An entry here on Monday discussed how to locate 2004 laws that take effect Jan. 1, 2005. My answer was to look at the effective dates in the 2004 "Enrolled Act Summary."
A reader has written to advise me that the complete answer may be more complicated:
Delayed effective dates have become more problematic in recent years, particularly effective dates a year or more after the General Assembly has adjourned.The reason, as the writer explains, is the possible "piggybacking" of amendments to a specific section, each to take effect at a different time in the future:
For example, if you amend an existing Code section effective, JULY 1, 2008, all versions of the section are printed in the Indiana Code. Then the question arises how to treat a subsequent amendment to the same Code section that the author wants to be effective before the previous JULY 1, 2008 amendment. It becomes very messy (particularly when there are several versions of a Code section that become effective on different dates) and leads to errors as to which version of the Code section should be used for amendment (which as you know, sometimes must be done in a matter of minutes). There are also problems with how to show or amend a Code section that is repealed with a delayed effective date.Some of you may recall seeing examples of the problem the writer is referencing -- two or three versions of a section reproduced in the Indiana Code, one right after another, with notes saying things like "This version is in effect until ...; This version takes effect ...," etc.
How to resolve this? The route the General Assembly appears to have selected is to, in effect, use an "internal" effective date. As the writer continues:
[Y]ou will now see embedded in more Code sections sentences such as "This subsection applies after December 31, 2004" or "This section expires January 1, 2005." Sometimes these applicability clauses can even be found down at the subdivision, clause, or item level.What is the immediate importance of these changes? Simply looking at the dates in the "Enrolled Act Summary" may not work any more; my answer on Monday was incomplete. For instance, a section that "takes effect" July 1, 2004, may not "apply" until January 1. 2005 because of an internal effective date.
Those of you eager to know more about this fairly technical matter are directed to the "Effective Dates" discussion in the Indiana General Assembly's 1999 bill drafting manual, which included this suggestion:
(9) Delayed Effective Dates. Avoid providing for an effective date beyond July 1 of the year following the year of enactment. Instead, it may be more practical to insert dates of application in the Indiana Code.Posted by Marcia Oddi at December 29, 2004 07:57 AM