Opinion ID: 1198839
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Severability of the valid portions of Students FIRST from the invalid portions

Text: ¶ 21 Having held that Students FIRST is unconstitutional because the funding mechanism established in the Act causes substantial disparities between opt-out and participating districts, we must next decide whether this defect invalidates the entire Act. We conclude that the provisions relating to bonding, compressed assessment ratios, and the ability of districts to opt out are inseverable from the remainder of the Act, and therefore invalidate Students FIRST in its entirety. ¶ 22 As originally passed, Students FIRST included a severability clause. [4] See Students FIRST § 87. However, the legislature subsequently enacted Senate Bill 1120, which repeals the severability clause. Ariz. Laws 1998, 2d Reg. Sess., ch. 164, § 38. Senate Bill 1120 will not become effective until ninety days following the close of the legislative session. See Ariz. Const. art. IV, pt. 1, § 1(3). ¶ 23 The state defendants suggest that we should strike any offensive portions of Students FIRST but leave the remainder intact. They argue that course is open to the court because the repeal of the severability clause does not become effective until August 21, 1998. While we agree it would be possible for this court to sever some portions of the Act and uphold the rest under these circumstances, we believe it would be jurisprudentially unwise to invalidate any core provision and leave the remainder in effect. ¶ 24 Determining whether constitutional portions of a statute may be separated and given effect independently of the unconstitutional portions requires that we ascertain whether the legislature intended that the act be severable. State Compensation Fund v. Symington, 174 Ariz. 188, 195, 848 P.2d 273, 280 (1993). We will sever a statutory provision only if we can determine that (1) the valid portions are effective and enforceable standing alone and (2) the legislature would have enacted the valid portions of the statute absent the invalid provision. Id. ¶ 25 In this case, the legislative history, including the legislature's approval of Senate Bill 1120, strongly indicates that the legislature would not have enacted Students FIRST without the provisions establishing the bonding prohibition, compressed assessment ratios, and the opt-out option. Accordingly, in deference to legislative authority and intent, we invalidate the entire Act, thereby enabling the legislature to reconsider the entire financing mechanism in light of the constitutional requirement that a general and uniform system cannot allow some districts to employ local funding mechanisms that the state system withholds from other districts.