If an Arkansas bill passed in the 2017 regular session has no emergency clause and no specified effective date, when does it become law?
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This page answers the general question as of 2017. Ezel answers yours: what it means for your facts, under current Arkansas law, with citations.
Plain-English summary
In May 2017, Secretary of State Mark Martin asked AG Leslie Rutledge for the effective date of bills passed in the 91st General Assembly's regular session that lacked both an emergency clause and a specified effective date. The AG answered: August 1, 2017.
The arithmetic comes from Amendment 7 of the Arkansas Constitution. When the legislature passes an act without an emergency clause, the people have 90 days from final adjournment to file a referendum petition challenging it; the act cannot take effect during that window. Adjournment "sine die" of the 91st GA's regular session was May 1, 2017. Counting from May 2 (the first full day after adjournment), the 90th day fell on Sunday July 30, 2017. Because Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays do not count as the deadline day for petition filing (per Richardson v. Martin), the petition deadline rolled to Monday July 31. Acts therefore took effect on August 1, 2017, the day after the petition window closed.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2017. 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.
Historical context: Amendment 7's referendum window
Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution (codified at Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1) reserves to the Arkansas people the right to refer enacted legislation back to the ballot. To preserve that right, an act without an emergency clause cannot take effect until the 90-day referendum period ends. Fulkerson v. Refunding Board (1941) was the longstanding source for the rule that such acts become effective on the 91st day after final adjournment.
The day-counting rule is exact in two respects. First, the day of adjournment is excluded from the count because no full day for filing has yet elapsed. Second, when the 90th day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, Richardson v. Martin (2014) extends the petition deadline to the next business day, which in turn pushes the effective date by the same number of days, so that the act takes effect the day after the extended deadline.
Common questions
What is an "emergency clause" and why does it matter?
An emergency clause is a provision the General Assembly attaches to a bill declaring that immediate effect is necessary for public peace, health, or safety. When attached and approved by a two-thirds vote in each chamber, it makes the act effective immediately on the governor's signature, bypassing the 90-day referendum window. Without an emergency clause and without a specifically stated effective date, the act has to wait out the Amendment 7 period.
Why is the effective date August 1, not July 31?
Because July 31 was the last day for filing a referendum petition (the deadline having rolled forward from Sunday July 30). The act could not become effective until the petition window had fully closed, which meant the first full day after the deadline. That day was August 1, 2017.
What if a bill specified its own effective date?
The opinion only addressed bills without specified effective dates. If a 2017 act named its own effective date, that date controlled (subject to constitutional minimums). Many appropriation and tax bills specify their own dates for fiscal-year alignment.
Did this rule change for the extraordinary session?
Yes, the math was different. The First Extraordinary Session of the 91st GA adjourned May 3, 2017, two days later than the regular session. The AG addressed that session in a companion opinion the same day (Op. Att'y Gen. 2017-061), arriving at an August 2, 2017 effective date.
Citations
- Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1 (Amendment 7, "Referendum")
- Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 147 S.W.2d 980 (1941) (91st-day rule)
- Richardson v. Martin, 2014 Ark. 429, 444 S.W.3d 855 (deadline rolls past Saturdays, Sundays, holidays)
Source
Original opinion text
Opinion No. 2017-052
May 22, 2017
The Honorable Mark Martin
Secretary of State
500 Woodlane Street
State Capitol, Room 256
Little Rock, AR 72201-1094
Dear Secretary Martin:
This is in response to your request for my opinion on the effective date of legislation passed during the Ninety-First 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 on the 91st day after adjournment of the session in which they were enacted. This rule stems from Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution, 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 referendum petitions may be filed. Additionally, if the petition-filing deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline to file such petitions is the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
Your request states that the General Assembly adjourned sine die on May 1, 2017. Starting with May 2 (the first full day after adjournment), the 90th day in this case is July 30, 2017, which is a Sunday. Because the 90th day is on a Sunday, the petition-filing deadline is Monday, July 31, 2017. This means that acts with no emergency clause or specified effective date become effective on August 1, 2017.
Sincerely,
LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Attorney General
[Footnotes:
1 Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 147 S.W.2d 980 (1941).
2 Codified at Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1.
3 Id. (under "Referendum").
4 See generally Richardson v. Martin, 2014 Ark. 429, 444 S.W.3d 855.
5 See id. at *6, 444 S.W.3d at 859 (holding that the deadline for a ballot-initiative petition that fell on a legal holiday must be extended to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, and "[t]o compute otherwise would restrict [the people's] rights[,] which is prohibited by our Constitution.").]
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