When did four acts passed after the 93rd General Assembly’s extended recess take effect after their emergency clauses failed?

Plain-English summary

Secretary of State John Thurston asked when four acts passed after the 93rd General Assembly's extended recess took effect. The acts became law without the governor's signature, but their emergency clauses failed. The Assembly adjourned sine die on October 15, 2021.

The AG applied Amendment 7's referendum provision to acts without an effective emergency clause or specified effective date. She counted October 16 as the first full day after adjournment, January 13, 2022 as the 90th day, and January 14, 2022 as the effective date of these four acts.

Amendment 7's quoted text also has a separate rule for referendum petitions when a recess or temporary adjournment lasts longer than 90 days: filing is due within 90 days after that recess or temporary adjournment. The opinion quotes this exception but does not analyze its application to any different set of dates. Its calculation for the four acts in the request uses the reported final adjournment date.

Currency note

The January 14, 2022 date is specific to the four acts described in this opinion. For another legislative session, review its actual adjournment and recess dates, the act's effective-date language, and Amendment 7 before calculating a deadline.

What this means for you

If you administer an act from the 2021 session

For the four acts covered by the request, the AG gave January 14, 2022 as the effective date. She treated the failed emergency clauses as ineffective and counted 90 full days after the reported October 15 final adjournment.

If you evaluate a later act or referendum petition

Do not assume a long recess is always measured from the eventual sine die adjournment. The constitutional language quoted by the AG expressly gives a different petition-filing reference point when a recess or temporary adjournment lasts more than 90 days. This opinion does not work through that exception beyond quoting it.

Common questions

Why January 14, 2022?
The day of adjournment was not counted. October 16 was day one, January 13 was day 90, and the acts took effect the next day.

Did the AG say a long recess never affects the referendum deadline? No. The opinion quotes Amendment 7's long-recess exception and does not say it is irrelevant.

Did the acts' failed emergency clauses prevent them from becoming law? The request stated they became law without the governor's signature. The AG addressed their effective date after the emergency clauses failed.

Background and statutory framework

Amendment 7 says referendum petitions are due within 90 days after final adjournment of the session in which an act passed, "except when a recess or adjournment shall be taken temporarily for a longer period than ninety days," in which case the petition is due within 90 days after that recess or temporary adjournment. The AG cited Fulkerson v. Refunding Board for the effective-date framework. She then calculated the date for the four acts from the reported October 15, 2021 sine die adjournment.

Citations

• Ark. Const. amend. 7 (codified at Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1)
• Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 147 S.W.2d 980 (1941)

Source

• Landing page: https://arkansasag.gov/divisions/opinions-foia/attorney-general-opinions-search/

Original opinion text

STATE OF ARKANSAS
ATTORNEY GENERAL
LE SLI E RUTL EDGE

Opinion No. 2021-092

November 4, 2021

The Honorable John Thurston
Secretary of State
Arkansas State Capitol
Room 256
Little Rock, AR 72201

Dear Secretary Thurston:

This is in response to your request for my opinion on the effective date of four pieces of legislation passed after the extended recess of the 93d General Assembly, which adjourned sine die on October 15, 2021 . Your request states your understanding that while the four acts passed and became law without the Governor's signature, the emergency clauses contained in the acts failed to pass.

RESPONSE

Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution 1- which establishes the people's right to challenge legislative acts via referendum- governs the effective date of Acts of the General Assembly without an emergency clause (or with an ineffective emergency clause) or specified effective date. 2 Amendment 7 provides that petitions calling for a referendum vote "shall be filed with the Secretary of State not later than ninety days after the final adjournment of the session at which such Act was passed, except when a recess or adjournment shall be taken temporarily for a longer period than ninety days, in which case such petition shall be filed not later than ninety days after such recess or temporary adjournment." 3

1 Codified at Ark. Const. att. 5, § I.

2
See Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 147 S.W.2d 980 (1941) .

3 Ark. Const. a1t. 5, § I (" Referendum").

323 CENTE R STREET. SU ITE 200 · LI TTLE ROC K. ARKAN SAS 7220 1 TELE PH ONE (50 1) 682-2007 ·FA X (50 1) 682-8084 ARKAN SASAG.GOV

[PDF page break]

The Honorable John Thurston
Secretary of State
Opinion No. 2021-092
Page 2

Thus, acts of the General Assembly with no emergency clause or specified effective date become effective on the 91 st day after adjournment of the session in which they were enacted. The day of adjournment is not counted, as it is not a full day during which petitions may be filed.

Your request states that the 93d General Assembly adjourned sine die on October 15, 2021, after its extended recess. Starting with October 16, 2021 (the first full day after adjournment), the 90th day in this case is January 13, 2022. This means that the four acts passed with no emergency clause or specified effective date during the session of the Ninety-Third Arkansas General Assembly .following its extended recess become effective on Friday, January 14, 2022.

Sincerely,

:-~ 7l:s-'>
LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Attorney General

[PDF page break]