**0~ TEXAS** 

Konorable Joe 8. Roberts,Chairman Opinion No. **~-378** Texas IndustrialAccident Board State Insurance Building Re: Effective date of Senate Austin, Texas f8fOl Bill 64, Acts of the Legislature, Regular Dear Mr. Roberts: Session 1969.

Your request for an opinion reads as follows: "SenateBill 64, 61st Legislature,Regular Session, 1969was signedby the Governor of the State of Texas ,on March 18, 1969 and filed for record in the office of the Secretary of State on March.l8,,1969. "The Board respectfullyrequests an opinion of the languagecontained in Section 16 of Senate Bill 64 which states:., "This act (shall)take effect and be in force sixty (60)days from and after its passage. . .' ,* The Board andmany partieswish to know the specific day, hour,minute and second in the month of Ray in which Senate Bill 64 becomes effective." Section 39 of Article III of the Constitution of Texasprovides:

"No law passedby the Legislature, except the general appropriation' act, shall take effect or go into force until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it was enacted, unless in case of an emergency,which emergencymust be expressed in a preamble or in the body of the act, the Legislature shall,by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House, otherwise direct; saidvote to be taken by yeas and nays, and entered upon the journals." Under the above quoted constitutionalprohibition, the legislature in prescribing an effective date, prior to the

**- 1870**  **-**Hon. Joe B. Roberts,page **2 (M-278)** 

expiration of ninety days after adjournment,must pass the act by a vote of two-thirds of all themembers of each house, and which vote is to be enteredupon the journals. Chorn, 136 Tex. 209, 150 S.W.Zd 70 (1941);Pophamv.%$%&on, mex. 615, 51 S.W.2d 680 (1932);Caples v. Cole, 129

. 370, 102 S.W.2d 173 (1937).

Senate Bill 64 passed the Senate on February 18 by a record vote of thirty yeas and no nays,which vote was recorded in the Senate journalon page 206. Senate Bill 64 passed the House of Representativesby a recordvote of one hundred forty-sevenyeas and one nay on March 6, which vote was recorded in the House journal at page 472. The above recordedvotes constitute two-thirdsof all of themembers of each house within the meaning of Secti,on39 of Article III of the Constitution of Texas.

The provisions of said Section 39 having been complied with, Senate Bill 64 will become effective in accordancewith the provisions of the 'emergency clausewhich reads, in part, as follows: "

. . . [TJhisAct shall take effect and be in force sixty (60)days from and after its passage. . ." In view of the foregoingSenate Bill 64will take effect and be in force sixtydays from and after its passage.

In construing similar language contained in Section 39 of Article III of the Constitutionof Texas with regard to the phrase "no law

. . . shall take effect or go into force until ninety days after the adjournmentof the session at which it was enacted', the Courts of this State have established that ninety full days must intervenebetween the date of adjournment and the effectivedate of the ninety day bill. Halbert v. San Saba Springs Land and LivestockAssociation, 89 Tex. 231, f4 S.W. 639 (1896);Copus v. Chorn, supra.

By like reasoning, since the emergency clause provides that the act shall take effect "sixtydays from and after its passage," sixty full daysmust intervenebetween the date of passage and the effectivedate of Senate Bill 64.

Since Senate Bill 64 passed the Senate on February 18 and the House on March 6, itspassage occurred March 6, 1969, and the act shall take effect and be in force sixtydays from

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and after March 6, 1969. Therefore, the effectivedate of Senate Bill 64 is May 6, 1969, at the beginning of said day, or stated anotherway, it is effective 12:OlA.M. on May 6, 1969. SUMMARY

The legislaturehaving prescribed that Senate Bill 64, Acts of the 61st Legislature, Regular Session, 1969, shall take effect Andy be in force sixty days from and after its passage and Senate Bill 64'havingreceived the required two-thirdsrecord vote, and enteredupon the journals of eachhouse, sixty full daysmust intervenebetween the date of its passage,March 6, 196,9,

and the effectivedate of this act. Therefore, the effectivedate of the act is the beginning of May 6, 1969, or aftermidnight of May 5, 1969. n

as Prepared by John Reeves Assistant Attorney General APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Rerns Taylor, Chairman George Kelton;Vice-Chairman James McCoy Neil Williams Malcolm Quick John Banks W. V. GEPPERT Staff Legal Assistant HAWTHORNE PHILLIPS ExecutiveAs.sistant

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