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11 This case presents questions concerning the seope of the people's initiative power under article VI of the Utah Constitution. Petitioners are Lehi City voters who sought to place on the municipal ballot initiatives regulating salaries and residency require
T2 Our consideration of this matter has caused us to reexamine our precedents defining the nature and extent of the people's power to legislate by initiative. The framework embraced in those precedents has prompted some misgivings over the years. At the core of our concern has been the difficulty of applying the test in our cases predictably and consistently.
T3 This concern is particularly troubling in a field that implicates the constitutional power of the people to initiate legislation. That power is a fundamental guardian of liberty and an ultimate protection against tyranny. Its preservation cannot be left to the whims of a doctrine whose invocation turns on the discretionary decrees of the judicial branch. Of all the branches of government, we are least suited to decide on the wisdom of allowing the people to supplant their representatives in a particular field of regulation. We are the least representative branch of government. There is a troubling irony in our making discretionary calls on the propriety of acts by the ultimate repository of regulatory power. We must assure that our decisions on such vital matters are dictated by law, not by our individual preferences.
T4 With this in mind, we return to first principles to examine the nature and seope of the people's initiative power. In the paragraphs below, we evaluate the text and strue-ture of article VI of the Utah Constitution and analyze its meaning in historical perspective. From those materials we develop a legal framework for delineating the people's initiative power that is consistent with the text and original meaning of article VL.
T5 This page of history outweighs the volume of logic in our existing precedent. Thus, we abandon the framework set forth in Citizen's Awareness Now v. Marakis, 873 P.2d 1117 (Utah 1994), and refined in subsequent cases, replacing it with a standard that defines the people's initiative power on the basis of the nature of the power to effect "legislation," as that term is traditionally understood.
16 In so doing, we do not envision a fundamental change in the ultimate breadth of the initiative power. Our new framework is not aimed at overturning the results of most of our prior decisions in this area. We aim to clarify the law and to bring it in line with the text and original meaning of the constitution, not to overrule the results of many of our eases. Thus, our decision today is sensitive to and ultimately consistent with the doctrine of stare decisis. That doctrine recognizes that "people should know what their legal rights are as defined by judicial precedent, and having conducted their affairs in reliance on such rights, ought not to have them swept away by judicial fiat." Austad v. Austad, 2 Utah 2d 49, 269 P.2d 284, 290 (1954). A decision to clarify unworkable precedent does not undermine but advances that goal, particularly where we preserve the results of most of our prior cases. See id.
7 Applying our new standard, we uphold the initiatives proposed by petitioners as properly legislative and reject Lehi City's various objections to placing them on the ballot.
I
{8 In December 2010, a group of Lehi City voters sought to amend two city ordinances by submitting to the city recorder two voter initiatives for inclusion in the 2011 municipal election ballot. Initiative One sought to set "maximum salary and total compensation limits" on all salaried city employees. Initiative Two sought to impose a city residency requirement for certain city employees. Each initiative garnered more than the minimum number of registered voter signa
T9 In a May 2011 council meeting, the Lehi City Council determined that the proposed amendments were not valid exercises of the voters' power to initiate legislation, and adopted a resolution directing the city recorder to refuse to place them on the November 2011 election ballot. The resolution stated the council's conclusions that "both initiatives are legally insufficient in that they: i) are not the proper subject of an initiative petition because they are administrative in nature; i) may be an unconstitutional impairment of contract; [and] ii) conflict with state law."
110 Upon learning of the council's decision, three of the initiatives' sponsors filed a petition for writ of extraordinary relief directly in this court as authorized by Utah Code section 20¥-7-507. The petitioners contend that Initiatives One and Two are proper exercises of initiative power under article VI of the Utah Constitution and that the initiatives should be submitted for voter approval in the next municipal election. We agree with the petitioners: The subject matter of Initiatives One and Two is legislative in nature; the initiatives do not conflict with state law because Utah Code section 10-3-818, invoked by the City, does not apply to voter initiatives; and the City's remaining arguments are not ripe for review.
II
T11 Lehi City raises a threshold timing issue. The City notes that under Utah Code section 20A-7-507(5)(a), a voter petition for an extraordinary writ on an initiative is due "within 10 days after the refusal" of the initiative by the "local clerk." Because the Lehi City Recorder refused the proposed initiatives in a letter dated May 18, 2011, the City contends that the extraordinary writ was due by statute on June 2, 2011, and was thus untimely when filed one day later on June 8.
12 In calculating the petition's statutory due date, the City counts only business days, as provided by Utah Rule of Appellate Procedure 22(a), but does not add three additional days based on the use of the mail for service, as sometimes called for by Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 6(e). The timeliness of petitioner's filing turns on the applicability of this latter provision. If the three-day addition contemplated by rule 6(e) applies here, the petition in this case was timely. Otherwise, it was late and subject to dismissal.
T13 By its terms, rule 6(e) has no application here. It adds three days only for filings required "within a prescribed period after the service of a notice or other paper upon [the party]" and only if "the notice or paper is served ... by mail." Utah R. Civ. P. 6(e). The extraordinary writ at issue here is not such a filing, as it is required not "within a prescribed period after the service of a notice or other paper," but within a prescribed period after a certain action (refusal of the initiative). Rule 6(e)'s three-day addition, in other words, is properly invoked only where the time period is triggered by service, and not by some other action.
114 Applying that interpretation to this case would result in dismissal of the petition as untimely. Petitioners note, however, that this approach is inconsistent with our decision in Low v. City of Monticello, 2002 UT 90, 54 P.3d 1153. Low asserted, without analysis, that rule 6(e) extended the ten-day period under section 20A-7-
I 15 We overrule Low insofar as it adopted a construction of rule 6(e) that is contrary to its text. Rule 6(e) has no application to the ten-day filing requirement for extraordinary writs under section 20A-7-507(5)(a), as the statutory period is triggered by refusal of an initiative and not its service to a party. We apply our holding only prospectively, however, in recognition of petitioner's reasonable reliance on the Low opinion. See Merrill v. Utah Labor Comm'n, 2009 UT 74, ¶ 5, 223 P.3d 1099 (court may foreclose "retroactive operation of [a] ruling where [an] overruled law has been justifiably re lied upon" (internal quotation marks omitted)). - Litigants ought to be able to rely on our constructions of our rules and statutes, particularly on matters as critical as the timing standards for filing deadlines. Thus, we do not extend our holding on this issue to the petitioners in this case, as they were entitled to rely on our opinion in Low and should not be punished for accepting it as con trolling so long as it stood unreversed.
III
116 Lehi City's central contention is that Initiatives One and Two are "administrative in nature" and thus not "appropriate for voter participation." We disagree with Lehi and hold that Initiatives One and Two are proper exercises of the people's legislative power.
1117 Article VI, section 1 of the Utah Constitution vests "Legislative power" in "the people of the State of Utah" and provides for its exercise through ballot initiatives and referenda. Under this provision, our cases have long recognized a general limit on the people's initiative power. An initiative is appropriate if it is "legislative," but ultra vires it it is "administrative." - Citizen's Awareness Now v. Marakis, 873 P.2d 1117, 1122 (Utah 1994).
118 Under article V of the Utah Constitution,
The powers of the government of the State of Utah shall be divided into three distinct departments, the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial; and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments, shall exercise any functions appertaining to either of the others, except in the cases herein expressly directed or permitted.5
Article VI, section 1 creates one of these "three distinct departments"-the "Legislative Department"-and as we have said, also vests legislative power in the people. When the people initiate legislation through article VI, they act as a body "charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to" the Legislative Department. In this role, the people are prohibited by article V from "ex-ercis[ing] any functions appertaining to either" the Executive or Judicial Departments. Accordingly, the executive and judicial powers are not available to the people in the initiative process. Stated another way, the people may initiate legislation, but they lack the authority to execute the law or to adjudicate it. In this sense, "administrative" does not mean ministerial or unimportant; it simply refers to executive power. The true limit on voter initiatives, then, is that they must be
1 19 In the following sections, we (a) elaborate on our conclusion that the people and the legislature hold parallel and coextensive legislative power; (b) describe the nature and limits of legislative power; (c) articulate a general test for distinguishing proper uses of legislative power in ballot initiatives; (d) examine the effects of this new standard on our prior cases in this area; and (e) apply our new standard to the initiatives in this case, concluding that both initiatives are proper exercises of legislative power.
A
120 We begin with some fundamental principles that are evident in the text, structure, and history of our constitution. First, the initiative power of the people is parallel to and coextensive with the power of the state legislature.
1
121 "The government of the State of Utah was founded pursuant to the people's organic authority to govern themselves."
22 Acting through the state constitution, the people of Utah divided their political power, vesting it in the various branches of government. - Article VI vests "The Legislative power of the State" in two bodies: (a) "the Legislature of the State of Utah," and (b) "the people of the State of Utah as provided in Subsection (2)." Id. art. VI, § 1(1). On its face, article VI recognizes a single, undifferentiated "legislative power," vested both in the people and in the legislature. Nothing in the text or structure of article VI suggests any difference in the power vested simultaneously in the "Legislature" and "the people.
123 Utah amended its constitution to provide for ballot initiatives in 1900, the second
{24 The Progressive movement's nationwide force impelled many states to consider constitutional amendments that provided for direct democracy in the form of initiatives and referenda.
{25 For example, throughout the debates in Massachusetts and Ohio, delegates acknowledged that the people are the ultimate source of sovereign power
T 26 The adoption of initiative and referendum amendments raised questions in many state courts regarding the power allocated between the people and the legislature. In early judicial interpretations of article VI and similar constitutional provisions in other states, courts generally understood that the people and the legislature hold parallel and coextensive power.
127 In one of the first Utah cases interpreting article VI, Justice Larson explained that through ballot initiative, the people are a "legislative body coequal in power" with the legislature. Utah Power & Light Co. v. Provo City, 94 Utah 203, 74 P.2d 1191, 1205 (1937) (Larson, J., concurring). The Supreme Court of Washington stated that
2
1 28 The people's legislative power may be exercised at cither a statewide or local level. Article VI, section 1(2) distinguishes statewide and local initiatives but affirms that the initiative power at both levels is coextensive with the power vested in the legislature.
129 Under subsection (2)(a), "legal voters of the State" are authorized to "initiate any desired legislation and cause it to be submitted to the people for adoption," subject only to the "conditions," "manner," and "time provided by statute." Urax Congr. art. VI, § 1(2)(a) (emphasis added). - Subsection (2)(b) recognizes parallel power of "legal voters of any county, city, or town"-to "initiate any desired legislation and cause it to be submitted to the people of the county, city, or town for adoption," again subject only to the "conditions," "manner," and "time provided by statute." Id. § (2)(b) (emphasis added).
180 These two provisions recognize a relatively unlimited legislative power reserved by the people. Whether on a statewide or local basis, the people may propose any measure that is "desired"-so long as it is "legislation," and so long as the people follow the conditions and manner prescribed by statute. And though the legislature may prescribe the "manner" and "conditions" for exercising initiative power, article VI nowhere indicates that the seope of the people's initiative power is less than that of the legislature's power, or that the initiative power is derived from or delegated by the legislature. Instead, "[ulnder our constitutional assumptions, all power derives from the people, who can delegate it to representative instruments which they create." City of Eastlake v. Forest City Enters., 426 U.S. 668, 672, 96 S.Ct. 2358, 49 L.Ed.2d 132 (1976).
131 Yet while article VI, subsection (2) authorizes the people to exercise their full legislative power by proposing "any desired
B
132 The conclusion that the people hold retained, coextensive power to adopt "legislation" leaves unresolved the question of the nature and extent of the legislative power. It may not be possible to mark the precise boundaries of that power with bright lines.
33 The starting point in our analysis is the constitutional separation of legislative, executive, and judicial powers. See UTaH Const. art. V. Our understanding of the legislative power is informed by its placement in relation to-and separation from-the executive and judicial power. Thus, we proceed to identify the hallmarks of legislative power and to describe its boundaries in part by its separation from the executive and the judicial power.
134 In the paragraphs that follow, we identify two key hallmarks of legislative power as it has historically been understood. Legislative power generally (a) involves the promulgation of laws of general applicability; and (b) is based on the weighing of broad, competing policy considerations. This power is different from the executive power, which encompasses prosecutorial or administrative acts aimed at applying the law to particular individuals or groups based on individual facts and circumstances. It is also distinguished from the judicial power, which involves the application of the law to particular individuals or groups based on their particularized cireumstances.
T35 After elaborating these elements of the legislative power (as informed by its executive and judicial counterparts), we proceed below to identify traditional examples of each. The examples are offered in recognition of the difficulty of delineating the legislative power with clear, bright lines. Because those lines are somewhat fuzzy, in other words, we offer examples to illustrate with historical pictures what we cannot describe precisely in words.
1
136 The legislative power is first defined by the work product it generates. When the government legislates, it establishes rules of general applicability. Such rules are ones that apply to everyone who engages in the type of conduct that the law addresses: "When a legislative body, whether of the state or of a local government, enacts a statute or an ordinance, that law applies to everyone within the geographical area over which that body has jurisdiction" or to everyone within a "category of persons engaged in a particular activity." Univ. of Utah v. Shurtleff, 2006 UT 51, ¶ 25, 144 P.3d 1109.
£37 This hallmark of legislative power can be highlighted by contrasting this power with its executive and judicial counterparts. Once a general rule is established by the legislature, its enforcement is left to the executive (by applying it to the particularized circumstances of individuals, through fune-tions like prosecution or licensing)
138 The legislative power is also defined by the nature of legislative decision-making. - When government legislates, it weighs broad policy considerations, not the specific facts of individual cases. "Simply stated, legislative powers are policy making powers, while executive powers are policy execution powers." Martindale v. Anderson, 581 P.2d 1022, 1027 (Utah 1978)
89 These features of the legislative power have deep historical roots. Over two hundred years ago, Chief Justice John Marshall explained that "[i]t is the peculiar province of the legislature to prescribe general rules for the government of society; the application of those rules to individuals in society would seem to be the duty of other departments." Fletcher v. Peck, 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 87, 136, 3 L.Ed. 162 (1810). The Federalist Papers acknowledged this same distinction, noting that when state legislatures had applied general laws to individual cases, they had violated the separation of powers by usurping power "belonging to the judicial department." The FEDERALIST No. 48 (James Madison).
4 40 The framers of our constitutional system of separated powers identified an important purpose for these limitations on the legislative power. They did so by highlighting a historical problem that gave rise to our constitutional framework:
One abuse that was prevalent during the Confederation was the exercise of judicial power by the state legislatures. The Framers were well acquainted with the danger of subjecting the determination of the rights of one person to the "tyranny of shifting majorities' ... It was to prevent the recurrence of such abuses that the Framers vested the executive, legislative, and judicial powers in separate branches.
INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 961-62 [103 S.Ct. 2764, 77 L.Ed.2d 317] (1983) (Powell, J., concurring) (emphasis added).
41 Thus, the constitutional limits on the legislative power are significant. By granting the legislature the power only to make laws that apply broadly, our constitutional tradition seeks to prevent unfair applications of the law to specific individuals. When the legislative power is properly used by weighing broad policy concerns to create a general "rule of conduct [that] applies to more than a few people," the concern of a tyrannical ma
1 42 The same policy is advanced by parallel constitutional provisions reflecting similar limitations on the legislative power. The Bill of Attainder Clauses of our state and federal constitutions,
148 Like the Bill of Attainder Clause, the prohibition on "private or special" laws in article VI, section 26 of the Utah Constitution can be seen as policing the separation of powers.
[EJvery one has a right to demand that he be governed by general rules, and a special statute which, without his consent, singles his case out as one to be regulated by a different law from that which is applied in all similar cases, would not be legitimate legislation, but would be such an arbitrary mandate as is not within the province of free governments.32
Thus, the special-laws prohibition is more than a guarantee that laws will be applied equally. It is a reflection of the nature of legislative power, which confirms that such power typically is limited to making laws of general applicability based on policy preferences.
2
{44 The nature of the legislative power can be further elaborated by examining historical invocations of this power and of its executive and judicial counterparts. In the criminal realm, legislation has long prescribed generally applicable standards of conduct based on broad policy considerations regarding the social implications of such conduct. Once the generally applicable rule is adopted in the legislature, however, the law's enforcement and application to individuals
145 In the criminal realm, the legislature makes threshold policy decisions on matters such as drug enforcement. It decides, for example, whether to designate a particular substance as illegal and how to punish its manufacture or sale. The product of those decisions is a statute that applies to all who fall under its general terms. That is not to say that a statute must always extend to more than one person to qualify as legislation. If the legislature identifies a new synthetic substance with properties identical to an already-illegal drug, for example, the criminalization of that new substance conceivably could apply to only one manufacturer (if, for example, there is only one source of the substance when the law is enacted).
46 Legislative policy decisions in the criminal realm are distinguishable, however, from the individualized decisions made by the executive and judicial branches in enforcing and applying the criminal law. - Criminal prosecution is the quintessential executive act.
147 Onee a particular substance is criminalized by statute, it is the executive that applies the law to those who make or deal it. Executive acts typically are based not on broad policy grounds, but on individualized, case-specific considerations as to whether the acts of a particular person fall within the general rule adopted by the legislature. Thus, the executive encompasses not just prosecutorial decisions involving proposed sanctions, but parallel acts like permitting or licensing in cireumstances where the law opts for that form of regulation.
148 The legislative and executive domains are also evident in decisions regarding certain positions or offices of government. General rules establishing the responsibilities, jurisdiction, and compensation for such offices may initially be established by the legislature. (Those rules are properly legislative, moreover, even though the terms prescribed for a single office may initially extend to the one and only officer to serve therein, since the law as written is still "general" in its application to the office and not particularized to a certain individual.) But after those terms are established, it is the executive that generally implements them, through the prototypical executive function of appointment.
1 49 Under the Utah Constitution, the governor appoints "all State and district officers whose offices are established by [the] Constitution, or which may be created by law, and whose appointment or election is not otherwise provided for." Utah Const. art. VII, § 10(1)(a). While the legislature may create government offices and specify the general duties and privileges of each office, the appointment power authorizes the governor to
T 50 Finally, the legislature and the executive are ultimately dependent on the judicial branch to resolve disputes regarding the application of legislative acts to the cireum-stances of individual cases. The work of the judiciary is to determine an individual's rights or obligations in relation "to what the existing law is," based on the specific facts and circumstances of the case.
C
151 In light of the foregoing, a ballot initiative should be deemed an appropriate legislative act where it proposes a law of general applicability. Laws that prescribe rules of conduct for the general population are squarely within the ambit of generally applicable rules, and ballot initiatives proposing such laws are per se legislative.
General application to the population as a whole is a sufficient condition to sustain the legislative propriety of a ballot initiative. But it is not a necessary condition. Legislation usually applies to "more than a few people,"
153 In questionable cases at the margins of these standards, it may be useful to consult historical examples of traditional exercises of legislative power. Thus, if a particular initiative seems close to a blurry part of the doctrinal line between the legislative and the executive, a court's decision may be informed by history. An initiative that finds longstanding parallels in statutes enacted by legislative bodies, for example, may be deemed legislative on that basis, while initiatives that seem more like traditional executive acts may be deemed to fall on that side of the line.
D
4 54 Our decision today adopts a new paradigm for evaluating the propriety of ballot initiatives under our constitution. In so doing, however, we do not intend to signal an
"55 To minimize confusion going forward, we seek here to put the framework we adopt today in the context of our prior decisions in this area. In the sections that follow, we highlight elements of our prior standards that we preserve, identify other elements that we disavow, and explain in broad strokes the implications of our new framework for the results of our prior cases.
1
156 Our precedents in this field have offered threshold statements regarding the nature of the legislative initiative power that are consistent with and complement the framework we adopt today. In Keigley v. Bench (Keigley II), 97 Utah 69, 89 P.2d 480 (1939), for example, this court articulated a standard that correctly linked the people's article VI power with the constitutional principle of separation of powers. Specifically, Keigley II acknowledged that article VI vests "legislative power-and such power only-directly in the people," and emphasized that such power does not extend to executive or judicial acts. Id. at 483. We reaffirm and expand on that principle in our decision today, which rests on the Keigley II premise that the people's legislative power is parallel to that possessed by the legislature.
157 Our cases have also offered a useful starting premise for evaluating the nature of the legislative power that is consistent with our decision today. As noted in Keigley II, the legislative power gives rise to "new law," while executive power implements a law "already in existence." Id. at 484 (internal quotation marks omitted).
158 Finally, our cases have previously stated that laws of a " permanent or general character are considered to be legislative, while those which are temporary in operation and effect are not," Id. (quoting Monahan v. Funk, 137 Or. 580, 3 P.2d 778, 779 (1931)). This principle is consistent with the framework embraced today to the extent "permanent" laws are policy-based rules of broad applicability. Courts in other jurisdictions have suggested that a government act may be "temporary" in operation in the sense that it is based on individual facts and circumstances and applies only to specific individuals.
2
159 Other elements of our jurisprudence in this field are incompatible with the nature of the legislative initiative power as outlined above. Such elements are accordingly disavowed.