When will new laws become effective?
By David Ferguson
Determining the effective dates of new laws (called Acts) can sound confusing, but it is relatively simple. Some laws have what is called an “emergency clause” at the end which will tell you when the law becomes effective. For new laws without an emergency clause, the effective date is calculated based on a certain number of days after the General Assembly adjourns without the option to come back.
LAWS WITHOUT AN EMERGENCY CLAUSE
For laws that do not have an emergency clause, their effective date is the 91st day after the General Assembly adjourns without the option to come back. This is called “sine die adjournment.”
The Arkansas General Assembly has not yet adjourned sine die but is expected to on May 1, 2023. Assuming the General Assembly does not extend the session and adjourns on that day, then the 91st day after May 1 will be July 31, 2023 and that will be the effective date of new laws that do not have an emergency clause.
Why 91 days? The Arkansas Constitution allows the people 90 days after sine die adjournment to file a referendum petition for an election to keep a law that does not have an emergency clause from becoming effective. The 91st day is the day after the 90-day period for filing a referendum. You start counting the 91 days beginning with the day after sine die adjournment.
If a referendum petition receives enough signatures to cause an election, then the law can’t become effective until after the election. A referendum election is an extremely rare event.
LAWS WITH AN EMERGENCY CLAUSE
To avoid having to wait until the 91st day after sine die adjournment, the new law must have an emergency clause declaring why a sooner date is necessary. An emergency clause must be approved by a two-thirds majority in both the Arkansas Senate and the Arkansas House. The emergency clause will either specify a specific date for the legislation to become effective or will state that the law becomes effective immediately, which is generally the date the law is signed by the Governor. The approval date will appear at the bottom of the new Act. More about emergency clauses later.
EFFECTIVE DATE VERSUS WHEN THE LAW WILL APPLY
Normally the effective date of a law will also be the date its provisions begin to apply. But sometimes a law will delay the “application” of certain provisions far into the future. In other words, the provision in the law has become effective, but it does’t apply yet. For example, a tax bill may become effective immediately, but sometimes parts of the law do not apply until a future tax year.
MORE THAN YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT EMERGENCY CLAUSES
Some facts about emergency clauses:
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- The emergency clause on budget laws will state the law becomes effective on July 1. That date is always chosen because it is the beginning of Arkansas’ new budget year.
- Some emergency clauses say the new law becomes effective immediately. The date will be noted on the new Act, and you can see the notation on the Act on the General Assembly’s website. (The effective date will be determined by one of three events: 1. The most common event is the date on which the Governor approves the bill; 2. If the Governor neither signs nor vetoes the bill, then upon the expiration of the time for the Governor to veto the bill; or 3. If the bill is vetoed and the legislature overrides the veto, then the date the last chamber overrides the veto.)
- Occasionally, an emergency clause will direct that some sections of the bill will become effective on a specific date and that other sections will become effective on a different date or even will allow some sections to become effective on the normal date for bills without an emergency clause.
The LEARNS Act (Act 237 of 2023) provides an example of a complicated looking emergency clause. The emergency clause provides for parts of the law to become effective on different dates. It is a 145-page law, so it is not surprising that some parts of it need to become effective at different times. The emergency clause, section 73, is also long, almost three pages, as follows:
- Subsection (a) tells you sections 1-6, 8, 11-21, 23-31, 35, 37-42, 44, 46-57, and 59 became effective immediately. Remember when it says “immediately” look at the bottom of the law and it will tell you the date the law was approved. In this case it says “APPROVED: 3/8/23” and that is the effective date for those sections.
- Subsection (b) says sections 58 and 60-70 become effective July 1, 2023.
- Subsection (c) says sections 7, 9-10, 22, 32-34, 36, 43, and 45 become effective on June 30, 2023.
- The emergency clause does not mention sections 71 or 72. That means those two sections become effective on the date that laws without an emergency clause become effective, which is the 91st day after sine die adjournment.
WAITING FOR THE LEGISLATURE TO ADJOURN
As noted before, new Acts without an emergency clause become effective 91 days after sine die adjournment. Now we just need to wait to see whether the General Assembly adjourns on May 1. If they do, the effective date for laws without an emergency clause is July 31, 2023. If they don’t adjourn on May 1, then the effective date will be 91 days after whatever date they adjourn sine die.
I’ll just mention that there is another rule on effective dates if the General Assembly goes into a long recess of more than 90 days, but there is no need to mention it because such a recess is not expected.
Don’t have a copy of a new Act? All the new laws are available online at arkleg.state.ar.us . Near the top of the page, you can type in the Act number or the bill number. (Here is an example of a Senate bill number, SB101, and an example of a House bill number. HB1100.) Don’t know either number, but you heard there is a new Act on a particular subject? The General Assembly’s webpage lets you word search for the Act just like a Google search. Use this link to word search the Acts, and make sure you click the box to only search 2023 Acts.
David Ferguson is a former Director of Arkansas’ Bureau of Legislative Research, having a thirty-two-year career as an attorney for the Arkansas legislature. After retirement from state service, his primary focus has been beef cattle farming. He is also a former officer of Conduit for Action.
