If the Maine Legislature adjourned 'to the call of the presiding officers' rather than sine die, and the Governor sat on bills for more than 10 days without signing or vetoing them, were those bills finally enacted?

Plain-English summary

Senators Hill and Saviello asked the AG about the status of bills the Governor had not signed or vetoed within 10 days of presentment. Article IV, Part 3, Section 2 of the Maine Constitution provides:

If the bill or resolution shall not be returned by the Governor within 10 days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to the Governor, it shall have the same force and effect as if the Governor had signed it unless the Legislature by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall have such force and effect, unless returned within 3 days after the next meeting of the same Legislature which enacted the bill or resolution; if there is no such next meeting of the Legislature which enacted the bill or resolution, the bill or resolution shall not be a law.

The opinion read this provision to make unreturned bills finally enacted unless the Legislature's adjournment prevented their return. The question turned on what "adjournment" means in Section 2.

The Legislature's most recent action on June 30, 2015 was a joint order (S.P. 556) adjourning to the call of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, "when there is a need to conduct business, or consider possible objections of the Governor." That kind of day-to-day adjournment is not a sine die adjournment. The presiding officers can recall the Legislature at any time, so the Legislature is not absent in the constitutional sense. Mills cited Opinion of the Justices, 116 Me. 557 (1917), for the proposition that "recess" in Section 16 means adjournment sine die, and reasoned that "adjournment" in Section 2 must be read consistently. The Legislature also had statutory authority under 3 M.R.S. § 2 to extend the session for additional legislative days and had done so twice. The opinion said the session had not concluded.

Mills explained the formal characteristics of sine die adjournment: each house sends a committee to the other notifying it; a committee from each house notifies the Governor that the Legislature is ready for final adjournment; the 90-day clock for nonemergency bills begins; the people's veto window opens; and unfinished business on the calendar expires. None of those things happened on June 30, 2015. The Legislature even left intact the day-to-day mechanism so that bills returned by the Governor could be reviewed promptly.

Therefore the bills the Governor had neither signed nor vetoed within 10 days were finally enacted under the Section 2 default. The opinion said only emergency bills were then in full force and effect; nonemergency bills took effect after the constitutionally prescribed delay following sine die adjournment. The opinion also flagged separation-of-powers concerns under Article III, Section 2 if a different branch tried to relabel the Legislature's adjournment status. State v. Hunter, 447 A.2d 797 (Me. 1982) provided supporting principle.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2015. 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.

For a current bill-status question, check later judicial decisions and the present text of Article IV, Part 3 before relying on this 2015 opinion.

Historical summary

For state legislators (at the time): The opinion concluded that the disputed bills were finally enacted. It based that conclusion on the difference between sine die and day-to-day adjournment; it was an advisory opinion, not a binding decision.

For constitutional law researchers: The opinion is a worked example of harmonizing two constitutional provisions enacted in different eras (Section 2 as amended 1973; Section 16 as enacted 1909). Reading "adjournment" in Section 2 consistently with "recess" in Section 16 yielded the answer.

Citations and references

Constitutional provisions:

• Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part 3, Section 1 (legislative power; statutory session limits)
• Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part 3, Section 2 (Governor's 10-day return)
• Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part 3, Section 2-A (line-item vetoes)
• Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part 3, Section 16 (90-day delayed effective date)
• Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part 3, Section 17 (people's veto)
• Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part 3, Section 20 ("recess of the Legislature")
• Maine Constitution, Article III, Section 2 (separation of powers)

Statutes:

• 3 M.R.S. § 2 (legislative session extensions)

Cases:

• Opinion of the Justices, 116 Me. 557, 103 A. 761 (1917) ("recess" means adjournment sine die)
• State v. Hunter, 447 A.2d 797 (Me. 1982) (separation-of-powers principle)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.maine.gov/legis/lawlib/lldl/agops/agops.htm
• Original PDF: https://lldc.mainelegislature.org/Open/AG/Opinions/2015/ag_20150710.pdf

Original opinion text

2015-01
REGION;\L OFFICES
84 HARLOW ST 2ND FLOOR
BANGOR, MAINE 0440 I
Tn, (2.07) 941-3070
J /\NETT. M11.L'i
fax, (207) 9,fJ,3075
ATTORNEY GENERAL
4 l 5 CONGRESS ST., Sn. 30 I
PORTLAND, MAINE 04101
Tn, (207) 822-0260
FAX: (207) 822,0259
STt\TE OF MAINE
TEL: (207) 626-8800
[.J t\C'CESS HIGHWAY, SH. I
OFFICF or THE ATTORNEY GFNERAL
TTY USERS CALL MAINE RELAY 711
CARlllOt:, l\lAINE 04736
6 STATE HOUSE STATION
TH, (207) 496,3792
AUGUST,\, MAINF 04333,0006
fax, (Z07) •196,3291

July 10, 2015

The Honorable Dawn Hill
The Honorable Thomas Saviello
Maine State Senate
3 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0003

Dear Senator Hill and Senator Saviello:

You have inquired about the status of bills that were presented to the Governor but which he has neither signed nor vetoed. The Legislature has not adjourned sine die, and more than ten days have elapsed since certain bills were presented to the Governor.

Article IV, Part 3, Section 2, of the Maine Constitution states:

If the bill or resolution shall not be returned by the Governor within 10 days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to the Governor, it shall have the same force and effect as if the Governor had signed it unless the Legislature by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall have such force and effect, unless retumed within 3 days after the next meeting of the same Legislature which enacted the bill or resolution; if there is no such next meeting of the Legislature which enacted the bill or resolution, the bill or resolution shall not be a law. (Emphasis added).

The most recent act of the Legislature was to pass a joint order reciting "that when the House and1 Senate adjourn they do so until the call of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, respectively, when there is a need to conduct business, or consider possible objections of the Governor." Joint Order S.P. 556, June 30, 2015 (copy attached). This joint order was a day to day adjournment, and not a final adjournment sine die of the first regular session of the Legislature, which would start the 90-day period for non-emergency bills to become effective under Article IV, Part Third, Section 16, allowing time for a people's veto effort under Article IV, Part Third, Section 17 C'recess of the Legislature" in these sections means "the adjournment without day of a session of the Legislature," Opinion of the Justices, 116 Me. 557,587, 103 A. 761,774 (1917); Atticle IV, Part Third, Section20). 1

1
Although literally Hsine die" means simply "without day,'' in custom, practice and constitutional and historical context, of course, adjournment "sine die" has much greater significance than merely not scheduling a specific day to come back into session.

·• .

The adjournment order of June 30, 201 S, has not prevented the Governo1· from returning the bills with his objections. To the contrary, the Legislature specifically envisioned receiving veto messages and made it clear in the joint order that they were prepared to deal with them in timely fashion, and possibly even line item vetoes requiring more immediate attention, allotting the full ten days authorized in the Constitution.

The Maine Constitution delegates to the Legislature the authority to "enact appropriate statutory limits on the length" of the first and second regular sessions, Article IV, Part Third, Section 1. The Legislature has done so by enacting Title 3 M.R.S. sec. 2. The determination of the length of the session is uniquely a legislative one, and for anothe1· branch of government to reinterpret the decision of the Legislature might well violate the provisions of A1·ticle III, Section 2 of the Maine Constitution. ("No person or persons, belonging to one of these departments, shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except in the cases herein expressly directed or permitted," Cf. State v, Hunter, 447 A.2d 797 (1982)).

It is exclusively the Legislature that decides when it adjourns, not anothe1· branch of government, and there is no requirement that the Legislature set a specific date for the next meeting when it finishes its business of the day. Conversely, the failure to set a specific date for 1·econvening does not become an adjournment sine die by default.

In this instance, the Legislature invoked its constitutional authority and complied with the procedure in Title 3 M.R.S. sec, 2 by twice voting to extend the date of final adjournment by five legislative days each. See, Senate RC #288; House RC #296; HP 991, Joint Order Extending the
) Fil'st Regular Session of the 127th Legislature for Five Legislative Days; and rema1·ks of Rep. Fredette, June 24, 2015. The second five-day period has not expired, nor has the Legislature used the extra day authorized by the same statute for "considering possible objections of the Governor to any bill or resolution presented to him by the Legislature under the Constitution, Article IV, Part Third, Section 2." The first regulm· session of the 127'11 Legislature has not concluded and the Legislature specifically extended the time for final adjournment in order to 1·eview any additional line item vetoes, giving the Governor the time allotted to him under Article IV, Part 3, Section 2-A, and to consider any vetoes under Section 2, giving the Governor the full ten days to review enacted legislation.

The te1·m "adjournment" must be read in the context of the constitutional passage in which it appears. The phrase "unless the Legislature by thei1· adjournment prevent its return" means final adjournment or adjournment sine die, because a day to day adjournment does not prevent the retum of bills, as the presiding officers may call the Legislature back to work at any time, In recent decades the Legislature has regularly adjourned until the call of the presiding officers for the purpose of acting on veto messages from the govemor. See, e.g., Leg.Rec.-H- 1361, June 1, 1997, Orders; Leg,Rec.-H-2699, April 28, 2000; Leg.Rec. H-1589, May 17, 2012. Bills that were vetoed and ove11'idden became effective 90 days afte1· adjournment sine die-at the same time as bills that were not vetoed-not 90 days after the day to day adjournments of the Legislature.

There is no 'default' provision whereby the end of a legislative day becomes a final adjournment simply because the Legislature has not said otherwise or has not set a specific date
) for the next meeting. To the contrary, when the Legislature adjourns its session sine die, it does 2

so deliberately, with a degree of formality befitting the occasion, each house sending a committee notifying the other body and sending a committee to officially notify the governor that they are ready for final adjournment so that he may confirm that there is no furthe1· business for them to address. (Historically, this practice goes back at least as far as 1850; see, e.g. House Jour. 1850, http://lldc.mainelegislature.org/0pen/LegJml/HJ1850.pdf, pp. 521, 525 (copy attached); Senate Rec., p.453 March 27, 1897), The event is significant, the action intentional and formal because it starts the clock ticking for nonemergency legislation to become law in ninety days and it notifies citizens that they may then commence a people's veto effort under Article IV. Part 3, Section 17. It also signifies that any unfinished business on the calendar automatically expires, 2 that the Legislature does not anticipate any additional meetings and that it may not reconvene except by the special and somewhat cumbersome procedures of Section 1 of Article IV, Part 3.3 No such formal adjournment sine die occurred in the Maine Legislature on June 30, 2015. 4

Common sense says that the term "adjournment" in Section 2, as amended in 1973, must be read to be consistent with the term "recess" in Section 16, enacted in 1909; otherwise, different ninety day periods would be invoked for many different bills. In any case, neither a recess per Section 16, nor an adjournment per Section 2 has occurred fol' the first regular session of the 12i11 Legislature.

· Notably, the same provision of the Constitution that authorizes the Governor to veto, or "return" a bill with his objections, in calculating the ten-day period excepts Sundays and Sundays only. The provision therefore envisions that the Governor could retum bills with his objections-or vetoes-on Saturdays and holidays when the Legislature does not meet,· still within that session of the legislature and before adjournment sine die, Thus the Legislature need not actually be meeting in order for the Governor to return a bill with his objections to the house in which it originated.

This reading is consistent with the term "adjournment" as it is used generally and in other sections of the Constitution when it refers to final adjournment of the legislative session, not simply a day to day adjournment of that particular legislative day. See, e,g., Tinkle, The Maine Constitution, p.79 ("if a final adjournment of the legislature intervenes during the period that the governor has to consider a bill, then he may pocket-veto it. ... "). See also, Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure, 2010, p.295, Sec, 445 Motion to Adjourn Sine Die: "l. When a state legislature is duly convened, it cannot be adjourned sine die nor be dissolved except in the regular legal manner, and an adjournment from day to day cannot have that effect. 115

2
Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure, 2010, Sec.445.3: "A motion to adjourn sine die has the effect of
.... terminating all unfinished business,. ,and all legislation pending upon adjournment sine die expires with the session." 3 "The Legislature may convene at such other times on the call oftl1e President of the Senate and Speaker of the House, with the consent ofa majority of the Members of the Legislature of each political party, all Members of the Legislature having been first polled." 4 This situation therefore is distinguishable from the facts addressed in the Opinion of the Justices, 437 A.2d 597 (1981), the Opinion of the Justices, 484 A.2d 999 (1984) and the 2003 and 2005 controversies during the Baldacci administration; in each of those cases, the Legislature expressly and distinctly adjourned sf11e die. 5 "Adjournment" as used in constitutional provisions "is generally held to relate to final adjournment rather than temporary adjournment or recess. Thus, a return of a bill after a temporary recess does not prevent the bill from becoming law." Singer & Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction, §16.4, p, 740. 3

,.

This reading is also consistent with the view adopted by the majority of jurisdictions which have construed similar state constitutional provisions and with interpretations of the comparable provision of the U.S. Constitution. See, e.g., NLRB v. Noel Canning et al., 573 U.S.
_ _, 134 S.Ct. 2550, 2574-76 (2014); Wright v. United States, 302 U.S. 583 (1938); State. ex rel. Gilmore v. Brown, 6 Ohio St. 3d 39, 40,451 N.E.2d 235 (1983) (only adjournment sine die prevents delivery of Governor's veto message under Ohio Constitution); 1 Singer & Singer, Sutherland Statutory Constmction § 16.4 (7' 11ed). Finally, it is consistent with the historical practice of every legislature and every governor, including the present Govemol', in recent memory, and it is consistent with the determination of the effective dates of enacted legislation under the Maine Constitution.

The Constitution requires that the Governor "return" a bill "with objections to the House in which it shall have ol'iginated11 within ten days for the legislature's consideration of his veto. This provision clearly envisions a physical delivery of the bill with a veto message to the legislative branch within the ten day time frame.

Bills that have not been, retumed to the Legislature with the objections of the Governor within ten days of being presented to the Governor, excluding Sundays, have now become finally enacted in accol'dance with Article IV, Part 3, Section 2. Those that are emergency bills are in full force and effect.

I trust this answers your inquiry.
)
Yours very truly,

Janet T. Mills
Attorney General

JTM/elf
cc: President Michael Thibodeau
Sen. Garrett Mason
Sen. Andrea Cushing
Sen. Justin Alfond
Speaker Mark Eves
Rep. Jeff McCabe
Rep. Sara Gideon
Rep. Kenneth Fredette
Rep. ElliJ Espling
Heather Priest, Secretary of the Senate
Rob Hunt, Clerk of the House
Grant Pennoyer, Executive Director of the Legislative Counsel Paul R. LePage, Governor

4

STATE OF MAINE
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE ADVANCED JOURNAL AND CALENDAR

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

SUPPLEMENT NO. 31

ORDERS
Joint Order

(4-1) On motion by Senator MASON of Androscoggin, the following Joint Order: S.P. 556

Ordered, the House concurring, that when the House and Senate adjourn they do so until the call of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, respectively, when there is a need to conduct business, or consider possible objections of the Governor.

)

)

Mr. Sewall of Oldtown was charged
with a Message to the Senate informing
that body that the House had acted
upon all business before it and is now
ready to adjourn without day.

A similar message was received
from the Senate.

On motion of Mr. Sewall of Oldtown
the House then adjourned without day.

C. W. Hayes Clerk.