If the legislature is not in session, it is delivered directly to the Office of Secretary of State. If the governor vetoes a bill, it is returned to the house of origin with his objections. A two-thirds vote by members of both houses is required to override a governor's veto. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within the time limits prescribed by Article III, Section 31 of the Missouri Constitution it shall become law in the same manner as if the governor had signed it. The 1945 Constitution provides that no law passed by the General Assembly shall take effect until ninety days after the end of the session in which it was enacted, except an appropriation act or in case of an emergency, which must be expressed in the preamble or in the body of the act.
Some bills specify the exact date when they are to take effect.
The secretary of state preserves the finally typed copy of the law. All the laws are bound together in one volume at the close of each session and seldom are seen unless some question arises. The general statute laws are revised by the revisor of statutes in the Office of the Committee on Legislative Research, digested and promulgated. These are known as the Revised Statutes of Missouri. Under legislation, the Committee on Legislative Research also publishes annual supplements to the statutes to include changes in laws since the last revision.