Section 11-24-40 - Effective date; severability(a) Effective date. -- The provisions of this article shall take effect on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred sixty-seven.(b) Severability. -- If any provision of this article or the application thereof shall for any reason be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of said article, but shall be confined in its operation to the provision thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered, and the applicability of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.