Opinion ID: 2538420
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Allocation of Bond Proceeds to Higher Education

Text: ¶ 33 We recognize, as Cassidy pointed out, that appropriations for the institutions in the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education must be made in consolidated form without reference to any particular institution to be allocated by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education according to the needs and functions of each institution. Okla. Const., art. 13-A, § 3. [25] Even if the allocation of some $30 million bond proceeds to the Oklahoma State Regents in § 301(A)(16)(m) satisfies the purpose-in-borrowing requirement in light of Article 13-A of the state constitution, that allocation cannot be saved. ¶ 34 The Legislature did not expressly provide for the severability of the 2000 amendments to § 301. [26] In the absence of a severability clause, the offending portion of a statute may be severed from the non-offending portion, if it appears that 1) the Legislature would have enacted the statute without the offending portion and 2) the non-offending portion is capable of standing alone. Application of Oklahoma Department of Transportation, 2002 OK 74, ¶ 27, 64 P.3d 546, 553. ¶ 35 The Oklahoma State Regents aside, our decision today determines that the 2000 amendments to § 301 do not satisfy the constitutional requirements for borrowing with respect to twenty-six of the identified twenty-seven state agencies. After severing the allocations to twenty-six of the identified twenty-seven state agencies, only saving that to the Oklahoma State Regents, not enough remains in the statute to carry out the legislative intent. Stated in another way, the unconstitutional portion of the 2000 amendments to § 301 are such a significant portion of the whole as to make it impossible to give effect to the legislative authorization for the borrowing by saving only the allocation to the Oklahoma State Regents. Accordingly, the allocation of bond proceeds to the Oklahoma State Regents in subparagraph (m) cannot stand alone in § 301(A)(16).