When would ordinary Kentucky laws from the 1994 session take effect after adjournment?

Plain-English summary

In March 1994, Kentucky's Attorney General answered a planning question about when ordinary laws from that year's regular General Assembly session would take effect. If the session adjourned finally on April 12, the AG said the normal date would be July 12, 1994. If it adjourned on April 13, the normal date would be July 13, 1994. The opinion did not establish which adjournment date actually occurred; it gave an answer for each proposed date.

The calculation came from Section 55 of the Kentucky Constitution, which the AG read as excluding the final adjournment day from the ninety-day period. The opinion addressed laws without an emergency provision or a delayed effective date, and excluded general appropriation bills from the normal rule it applied.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1994. 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.

Historical summary

Legislative Research Commission

The LRC director asked for an effective-date calculation under two possible final adjournment dates. The AG gave separate results for April 12 and April 13 rather than assuming a single actual adjournment day.

Agencies and researchers checking 1994 acts

The AG limited its dates to legislation without an emergency clause or a later effective date, other than general appropriation bills. The opinion's July dates were therefore conditional on both the actual adjournment date and the type of act at issue.

Common questions

What date did the AG give if the 1994 session adjourned April 12?

For an ordinary act within the opinion's scope, it gave July 12, 1994.

What if final adjournment was April 13?

The AG gave July 13, 1994 for the same class of acts.

Did the opinion cover emergency acts or delayed effective dates?

No. It expressly set those aside, along with general appropriation bills, when giving the normal dates.

Background and statutory framework

Section 55 of the Kentucky Constitution supplied the rule the AG applied. The office read "ninety days after adjournment" to exclude the day of final adjournment, also called adjournment sine die, and include the ninetieth day in its count. It then applied that reading to the two dates supplied by the requester. The opinion was a conditional calculation for the 1994 session, not a finding of the session's actual final adjournment date.

Citations and references

• Section 55 of the Constitution of Kentucky: ordinary effective-date rule and emergency exception quoted by the AG.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/Opinions/Opinions/OAG94-017.htm

Original opinion text

OAG 94-17

March 9, 1994

Hon. Vic Hellard, Jr.

Director

Legislative Research Commission

Capitol Building Room 300

Frankfort, Kentucky 40601

Re: Effective Date of Certain Legislation Enacted During the 1994 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly.

Dear Mr. Hellard:

By letter of March 3, 1994, you asked that this office provide an opinion concerning the normal effective date of legislation enacted during the 1994 regular session of Kentucky's General Assembly, in relation to legislation not containing an emergency or delayed effective date. Your letter asks that we express an opinion on the effective date of legislation based upon adjournment of the General Assembly either on Tuesday, April 12, 1994, or Wednesday, April 13, 1994.

The effective date of legislation is governed by Section 55 of the Constitution of Kentucky, which 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.

(Emphasis added.)

The language "ninety days after adjournment" (emphasis added), as used in Section 55 of Kentucky's Constitution (above), indicates that the day of adjournment (meaning day of final adjournment for the session, termed "adjournment sine die") is to be excluded in computing the 90 day period set forth in the above cited Constitutional provision, and that the 90th day shall be included in the period, in order that 90 full days shall pass after enactment of certain legislation, before the legislation becomes effective. Applying the above indicated analysis to the dates of adjournment indicated in your letter, the results are as described below.

Adjournment Tuesday, April 12, 1994

If the 1994 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly adjourns on Tuesday, April 12, 1994, it is the opinion of this office that the normal effective date of legislation enacted during such session, in the case of legislation other than general appropriation bills, and enactments not containing an emergency provision or a delayed effective date, is Tuesday, July 12, 1994.

Adjournment Wednesday, April 13, 1994

If, on the other hand, the 1994 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly adjourns on Wednesday, April 13, 1994, it is the opinion of this office that the normal effective date of legislation enacted during such session, in the case of legislation other than general appropriation bills, and enactments not containing an emergency provision or a delayed effective date, is Wednesday, July 13, 1994.

Sincerely,

CHRIS GORMAN

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Gerard R. Gerhard

Assistant Attorney General