When did Arkansas Acts from the 2018 fiscal session take effect if they had no emergency clause and no specified effective date?
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This page answers the general question as of 2018. Ezel answers yours: what it means for your facts, under current Arkansas law, with citations.
Plain-English summary
Secretary of State Mark Martin asked AG Leslie Rutledge to identify the effective date of acts passed during the fiscal session of the 91st Arkansas General Assembly that did not include an emergency clause or specify their own effective date.
Arkansas's default rule is that an act with no special trigger takes effect on the 91st day after the session adjourns. The reason is structural: Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution (codified at Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1) gives Arkansas voters 90 days from final adjournment to circulate a referendum petition against any act. Acts can't take effect until that referendum window has closed. Fulkerson v. Refunding Board fixed the rule and the day-counting convention.
The fiscal session adjourned sine die on March 12, 2018. Counting from March 13 (the first full day), the 90th day was June 10, 2018, which fell on a Sunday. Per Richardson v. Martin, when the petition-filing deadline lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day. So the deadline shifted to Monday, June 11, 2018, and acts without an emergency clause or specified effective date became law on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.
This is the kind of mechanical AG opinion that the Secretary of State's office relies on for publishing dates and that practitioners use to confirm when a law actually applies.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2018. 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
Q: Why doesn't an Arkansas Act take effect right when it's signed?
A: Because Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution gives the people a 90-day window after final adjournment to file a referendum petition against any act. Acts that don't carry an emergency clause and don't specify their own effective date have to wait out that window before they become law.
Q: How is the 90-day window counted?
A: The day of adjournment is excluded (it isn't a full day). Counting starts the next day. The act becomes effective on the 91st day. If the 90th day (the petition deadline) falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline rolls forward to the next business day, and the act becomes effective on the day after the rolled deadline.
Q: Where did the day-rolling rule come from?
A: From Richardson v. Martin, 2014 Ark. 429, 444 S.W.3d 855, which held that a ballot-initiative petition deadline falling on a legal holiday must be extended to the next non-weekend, non-holiday business day. The Court reasoned that to compute otherwise would unconstitutionally restrict the people's referendum rights.
Q: When did the 2018 fiscal session adjourn?
A: March 12, 2018, sine die.
Q: What was the resulting effective date for non-emergency acts from that session?
A: Tuesday, June 12, 2018.
Q: What if an act had an emergency clause?
A: An emergency clause makes an act effective immediately upon approval (signature, override, or other constitutional path), bypassing the 90-day waiting period. The same is true if the act specifies its own delayed effective date in the text.
Q: Why does this date matter in practice?
A: A statute that's not yet effective can't be enforced. Tax changes, licensing rules, criminal penalties, and program eligibility cutoffs all turn on the precise day the law applies. The AG's mechanical calculation lets agencies, courts, and counsel start clocks running on the right date.
Background and statutory framework
Amendment 7, now codified at Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1, established Arkansas's initiative and referendum machinery. The 90-day post-adjournment referendum window is the constitutional anchor for the default-effective-date rule. Fulkerson v. Refunding Board established the operating presumption that acts not carrying an emergency clause take effect at the close of that window.
Arkansas conducts a regular session in odd-numbered years and a fiscal session in even-numbered years. The fiscal session is more limited in scope but produces acts that go through the same constitutional effective-date machinery. Sine die adjournment is the trigger event for the 90-day count.
When the deadline falls on a non-business day, Richardson v. Martin extends it to the next business day, applying a constitutional construction in favor of the people's rights.
Citations and references
Constitutional provisions:
- Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1 (Amendment 7 referendum)
Cases:
- Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 147 S.W.2d 980 (1941) (default effective-date rule)
- Richardson v. Martin, 2014 Ark. 429, 444 S.W.3d 855 (deadline rolls when it falls on weekend or holiday)
Source
Original opinion text
Opinion No. 2018-073
July 5, 2018
The Honorable Mark Martin
Secretary of State
Arkansas State Capitol, Room 256
Little Rock, AR 72201-1094
Dear Secretary Martin:
This is in response to your request for my opinion regarding the effective date of legislation passed during the Fiscal Session of 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 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. 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 March 12, 2018. Starting with March 13, 2018 (the first full day after adjournment), the 90th day in this case is June 10, 2018, which is a Sunday. Because the 90th day is a Sunday, the petition-filing deadline moves to Monday, June 11, 2018. This means that acts passed during the Fiscal Session of the Ninety-First Arkansas General Assembly with no emergency clause or specified effective date become effective on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.
Sincerely,
Leslie Rutledge
Attorney General
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