Under a proposed bill already passed by the Senate, effective dates of acts would be the day after publication by the Legislative Reference Bureau unless the act specifies an effective date.
Feb. 4, 2013 – A new legislative proposal changes the process for how acts are published and the date when they become effective.
Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) and Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) authored Senate Bill 2, which will direct the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) to publish a signed act the day after they are enacted.
The bill also goes further in stating that if no effective date is specified in the legislation then the act will take effect the day after being published by the LRB.
The current process allows for the Secretary of State to publish the act within 10 working days of receiving the signed legislation. The Secretary of State then must determine a date for the act to be published in the official state newspaper.
Cale Battles is a government relations coordinator with the State Bar of Wisconsin. He can be reached at cbattles@wisbar.org, or by phone at (608) 250-6077.
While the legislation doesn’t change any of the Secretary of State’s bill publication process, it does change the ability to delay the publication of any act by requiring the Legislative Reference Bureau to publish the act the day after enactment.
On Jan. 29, the Senate passed Senate Bill 2 by a 17-14 vote. The bill has been referred to the Assembly's Government Operations and State Licensing Committee.
