AGO 81-047.

• Case Date: May 18, 1981
• Court: North Dakota

North Dakota Attorney General Opinions 1981. AGO 81-047. OPINION 81-47Date Issued: May 18, 1981 (AGO 81-47) Requested by: Kent Conrad, State Tax Commissioner- QUESTION PRESENTED - Whether section 11-18-02.2 of the North Dakota Century Code allows a transition period after its effective date during which deeds may be recorded without containing one of the required statements of full consideration.- ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OPINION - It is my opinion that section 11-18-02.2, N.D.C.C., which was enacted with an emergency clause and which became law at 2:38 p.m. on March 26, 1981, allows no transition period and that all deeds after that time cannot be recorded unless they contain one of the required statements of full consideration. - ANALYSIS - Senate Bill No. 2323 as passed by the Forty-seventh Legislative Assembly, provides for the assessment of property for the purpose of property taxation. Section 4 of that bill created a new section of law, now codified as section 11-18-02.2, N.D.C.C., which provides that before any deed may be filed in the office of the register of deeds, it must contain one of four statements relating to the consideration paid for the property conveyed by the deed. Section 41 of Article IV of the Constitution of North Dakota provides as follows:

No Act of the legislative assembly shall take effect until July first after the close of the session, unless the legislature by a vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting, in each house, shall declare it an emergency measure, which declaration shall be set forth in the Act, provided, however, that no Act granting a franchise or special privilege, or Act creating any vested right or interest other than in the state, shall be declared an emergency measure. An emergency measure shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the governor.

Section 12 of Senate Bill No. 2323 contains the standard language used by the Legislature to declare an emergency and the bill was approved by a vote of thirty-nine to eleven in the Senate and seventy-one to twenty-seven in the House. As such, the bill is a validly enacted emergency...