When did acts of the 2015 First Extraordinary Session of the Arkansas General Assembly take effect if they carried no emergency clause and no specified effective date?
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This page answers the general question as of 2015. Ezel answers yours: what it means for your facts, under current Arkansas law, with citations.
Plain-English summary
Secretary of State Mark Martin asked the AG to pin down a single date: when did acts of the First Extraordinary Session of the 90th General Assembly take effect, if those acts carried neither an emergency clause nor a specified effective date? The session adjourned sine die on May 28, 2015.
The Attorney General's answer was August 27, 2015. The rule traces back to Amendment 7 of the Arkansas Constitution (codified at Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1), which gives the people ninety days after final adjournment to file a referendum petition against an act. The Arkansas Supreme Court confirmed in Fulkerson v. Refunding Board that this ninety-day period is also the standard delay before non-emergency acts take effect. The day of adjournment does not count toward the ninety days because it is not a full day on which petitions can be filed. Starting from the first full day after adjournment (May 29, 2015) and counting ninety full days, the acts became effective on day ninety-one. From May 29, 2015, day ninety-one is August 27, 2015.
The opinion was short and mechanical. It restated the long-settled Arkansas rule, applied it to one set of facts (sine die on May 28, 2015), and gave the resulting date.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2015. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Common questions
Why are non-emergency acts delayed at all?
Because Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution lets the people refer most acts to a popular vote by filing a referendum petition within ninety days of the legislature's final adjournment. If an act took effect the day it was signed, the referendum right could be defeated before the people had a chance to exercise it. So the default rule, traced back to Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, is that a non-emergency act with no specified effective date does not take effect until the referendum window has closed.
Why doesn't the day of adjournment count?
Because Amendment 7 gives the people ninety full days. Adjournment can happen at any time on a calendar day; counting that partial day toward the ninety would shave time off the referendum window. The opinion explained that the day of adjournment is "not a full day during which petitions may be filed," so the count begins on the next day.
How would the date change with an emergency clause or a specified effective date?
The 91st-day rule is only the default. An act with a valid emergency clause takes effect immediately on passage (subject to Amendment 7's separate constraints on emergency clauses). An act with a specified effective date takes effect on that date. This opinion addressed only acts that had neither.
Does the rule apply to extraordinary sessions the same as regular sessions?
Yes. The opinion treated the First Extraordinary Session of the 90th General Assembly under the same Amendment 7 rule the AG would apply to any legislative session, because Amendment 7's text and Fulkerson's reasoning turn on adjournment, not on the type of session.
Where in the Arkansas Code is the 91st-day rule written down?
It is not in a single code section so much as a constitutional rule. Amendment 7 (codified at Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1) sets the ninety-day referendum window. Fulkerson translated that into the default effective-date rule. Practitioners working from the code alone will not find a freestanding statute on it; they have to start with the constitution.
Background and statutory framework
Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution, ratified in 1920 and codified at Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1, is the source of the rule. Its referendum clause says the people may refer most legislation to a popular vote by filing a petition within ninety days after final adjournment of the session at which the act passed. To preserve that window, the Arkansas Supreme Court in Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 147 S.W.2d 980 (1941), held that acts without an emergency clause or a specified effective date do not take effect until the ninety-day referendum period has expired. The count begins the day after adjournment and runs for ninety full days; the act takes effect on the next day, the ninety-first.
For the First Extraordinary Session of the 90th General Assembly, the session adjourned sine die on May 28, 2015. Day one of the count was May 29, 2015. Day ninety was August 26, 2015. The effective date for any qualifying acts was day ninety-one, August 27, 2015.
Citations
- Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1 (Amendment 7)
- Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 147 S.W.2d 980 (1941)
Source
Original opinion text
Opinion No. 2015-094
August 17, 2015
The Honorable Mark Martin
Secretary of State
500 Woodlane Street
State Capitol, Room 256
STATE OF ARKANSAS
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1094
Dear Mr. Martin:
This is in response to your request for my opinion on the effective date of legislation passed during the First Extraordinary Session of the Ninetieth Arkansas General Assembly. Your request pertains to legislation that did not carry an emergency clause or a specified effective date.
Acts of the General Assembly with no emergency clause or specified effective date become effective ninety days after adjournment of the session at which they were enacted. This rule stems from Amendment 7 to the Constitution of Arkansas, which gives the people "ninety days after the final adjournment of the session" to file referendum petitions. The day of adjournment is not counted, as it is not a full day during which petitions may be filed.
Your request indicates that the General Assembly adjourned sine die on May 28, 2015. Starting with the first full day after adjournment, and counting ninety full days, acts with no emergency clause or specified effective date become effective on the ninety-first day, which in this case is August 27, 2015.
Deputy Attorney General Elisabeth A. Walker prepared the foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Attorney General
LR/EAW:cyh
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