Governor Deadlines & Effective Dates

After the legislative branch passes a change to existing law the executive branch becomes involved. During session this is largely ceremonial as new bills become law without any action on the Governor, where the only executive response is to veto the bill in part or in whole.

Bills passed near the end of legislative session may allow more time for executive action, where inaction still often results in the bill becoming law, though there are exceptions as noted below.

After being set on the road to becoming law a new set of deadlines appear for when the changes of the bill take effect. This is often specified in the bill text itself, though there are fallback rules and dates outlined below.

As such, here is a broad overview of the deadlines for how quickly a governor must act, the default result of inactivity and when a bill becomes effective unless vetoed. This is a generalized view and some specific details such as excluding Sundays or Holidays, and emergency clauses are omitted for brevity and clarity.

State	During Session	Default Action	After Session	Default Action	Effective Date
Alabama	6 days	Law	10 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text
Alaska	15 days	Law	20 days	Law	90 days after enacted
Arizona	5 days	Law	20 days	Law	90 days after adjournment
Arkansas	5 days	Law	20 days	Law	90 days after adjournment
California	12 days	Law	30 days	Law	January 1 after enacted
Colorado	10 days	Law	30 days	Law	In bill text
Connecticut	5 days	Law	15 days	Law	In bill text
Delaware	10 days	Law	30 days	Pocket Veto	Immediately, unless otherwise specified
Florida	7 days	Law	15 days	Law	60 days after adjournment, unless otherwise specified
Georgia	6 days	Law	40 days	Law	July 1 after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Hawaii	10 days	Law	45 days	Law	In bill text
Idaho	5 days	Law	10 days	Law	July 1 after enacted
Illinois	60 days	Law	60 days	Law	In bill text, or January 1 / June 1 following enactment before / after May 31 respectively
Indiana	7 days	Law	7 days	Law	In bill text
Iowa	3 days	Law	30 days	Pocket Veto	July 1 after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Kansas	10 days	Law	10 days	Law	July 1 after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Kentucky	10 days	Law	10 days	Law	90 days after adjournment, unless otherwise specified
Louisiana	10 days	Law	20 days	Law	August 1 after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Maine	10 days	Law	3 days	Law	90 days after adjournment, unless otherwise specified
Maryland	6 days	Law	30 days	Law	In bill text
Massachusetts	10 days	Law	10 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text, otherwise 90 days after enacted
Michigan	14 days	Law	14 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text, otherwise 90 days after enacted
Minnesota	3 days	Law	14 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text, otherwise August 1 after enacted
Mississippi	5 days	Law	15 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise 60 days after enacted
Missouri	15 days	Law	45 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise August 28 after enacted
Montana	10 days	Law	10 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise October 1 after enacted
Nebraska	5 days	Law	5 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise 90 days after adjournment
Nevada	5 days	Law	10 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise October 1 after enacted
New Hampshire	5 days	Law	5 days	Law	In bill text
New Jersey	45 days	Law	7 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text, otherwise July 4 after enacted
New Mexico	3 days	Law	20 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text, otherwise 90 days after adjournment
New York	10 days	Law	30 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text
North Carolina	10 days	Law	40 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise 60 days after adjournment
North Dakota	3 days	Law	15 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise August 1 after enacted
Ohio	10 days	Law	10 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise 91 days after enrollment
Oklahoma	5 days	Law	15 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text, otherwise 90 days after adjournment
Oregon	5 days	Law	15 days	Pocket Veto	January 1 after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Pennsylvania	10 days	Law	10 days	Law	In bill text
Rhode Island	6 days	Law	10 days	Law	In bill text
South Carolina	5 days	Law	5 days	Law	In bill text, otherwise 20 days after enacted
South Dakota	5 days	Law	15 days	Law	July 1 after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Tennessee	10 days	Law	10 days	Law	40 days after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Texas	10 days	Law	20 days	Law	90 days after adjournment
Utah	20 days	Law	20 days	Law	60 days after adjournment, unless otherwise specified
Vermont	5 days	Law	3 days	Pocket Veto	July 1 after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Virginia	7 days	Law	30 days	Law	July 1 after enacted, unless otherwise specified
Washington	5 days	Law	20 days	Law	90 days after adjournment, unless otherwise specified
West Virginia	5 days	Law	15 days	Law	90 days after enrollment
Wisconsin	6 days	Law	6 days	Pocket Veto	1 day after publication, unless otherwise specified
Wyoming	3 days	Law	15 days	Law	In bill text
US Congress	10 days	Law	10 days	Pocket Veto	In bill text