## Facts

- The Washington Legislature enacted Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 3333, the Motorcycle Dealers’ Franchise Act, a nonappropriation statute regulating relationships between motorcycle manufacturers and dealers.
- The Act consisted of multiple numbered sections with numerous subsections.
- The Washington Constitution (art. III, § 12, amend. 62) authorizes the governor to veto “one or more sections” of a bill but, for nonappropriation bills, forbids objection to “less than an entire section”; broader veto authority applies to “sections or appropriation items” in appropriation bills.
- The governor vetoed four sections in their entirety and also vetoed numerous phrases, sentences, and subsections within other numbered sections.
- The Legislature did not override the vetoes, and the Act took effect as enacted with the governor’s vetoes.
- A motorcycle dealers trade association sought declaratory relief invalidating all vetoes of less than entire sections, while accepting the validity of the full-section vetoes.
- The Legislature and two legislators intervened as plaintiffs; a motorcycle manufacturers trade association intervened as a defendant.
- The trial court used a “separate-subject” test to uphold some partial vetoes and invalidate others, leading to cross-appeals.

## Issues

1. Whether Wash. Const. art. III, § 12 (amend. 62) permits the governor to veto less than an entire numbered section of a nonappropriation bill (e.g., words, sentences, or subsections).
2. Whether a “separate-subject” test can justify partial vetoes within a numbered section despite the constitutional text limiting vetoes in nonappropriation bills to entire sections.

## Decision

- The Washington Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part.
- The court held the governor may not veto less than an entire section of a nonappropriation bill.
- All purported vetoes of phrases, sentences, and subsections within numbered sections were declared void and unconstitutional.
- The governor’s vetoes of entire sections were upheld as valid.
- The case was remanded to give effect to the Act as passed, minus only the valid full-section vetoes.

## Legal Principles

- Under Wash. Const. art. III, § 12 (amend. 62), the governor may veto only entire sections of a nonappropriation bill, not parts of a section.
- The constitution permits veto of “appropriation items” only in appropriation bills; that authority does not extend to general legislation.
- Courts may not replace the constitution’s section-based veto limitation with a judicially created “separate-subject” standard.
- Allowing word-, sentence-, or subsection-level vetoes in nonappropriation bills would permit executive redrafting of legislation and conflict with separation of powers.

## Conclusion

The court construed the constitutional veto clause according to its text: for nonappropriation bills, the governor’s veto power stops at the level of an entire numbered section, making partial vetoes within a section ineffective and leaving the statute operative as enacted except for any sections vetoed in full.


Wash. State Motorcycle Dealers Ass'n v. State, 111 Wash. 2d 667, 763 P.2d 442 (1988)