"ILB fan Chad Bouchard" writes today to ask:
Have you seen anything in print about laws taking effect this January first? Do you happen to know of a good shortcut resource for sorting out when last session’s bills are implemented?I have not yet seen any stories about laws taking effect January 1, 2005 -- I would expect to see them in the coming weekend's papers.
As for a good shortcut resource for telling when the last session's bills take effect, I usually turn to the "Enrolled Act Summary" prepared by legislative staff as each session draws to an end. It is not finalized until the disposition of all that session's enrolled acts is known.
The General Assembly (in theory anyway) has these summaries available in the archives section of its website. However, when I tried today I found the site's links were bad. So I have posted a copy of last session's (the 2004) summary here on the ILB site.
The first page of the summary is worth studying. Among the points it makes that may be useful for someone who does not often follow legislation is that the date a bill "becomes a law" is very often not the same as the date the law "takes effect." And various sections of a bill may take effect at different times.
A quick glance through the summary shows only these provisions taking effect Jan. 1st - although my eyes may have missed some.
SEA 278 (PL19) - eff. 01/01/2005: Collection of information by the department of state revenueTo access any of these laws in Enrolled Act form, use this link. Posted by Marcia Oddi at December 27, 2004 02:15 PMSEA 296 (PL20) - eff. 01/01/2005: Property tax deductions
HEA 1229 (PL73), SECTIONS 1 through 4, 33, 46, 47 - eff. 01/01/2005: Home loan practices
HEA 1273 (PL51), SECTION 5, 12 - eff. 01/01/2005: ICHIA amendments
HEA 1365 (PL81) SECTIONS 20-22, 24 - eff. 01/01/2005: State and local administration