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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 95-CA-2105 Louisiana Associated General Contractors, Inc. vs. State of Louisiana, through the Division of Administration, Office of State Purchasing; Raymond Laborde, Commissioner of Administration; Virgie O. Leblanc, Director of the Office of State Purchasing; Louisiana Health Care Authority; and Dr. William Cherry, Chief Executive Officer of the Louisiana Health Care Authority

ON DIRECT APPEAL FROM THE 19TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE, STATE OF LOUISIANA

KIMBALL, J.* THE ISSUE The Louisiana Minority and Women's Business Enterprise Act, La. R.S. 39:1951 et seq., enacted by Act 653, Section 1 in 1984 and later amended and reenacted by Act 797, Section 2 in 1992, [hereinafter "the Act"] was declared unconstitutional by a trial court under Art. I, Sec. 3 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974. Pursuant to La. Const. Art. V, Sec. 5(D), the defendants were entitled to a direct appeal to this court. Upon extensive review of the law and the record in this case, we affirm the trial court's conclusion that portions of the Act unconstitutionally discriminate on the basis of race. We additionally affirm his finding that the remaining portions of the Act are not severable because the unconstitutional portions of the Act are so interrelated and connected with the remaining parts that they cannot be separated without destroying the intent of the legislature in enacting the Act. Therefore, we affirm the trial judge's declaration that the Act is unconstitutional in its entirety.

THE ACT The Louisiana Minority and Women's Business Enterprise Act was created by the legislature

Judge Burrell Carter, Jr., First Circuit Court of Appeal, sitting to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Justice James L. Dennis. Lemmon, J., not on panel. Rule IV, Part 2,

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