Provision shall be made by general laws for the organization and classification of counties except as provided in section 18(a) or § 18(m) of this Article or otherwise in this constitution. The number of classes shall not exceed four, and the organization and powers of each class shall be defined by general laws so that all counties within the same class shall possess the same powers and be subject to the same restrictions. The revisions to this Article submitted by the first regular session of the eighty-eighth general assembly are intended to be applied retroactively and no law adopted by the general assembly or ordinance or order adopted by the governing body of a county shall be declared unconstitutional if such law, ordinance or order would have been constitutional had this section, as amended, been in effect at the time the law was passed, unless the law is declared unconstitutional pursuant to a different provision of this constitution.