When do Arkansas laws passed in 2023 without an emergency clause take effect?

Plain-English summary

Secretary of State John Thurston asked when acts from the 94th Arkansas General Assembly's regular session take effect if they have no emergency clause or specified effective date. The Attorney General answered August 1, 2023.

The opinion says those acts become effective the day after the deadline to file a referendum petition. The petition window runs for 90 days after final adjournment, beginning with the first full day after adjournment. The session adjourned May 1, 2023, making May 2 the first day and Sunday, July 30 the 90th day. Because petitions could not be filed on Sunday, the filing deadline extended to Monday, July 31. The acts took effect the following day, August 1.

Footnotes 1 and 2 cite Arkansas Constitution article 5, § 1 and Fulkerson v. Refunding Board. Footnote 3 cites Richardson v. Martin for extending a petition deadline that falls on a legal holiday to the next business day.

What this means for you

Checking a 2023 act

The August 1 date in this opinion applies to acts of the regular session of the 94th General Assembly without an emergency clause or specified effective date. The opinion does not calculate dates for other sessions or for acts with their own effective-date provisions.

Common questions

What was the referendum petition deadline for this session? Monday, July 31, 2023. The 90th day was Sunday, July 30, so the deadline moved to the next business day.

Does the opinion move the act's effective date whenever that date falls on a weekend? No. It describes an extension of the petition-filing deadline when the 90th day falls on a weekend or legal holiday. The effective date is the day after that deadline.

Background and statutory framework

Arkansas Constitution article 5, § 1 ties the effective date of an act without an emergency clause or specified date to the referendum petition deadline. The AG counted the 90-day window from the General Assembly's final adjournment and applied the filing-deadline extension to the July 2023 Sunday.

Citations

• Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1
• Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 147 S.W.2d 980 (1941)
• Richardson v. Martin, 2014 Ark. 429, 444 S.W.3d 855

Source

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

Original opinion text

Opinion No. 2023-031
May 5, 2023
The Honorable John Thurston
Secretary of State
500 Woodlane Street
State Capitol, Room 256
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
Dear Secretary Thurston:
I am writing in response to your request for my opinion on the effective date of acts passed without an emergency clause at the regular session of the 94th Arkansas General Assembly, which adjourned sine die May 1, 2023. As explained below, the effective date is August 1, 2023. Under the Arkansas Constitution, acts without an emergency clause or a specified effective date become effective the day after the deadline to file a referendum petition. 1 Referenda petitions must be filed within 90 days “after the final adjournment of the session.” 2 The 90-day window begins on the first full day after adjournment. If the 90th day falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline extends to the next business day. 3 In this case, the 90-day window starts on May 2 (the first full day after final adjournment) and would conclude on Sunday, July 30, 2023. But since Sunday is not a day on which referenda petitions can be filed, the deadline extends to the next business day: Monday, July 31, 2023. Thus, acts without an emergency clause or a specified effective date become effective on August 1, 2023. Deputy Attorney General Ryan Owsley prepared this opinion, which I hereby approve. Sincerely,

TIM GRIFFIN
Attorney General

1
See Ark. Const, art. 5, § 1; Fulkerson v. Refunding Board, 201 Ark. 957, 962, 147 S.W.2d 980, 983 (1941).
2
Ark. Const, art. 5, § 1 (under “Referendum”).
3
See generally Richardson v. Martin, 2014 Ark. 429, 6, 444 S.W.3d 855, 859 (holding that the deadline for a ballot- initiative petition that fell on a legal holiday must be extended to the next business day).