224 Tenn. 664, 461 S.W.2d 389
D.M.C. CORP. et al., Appellees-Complainants,
v.
Thomas H. SHRIVER et al., Appellants-Defendants.
Supreme Court of Tennessee.
Dec. 7, 1970.
*665 DYER, Chief Justice.
This case presents the issue of whether a bill
introduced into the Legislature is required to
contain more than the title at the time it
passes first and second readings in order to
comply with Article 2, Section 18, of the
Constitution of the State of Tennessee.
On February 4, 1970, Senate Bill No. 1738
was introduced, containing only a title in
words and figures as follows:
SENATE BILL NO. 1738
By Ayres
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code
Annotated, Section 39--2017 relating to
lotteries and the penalty for engaging
therein.
*666 On February 4, 1970, this bill, as
introduced, passed first reading; passed
second reading on February 5, 1970, and was
referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
On February 10, 1970, the Committee
reported out this bill, as introduced,
recommending its passage. This bill, as
introduced, was placed on the Senate calendar
for February 12, 1970, where, when called up
for action on third and final reading, it was
amended to add after the title the following:
BE IT ENACTED BY THE CENTERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF
TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Section 39--2017, Tennessee
Code Annotated, is amended by adding to
the section the following:
'The organization of any chain letter club,
pyramid club, or other group organized or
brought together under any plan or device
whereby fees or dues or anything of material
value to be paid or given by members
thereof are to be paid or given to any other
member thereof, which plan or device
includes any provision for the increase in
such membership through a chain process of
new members securing other new members
and thereby advancing themselves in the
group to a position where such members in
turn receive fees, dues or things of material
value from other members, is hereby
declared to be a lottery, and whoever shall
participate in any such lottery by becoming
a member of, or affiliating with, any such
group or organization or who shall solicit
any person for membership or affiliation in
any such group or organization shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction thereof shall be punished by a
fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by
imprisonment in the county jail for a period
of three months.'
*667 SECTION 2. This act shall take effect
on becoming a law, the public welfare
requiring it.
After adoption of the above amendment, the
Senate passed this bill on third and final
reading, transmitting same to the House of
Representatives. The House amended this bill
as passed by the Senate and upon amendment
passed this bill on third and final reading.
This bill as passed by the House was
transmitted to the Senate, where, upon
motion, the Senate concurred in the House
amendment. This bill, signed by the Speakers
of both Houses, approved by the Governor,
has been designated as Chapter 510, Public
Acts of 1970.
We have not detailed all the actions taken on
this bill by the House since if this bill was not
constitutionally passed by the Senate the
action taken by the House is immaterial.
The provisions of the Constitution of
Tennessee pertinent to the issue here are
Sections 17 and 18 of Article 2, which read as
follows:
Sec. 17. Origin and frame of bills.--Bills
may originate in either House; but may be
amended, altered or rejected by the other.
No bill shall become a law which embraces
more than one subject, **391 that subject to
be expressed in the title. All acts which
repeal, revive or amend former laws, shall
recite in their caption, or otherwise, the title
or substance of the law repealed, revived or
amended.
Sec. 18. Passage of bills.--Every bill shall
be read once, on three different days, and be
passed each time in the House where it
originated, before transmission to the other.
No bill shall become a law, until it shall
*668 have been read and passed, on three
different days in each house, and shall have
received, on its final passage in each house,
the assent of a majority of the members, to
which that house shall be entitled under this
constitution; and shall have been signed by
the respective speakers in open session, the
fact of such signing to be noted on the
Journal; and shall have received the
approval of the Governor, or shall have been
otherwise passed under the provisions of
this constitution.
Section 18 requires that 'Every bill shall be
read once, on three different days, and be
passed each time in the House where it
originated * * *,' which requirement is
mandatory. Home Telegraph Co. v.
Nashville, 118 Tenn. 1, 101 S.W. 770 (1906).
Senate Bill No. 1738 was read and passed in
the Senate on three different days. The
question then is: Was Senate Bill No 1738 at
the time it passed first and second readings in
the Senate (when it contained only a title) a
'bill' as this word is used in the first sentence
of Section 18? If it were not such a 'bill' then
it has not been read and passed in the Senate
on three different days and is invalid.
We have not been cited, nor by research
found, a case directly in point on the issue
here.
The cases of Erwin v. State, 116 Tenn. 71, 93
S.W. 73 (1905), and State ex rel. Pitts v.
Nashville Baseball Club, 127 Tenn. 292, 154
S.W. 1151 (1912), dealt with alleged errors
regarding the title of certain legislative acts
and while the decisions in these cases are not
directly in point on the issue in the case at bar,
we do think some of the language used by the
Court is pertinent. The language used in these
cases was first used in the Erwin case and
*669 later copied with approval in State ex
rel. Pitts v. Nashville Baseball Club, Supra.
This language is as follows:
'Every bill has two parts, the title and the
body. The title must contain the subject of
the proposed legislation, and that subject
must be single. This was intended to serve
a two-fold purpose. The subject must be
expressed in the title, so that the members
of the Legislature may have their attention
drawn directly to the matter about which
they are to concern themselves in the
discharge of their legislative duties. A
second purpose is that the people of the
State may know what their representatives
are doing, and may interpose, if they
choose, by petition or remonstrance. The
title must be single, to prevent omnibus
legislation and logrolling.' 127 Tenn. at
300, 154 S.W. at 1153.
We think the two purposes served by the title
as set out in State ex rel. Pitts likewise apply
to the body of a bill. When the title of a bill
calls attention to a legislator or the public
generally to the subject matter of the proposed
legislation, and the legislator or the public
generally looks to see just what is proposed in
regard to this subject matter only to find
beneath the title a blank sheet of paper, then
the question arises just what purpose is the
title serving.
The statement above in State ex rel. Pitts that
'Every bill has two parts, the title and the
body' is supported by the language of Sections
17 and 18 of Article 2, of the Constitution of
Tennessee. It is insisted that this statement
standing alone is not accurate as a bill in final
form is also required to have an enacting
clause under Section 20, Article 2, which
would be a **392 third part. This argument is
in error for two reasons. First, this statement
*670 is to be read in conjunction with the
language immediately following that copied
above in this opinion. Second, the
Constitution does not divide a bill into 'parts.'
This is the language of the Court in an
opinion dealing with alleged error in the title.
This statement is not an attempt on the part of
the Court to designate just what a bill in final
form will have to contain. We consider the
Court, by this statement, meant a bill when
introduced in the Legislature would contain at
a minimum a 'title' and other language
designated as the 'body' by which language a
legislator or the public generally could be
informed on just what the law relating to the
subject matter would be if this bill should be
finally enacted as a statute.
[1] In argument to sustain the validity of the
statute in question our attention is called to
the fact on third and final reading a bill can be
amended to any extent, even to striking the
body of the bill and substituting the
amendment therefor so long as the
amendment is germane to and within the
scope of the title. Southern Ry. Railroad Co.
v. Memphis, 126 Tenn. 267, 148 S.W. 662
(1912); Forrester v. City of Memphis, 159
Tenn. 16, 15 S.W.2d 739 (1929). We agree
this statement is correct and such procedure is
authorized by Section 17, Article 2, of the
Constitution of Tennessee. We do not agree
such is either controlling or persuasive on the
issue here.
[2] It has been further called to our attention
there is a line of cases holding that when a bill
has passed both Houses of the Legislature,
signed by the Speakers, approved by the
Governor, and published, then every
reasonable presumption and inference will be
indulged in favor of the regularity of its
passage unless the Journals furnish
affirmative proof to the contrary. State ex rel.
*671 Thompson v. Davis, 146 Tenn. 287, 240
S.W. 762 (1922). In the case at bar the Senate
Journal affirmatively reflects that when
Senate Bill No. 1738 passed the Senate on
first and second readings, it contained only a
title. The holding in State ex rel. Thompson
and cases therein cited are not applicable to
the case at bar.
It results and we so hold a 'bill' introduced in
the Legislature containing only a title is not a
'bill' within the meaning of this word as used
in the first sentence of Section 18, Article 2,
of the Constitution of Tennessee.
The judgment of the chancellor holding
Chapter 510, Public Acts of 1970 to be invalid
is affirmed.
CHATTIN, CRESON, HUMPHREYS and
McCANLESS, JJ., concur.
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