Whenever any bill shall become a law the secretary of state shall number such bill in the order in which it became a law, commencing with each session of the legislature, and shall forthwith certify and deliver three copies of such bill to the statute law committee. Such number shall be in Arabic numerals, and shall be the chapter number of the act when published. A citation to the chapter number and year of the session laws heretofore or hereafter published shall be a sufficient reference to the act so designated.