Unlike most laws that remain in force indefinitely unless they are amended or repealed, sunset provisions have a specified expiration date.
[5] Sunset clauses with automatic expiration can reduce legal certainty and circumvent long-term budget constraints and regulatory impact analysis.
High-profile examples in American law include: Article I, Section 8, which enumerates the powers of Congress, includes a sunset provision for expenditures on “Armies,” but not the Navy:The Congress shall have Power[…]To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;To provide and maintain a Navy;[…]Article V contains a provision “that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article,” which, by its words, had sunsetted by 1808.
The authors ensured the act would terminate at the end of Adams' term so that it could not be used by Democratic-Republicans against the President's own party.
[13] The definition of extraneous includes provisions that are outside the jurisdiction of the committee or that do not affect revenues nor outlays.
This rule has the effect of allowing congress members to raise a point of order against any spending increase or tax cut that does not contain a sunset provision that ends it after five or ten years (conceivably longer).
In short, a net effect of the Byrd Rule is to require that any spending increase or tax cut be approved by a majority of 60 if it does not contain a sunset provision.
[15] According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, "Colorado, Florida and Alabama passed the first sunset laws in 1976.
The chairman and vice-chairman are appointed by the lieutenant governor and speaker, and the chairmanship alternates between the Senate and House every two years.
The commission is assisted by an executive director and staff, who review each agency subject to sunset provisions.
[20] In Canada all legislation enacted under Section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (subsection three of the notwithstanding clause) has an implied sunset clause of five years, this being the maximum length legislation enacted under the section may be operative for (unless an earlier date is specified).
In 2007, the Liberal Democratic Party proposed a constitutional amendment to make sunset clauses compulsory in all legislation that lacks the support of a 75% parliamentary supermajority.
Some federal states, e.g., Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia sporadically add sunset provisions to bills.
A sunset provision can be found in the Corporate Restructuring Promotion Act,[24] which is to facilitate out-of-court workout of insolvent companies.
These articles that have a sunset provision that will terminate them in the event the ROC regains control of Mainland China.
The Electoral Integrity Act was passed in 1999 to discourage "waka-jumping" in a mixed-member proportional parliamentary system.