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.