Cal. Civ. Code § 963
Separability
Operative Text
(a) If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this act, or the application thereof, to any person or circumstance, shall, for any reason, be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of this act nor the application of such clause, sentence, paragraph or part to other persons or circumstances, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph or part thereof and to the persons or circumstances directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that this act would have been adopted had such provisions not been included or such persons or circumstances been expressly excluded from their coverage. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), if any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, shall be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction or finally determined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development not to be in substantial equivalence with the Fair Housing Act and if such judgment or final determination threatens the loss or reduction of Federal funds to the Commission, all provisions of this amendatory act except the provisions adding subsections (c.1) and (j) to section 9 shall be null and void. The Commission shall, in such event, apply the provisions of 16 Pa. Code §§ 45.8(a) (relating to advertisements) and 45.13(f) (relating to exemptions) which were in effect on March 1, 1997, such provisions having been revived by operation of law.
Section 43 P.S. § 963 is a separability (also called a severability) clause for Pennsylvania's fair housing and human relations law. It establishes that if any individual part of the act is struck down by a court, the rest of the law remains in force and continues to apply to other people and situations not directly involved in that ruling. A special exception applies, however: if any part of the act is found by a court or by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fall short of substantial equivalence with the federal Fair Housing Act in a way that threatens federal funding, most of the amendatory provisions become null and void and certain older 1997 regulations are automatically revived.
Plain English — not legal advice.
Property owners and managers operating in Pennsylvania should be aware that 43 P.S. § 963 is designed to preserve the overall integrity of the state's human relations and fair housing framework even when isolated provisions face legal challenge. In practice, this means that compliance obligations under the act generally remain in effect even if a specific clause is invalidated, because the law is structured to survive partial rulings. Operators who track regulatory changes should pay particular attention to any federal equivalency determinations by HUD, since such a finding could trigger a reversion to the advertising and exemption rules that were in place under 16 Pa. Code §§ 45.8(a) and 45.13(f) as of March 1, 1997.
General guidance for property managers — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult an attorney for advice on your case.
Tenants in Pennsylvania benefit from 43 P.S. § 963 because it ensures that a court ruling against one part of the state's fair housing law does not automatically eliminate protections found elsewhere in the act. If a specific provision is invalidated, the remaining rights and remedies under the law continue to apply to other people and circumstances. Tenants who believe their fair housing rights have been affected by a legal or regulatory change to this act may wish to consult a tenant-rights organization or review guidance from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to understand which protections remain in effect.
General guidance for tenants — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult a tenant-rights organization or attorney for advice on your case.
Generated October 10, 2026 — auto-generated, not yet human-reviewed. See /transparency for methodology.
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