Request By:
Honorable Jerry Abramson
General Counsel
Office of the Governor
State Capitol
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to a request for an opinion from this office as to the amount of time following adjournment of the 1980 legislature, during which the Governor may act on legislation presented to him during the last ten (10) days (Sundays excepted) of the session.
We initially refer to § 88 of the Constitution, which reads in part as follows:
". . . If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, it shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the General Assembly, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall be a law, unless disapproved by him within ten days after the adjournment. . . ."
Section 42 of the Constitution was amended pursuant to a referendum passed at the November, 1979 General Election to provide, among other things, that no Regular Session of the General Assembly shall extend beyond April 15. This date may be reached by the amendment's provision that the days on which neither house meets (exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays) shall not count as legislative days.
Assuming that the General Assembly will not adjourn until April 15, the Governor has, pursuant to the above-referred to excerpt of § 88 of the Constitution as interpreted in the case of
Watkins v. Waterfield, Ky., 297 S.W.2d 761 (1956), ten (10) full days after adjournment (excluding Sundays) to review legislation submitted to him within the last ten (10) days (excluding Sundays) immediately prior to adjournment.
Therefore, assuming that April 15 will be the day of adjournment, that day must be excluded as well as Sunday, April 20, and the ten day period would extend through Saturday, April 26 (the tenth day). Thus, the Governor would have until 12:00 midnight Saturday April 26 to act on legislation presented to him within the last ten (10) days (excluding Sundays) prior to adjournment.
The next question to consider concerns the latest date on which a bill may be presented to the Governor before adjournment that would permit him the opportunity to review and veto said bill for ten (10) additional days after adjournment on April 15 which could not of course be overridden by the legislature by reason of its adjournment.
Under the circumstances, it would appear that any bill presented to the Governor on or after April 4 would permit him to consider such bill for an additional full ten (10) days after the session adjourns on April 15, since the 10-day period that he may review legislation during the session and prior to adjournment (excluding the day presented and intervening Sundays) under the terms of § 88 of the Constitution, would not end until April 16, the day after adjournment.
The companion question involves the converse to the effect that any bill presented on or before April 3 would give, or theoretically give, the legislature the opportunity to review any such bill vetoed by the Governor within the suceeding 10-day period. However, if a bill is presented on the 3rd, the Governor could conceivably wait and veto the bill just before midnight on April 15 (the tenth day) which would prohibit its review by the legislature unless it "stops the clock" before midnight.
Thus by the legislature's temporary adjournment on April 1st and reconvening on April 14th and 15th, any bill presented to the Governor on April 2nd and vethed by him within the following ten days (excluding Sundays) ending on April 14th, would give the reconvening legislature on April 14th, the opportunity to override his veto before adjournment on the 15th.
As to the effective date of ordinary legislation passed by the 1980 General Assembly see OAG 80-44 attached.