Opinion ID: 2612398
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Does the Deannexation Law Violate the Special/Local Law Prohibition?

Text: Applying these standards to the deannexation statute, we approve Division One's opinion in Petitioners for Deannexation and hold that the statute is a special or local law. Although the statute may be rationally related to a legitimate legislative objective, thus satisfying the equal protection test, the statute does not meet the remaining two special/local law standards. As Division One noted, the legislature might rationally perceive that areas annexed by small cities (population under 11,000) may have greater cause to deannex than those annexed to larger cities because of the smaller cities' inability to provide services. Petitioners for Deannexation, 160 Ariz. at 473, 773 P.2d at 1032. However, even if a rational basis exists, the deannexation statute is a special/local law. The statute was enacted in response to the abuse of the municipalities' power to strip annex. On that basis, the class affected by the statute should include all cities where annexation abuses may have occurred. Because the statute applies to only 12 cities within Maricopa County, it does not apply uniformly to all members of the class. Instead, the statute confers a benefit only on part of the class while immunizing larger cities in Maricopa County and all other similarly situated cities in other counties. Moreover, the statute's focus, limited to a particular census for only 13 months, prevents any municipality from either coming within or exiting from its operation in the future. Because a general law would have provided a remedy to individuals in all areas annexed by large or small cities within the state, as indicated by the original bill, the statute's limited application violates the special law prohibition. The statute is not elastic, excludes similarly situated members of the class, and a general law could be made applicable. The deannexation statute, therefore, violates Ariz. Const. art. 4, pt. 2, § 19(20).