When do Arkansas laws passed without an emergency clause take effect after a special legislative session?
Apply this to your situation
This page answers the general question as of 2023. Ask about yours and see what current Arkansas law means for your facts, with citations you can check.
Plain-English summary
Secretary of State John Thurston asked when acts of the First Extraordinary Session of the 94th Arkansas General Assembly would take effect if they had neither an emergency clause nor another specified effective date. The AG answered December 14, 2023.
The session adjourned on September 14, 2023. Under the constitutional referendum provision, petitions had to be filed within 90 days after final adjournment. The AG counted the first full day, September 15, as day one. The filing window ended December 13, and the acts covered by the question became effective the next day.
What this means for you
State agencies and readers of the special-session acts
For an act passed at this session with no emergency clause or specified effective date, the opinion supplies December 14, 2023 as the start date. The opinion does not interpret a particular act or discuss referendum treatment of emergency-clause acts.
Common questions
What date applies to an act without an emergency clause or stated effective date? December 14, 2023, if it was passed at the First Extraordinary Session described in the opinion.
Why was September 14 excluded from the 90-day count?
The AG said the day of adjournment was not a full day for filing a referendum petition. The window began September 15.
Did the opinion decide whether an emergency-clause act can be referred? No. It addresses the effective date only for acts without an emergency clause or another specified date.
Background and statutory framework
Footnotes 1–2 cite Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1, under “Referendum.” The AG applied its filing deadline to the session's September 14 adjournment and calculated the December 14 effective date. The opinion contains no analysis of emergency-clause referendum procedure.
Citations
- Ark. Const. art. 5, § 1 (Referendum)
Source
Original opinion text
Opinion No. 2023-089
September 25, 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 or other specified effective date at the First Extraordinary Session of the 94th Arkansas General Assembly, which adjourned sine die September 14, 2023. As explained below, the effective date is December 14, 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 because the day of sine die adjournment itself is not a full day on which one could file a referendum petition.
In this case, the 90-day window starts on September 15, 2023 (the first full day after final adjournment) and concludes on December 13, 2023. Thus, acts without an emergency clause or a specified effective date become effective on December 14, 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 (under “Referendum”).
2
Id.
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