Looney v. Leeper

1930 OK 455, 292 P. 365, 145 Okla. 202, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 199
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 14, 1930
Docket21651
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 1930 OK 455 (Looney v. Leeper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Looney v. Leeper, 1930 OK 455, 292 P. 365, 145 Okla. 202, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 199 (Okla. 1930).

Opinion

RILEY, J.

Petitioner, by leave of court, commenced this action in mandamus on September 2, 1030, to require respondents in their respective official capacities to submit a proposed amendment to the State Constitution to the people for their adoption or rejection at the next general election to be held in this state on November 4, 1930.

■ Senate Joint Resolution No. 5 (ch. 250, 5. L. 1923) was passed by the Legislature on March 2T. 1928, and approved by the Governor March 31, 1923, and filed with the Secretary of State under caption of State Question No. 122, Referendum Petition No. 42. It reads as follows:

“Chapter 250

“Senate Joint Resolution No. 5.

“State Officers.

“A resolution authorizing a submission, of a proposed amendment to the Constitution to the people for their approval or rejection, said proposed amendment being an amendment to section 3, article 6, of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma.

“Be it Eriacted by the People of the State of Oklahoma:

“Amendment.”

“Section 1. That the following proposed amendment to section 3, article 6, of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma, shall be referred to the people for their ratification or rejection at an election, as provided by law. Said proposed amendment shall be submitted under articles 5 and 24, of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma. Said proposed amendment being an amendment to and in lieu of section 3, article 6, of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma, as follows to wit:

“ ‘Section 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Examiner and Inspector, except a citizen of the United States of the age of not less than thirty years, and who shall have been three years next preceding such election, a qualified elector of this state.’

“Said proposed amendment shall be submitted as provided by law in the following form:

“ ‘Shall the proposed amendment be adopted?’

) Yes.

‘“( ) No.

“Said proposed amendment of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma shall, upon receiving a majority of all electors voting at said election, voting in favor of said amendment, be adopted.

‘ ‘ Submission — When.

“Section 2. The amendment herein proposed shall be submitted to the qualified electors of this state as provided by law at the next ensuing state wide primary elec- *204 ticm, or in a general state wide election which may be called prior thereto.

“Adopted by the Senate March 27, 1923.

“Adopted by the I-Ionse oí Representatives March 27, 1923.

“Approved March 31, 1923.”

By inadvertence or by mistake of law the proposed amendment to the Constitution was submitted at a special election held on October 2, 1923, but subsequently declared lost by the Governor for the reason that the same had not been properly submitted to the people, notwithstanding the question received 173,262 votes for adoption as against 86,415 votes for rejection. No submission has been made since then.

The response filed by the Attorney General herein admits all the allegations of the petition except the effectiveness of the resolution, supra, authorizing the respondents to now submit the question, but joins in the request that this court take original jurisdiction and determine the issues involved.

The only issue presented is whether Senate Joint Resolution No. 5 is now in full force and effect, and as to whether the duties of respondents are ministerial.

Section 2 of the resolution contains the following language:

“The amendment herein proposed shall be submitted to the qualified electors of this state as provided by law, at the next ensuing state wide primary election or in a general state wide election which may be called prior thereto.”

The resolution makes.no reference to the next general election to be held in this state, unless it can be said that “as provided by law” is a reference thereto, but the direction of the resolution was for the submission of the question at a primary election (the same being the primary election in August, 1924) or at a general election which may be called prior thereto, meaning August, 1924. The election last referred to could only have been a special election, as the laws of Oklahoma did not authorize a state-wide election to be held after March 31, 1923, and prior to the primary election of August, 1924.

The Senate Journal of the Ninth Legislature shows said resolution was originally adopted in the Senate by a vote of 40 to nothing, but no vote was taken on the question of submission at a special election. The House Journal shows that said resolution was immaterially amended-and passed by a vote of 63 to 16 but no vote was taken on the question of submission at a special election. The Senate Journal shows concurrence by the Senate in the amendment to the resolution by a vote of 37 to nothing. So, irrespective of the question of the necessity of a separate vote by each branch of the Legislature on the question of submission at a special election, it is apparent that 63 affirmative votes in the House did not constitute a two-thirds majority of the members of the House even though it did constitute a majority of those members present and voting.

This court held in State ex rel. Short, Attorney General, v. State Board of Equalization et al., 107 Okla. 118, 230 Pac. 743, that the requirement of the Constitution for the submission of a proposed constitutional amendment was the adoption of a resolution proposing same by a two-thirds vote of each' house, and that such two-thirds vote meant a “two-thirds vote of all the members elected to and constituting each house” and not merely two-thirds of those present and voting.

Section 1, article 2(4, Constitution:

“Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either branch of the Legislature, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall, with the yeas and nays thereon, be entered in their journals and referred by the Secretary of State to the people for their approval or rejection, at the next regular general election, except when the Legislature, by a two-thirds vote of each house, shall order a special election for that purpose. If a majority of all the electors voting at such election shall vote in favor of any amendment thereto, it shall thereby become a part of this Constitution.

“If two or more amendments are proposed, they shall be submitted in such manner that electors may vote for or against them separately.”

In the cited case it was also held:

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Bluebook (online)
1930 OK 455, 292 P. 365, 145 Okla. 202, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/looney-v-leeper-okla-1930.