When do laws passed in Kentucky's 2025 Regular Session take effect?

Plain-English summary

The Reviser of Statutes asked the Attorney General to fix the effective date for laws passed in the 2025 Regular Session. Section 55 of the Kentucky Constitution says most acts do not become law until 90 days after the session adjourns. The 2025 session adjourned sine die on March 28, 2025. Counting the day after adjournment (March 29) as day one, the 90th day is June 26, and the legislation takes effect the next day. So the Attorney General concluded that most 2025 acts became effective Friday, June 27, 2025.

Two categories do not follow this default date: general appropriation bills, and any act that contains an emergency clause or its own delayed effective-date provision.

Common questions

Q: When do most 2025 Kentucky laws take effect? A: Friday, June 27, 2025, which is the day after 90 full days passed following the General Assembly's March 28, 2025 adjournment.

Q: Are there exceptions to that date?
A: Yes. General appropriation bills take effect on their own schedule, and any act with an emergency clause or a built-in delayed effective date follows that clause instead of the default 90-day rule.

Q: Where does the 90-day rule come from?
A: Section 55 of the Kentucky Constitution, which provides that no act, except general appropriation bills, becomes law until 90 days after the session adjourns, unless an emergency is declared by a recorded majority vote in each chamber.

Background and statutory framework

Section 55 of the Kentucky Constitution sets the default 90-day delay before most legislation takes effect. The opinion explains the counting method: the day of adjournment is excluded, so the 90-day period begins the next day and the 90th day is counted, meaning 90 full days must pass before the law is effective. Applying that to a March 28, 2025 sine die adjournment yields an effective date of June 27, 2025. The opinion follows the same counting approach used in a prior opinion of the office (OAG 19-005).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.ky.gov/Opinions/Pages/default.aspx
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/Opinions/Opinions/OAG%2025-05.pdf

Original opinion text

The full opinion as issued by the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General:

April 01, 2025
OAG 25-05
Subject: The effective date of legislation passed during the 2025 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Requested by: Cyndi Galvin, Reviser of Statutes Legislative Research Commission Written by: James M. Herrick, Assistant Attorney General Office of Civil and Environmental Law Syllabus: Under Section 55 of the Kentucky Constitution, the effective date of legislation passed by the 2025 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly, except for general appropriation measures and those containing emergency or delayed effective date provisions, is Friday, June 27, 2025, since 90 full days will then have passed after final adjournment on March 28, 2025. Opinion of the Attorney General On March 28, 2025, the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly adjourned sine die. Thus, the effective date of legislation, other than general appropriation bills and acts containing emergency or delayed effective date provisions, passed during this session is Friday, June 27, 2025. Section 55 of the Constitution of Kentucky provides: No act, except general appropriation bills, shall become a law until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it was passed, except in cases of emergency, when, by the concurrence of a majority of the members elected to each House of the General Assembly, by a yea and nay vote entered upon their journals, an act may become a law when approved by the Governor, but the reasons for the emergency that justifies this action must be set out at length in the journal of each House. As used in Section 55, “until ninety days after the adjournment” means that the day of adjournment is excluded when calculating the 90-day period. It follows that the 90th day is included in the period so that 90 full days expire after final adjournment and before certain legislation passed during the session becomes effective. See OAG 19-005. Under Section 55 of the Kentucky Constitution, the General Assembly having adjourned on March 28, 2025, sine die, it is the opinion of this Office that the first day of the 90-day period after the session is Saturday, March 29, 2025, and the 90th day of that period is Thursday, June 26, 2025. When that 90th day has expired, ninety full days will have passed after the adjournment sine die of the 2025 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Thus, legislation (except for general appropriation measures and those containing emergency or delayed effective date provisions) passed during the 2025 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly will be effective on Friday, June 27, 2025. Russell Coleman ATTORNEY GENERAL James M. Herrick Assistant Attorney General