislature shall be, before it becomes a law, presented to the governor.”

It is conceded that House Bill No. 714 is an act which “passed the legislature.” It was not presented to the Governor. In holding that art. 3, § 12, applies to all legislative acts except referred acts, the majority read into the constitution an exception which the framers of the constitution did not see fit to include.

(2) Amendment 7 of the state constitution expressly provides that a referendum act be enacted “by the legislature as other bills are enacted.” (Italics mine.) In order to follow the constitutional provision for the enactment of any bill, it must be presented to the Governor. Const, art. 3, § 12.

To hold as stated in the majority opinion requires that the quoted clause of Amendment 7 be deleted, and substantially the following words inserted in lieu thereof: “When passed by the House and Senate, a referendum act shall be presented directly to the secretary of state to be placed upon the ballot for approval or rejection by the people.”

(3) Amendment 7 is clear in its mandate that, after the people have voted favorably on a referred act which has been constitutionally presented to them, the Governor shall not have the power of veto.

Finally, if the legislature, in passing Amendment 7, had intended that a referendum could be referred to the people for approval or rejection by a majority vote of both the House and Senate, without presenting it to the Governor, such an intent could easily have been expressed in Amendment 7 when it was submitted by the legislature to the people. I cannot find an intent to bypass presentation to the Governor expressed in the words “[passed] by the legislature as other bills are enacted ” (Italics mine.)

For the reasons stated, House Bill No. 714 was not constitutionally enacted, and the writ of mandate should issue.