What is the effective date of a bill that has been passed by both houses and signed by the governor?
The date on which the new law takes effect will depend on an effective date written into the bill, an emergency clause or the default date for that legislative session. A date written into the bill itself usually appears in a separate section titled “Effective Date” at the end of the bill. Some bills also contain significant dates in other sections, such as a gross receipts tax exemption that became law on July 1, 1999 for sales that take place after January 1, 2000. An emergency clause in the bill means it goes into effect as soon as it is signed by the governor. This appears as a separate section titled “Emergency” at the end of the bill. A bill must be passed by a two-thirds’ vote of each house. The date on which the governor signed the bill is given in the locator information that appears with the short title of the bill after a search in the Bill Finder or when browsing the Bill Locator. If the bill does not contain an effective date or emergency clause, it becomes law according t
