July 28, 1997
Subject: Effective Date of
Certain Legislation Passed During the 1997 First Extraordinary
Session of the Kentucky General Assembly
Written by: Gerard Gerhard
Requested by: Hon. Don
Cetrulo, Director, Legislative Research Commission
Syllabus: In accordance with
Section 55 of the Constitution of Kentucky, the effective date of
legislation passed by the 1997 First Extraordinary Session of the
Kentucky General Assembly, except for general appropriation
measures and those containing emergency or delayed effective date
provisions, is the first moment of Friday, August 29, 1997,
since 90 full days will then have passed after final adjournment
of the session on Friday, May 30, 1997.
OAGs cited: OAG 96-19.
Constitutional Sections Construed: Kentucky Const. § 55.
Opinion
of the Attorney General
The following question, in
substance, has been presented:
What is the effective date of
legislation, other than general appropriation bills and acts
containing emergency or delayed effective date provisions, passed
during the 1997 First Extraordinary Session of the Kentucky
General Assembly, that session having finally adjourned on
Friday, May 30, 1997?
As discussed below, the effective
date of legislation, other than general appropriation bills and
acts containing emergency or delayed effective date provisions,
passed during the 1997 First Extraordinary Session of the
Kentucky General Assembly, is the first moment of Friday,
August 29, 1997.
Section 55 of the Constitution of
Kentucky provides:
No act, except general appropriation bills, shall become 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.)
"[U]ntil ninety days after
the adjournment" (emphasis added), as used in Section 55 of
the Constitution of Kentucky (see above), indicates that the day
of adjournment (meaning the 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. See OAG 96-19.
Applying the analysis described
above to the 1997 First Extraordinary Session, the General
Assembly having adjourned sine die on Friday, May 30,
1997, we find the following, regarding legislation other than
general appropriation bills or acts containing emergency or
delayed effective date provisions: The first day of the 90 day
period after the session in question is Saturday, May 31, 1997,
and the 90th day of that period is Thursday, August
28, 1997. When the last moment of the 90th day after
adjournment sine die has passed, ninety full days will
have passed after final adjournment. It follows that legislation
(except for general appropriation measures and those containing
emergency or delayed effective date provisions) passed during the
1997 First Extraordinary Session of the Kentucky General Assembly
will be effective on the first moment of Friday, August 29,
1997.
A. B. CHANDLER III
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Gerard R. Gerhard
Assistant Attorney General