Case Information
*1 R-666 ~~A-~~oMNEY GENEIKAL Q,F ?R?lrsAs PRICE DANIEL ATXXWEY CENERAI. YUIY 26, 1947
Hon. Roy Xov+.nthal,
t*ivestock bmltarg
2002 W. T. Waggoner Fort Worth, Texas ,,/ Opinion MO. V-316
Re :, The expiration date ,,,, of the emergency ap- ‘,‘, .,.: ,,, for the Livestock Sanitary Commlseion in H. B. 879, 49th Legisla- Dear Sir : ture.
In your letter of July 15,, 1947, you request the opinion OS tbls #‘fice,. upon the question therein contained, which folc cotN&nlenoe we quote, as follows: ,, 2,~ -i ,,,,, ;\ ,.:.‘A ‘~ ;:
“On June llth., 1945, the Legislature made available to th~ls Department, through Bill 879,;: qn ,emergency agpropriation in the amount of ‘$10.000.00.
“In the &t&p, $&of ‘Sectida I of House Bill 879: +o,u gill, .fbd the foliow- lng wording: ,, ~ ;,,~“, i ‘And the 8ai.d Commission shall be ent;itled .to the use and of said’ monies to the expe,ndltWe hereby appropplated up to Septem- . ., * ,a. .‘, .. :. , ‘, .., .*p g&y, .?594.7&. t .‘. j
‘we are advised by Mr. Geo. Ii. Shep- pard, Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Iegislature Is not authorized to appro- priate money.for State expenditure for a period exceeding two years from the date the appropriation is made available.
“It occurs %o;,us that the two year llmlt applies, to rsgular appropriations, and that it d&es nti apply to appropria- tibns for emergency purposes.
Hon. Roy Loventhal, rage 2, V-316
“Due to the fact that the close of our fiscal year Is near and that a consld- arable amount of the $2,400.00 yet unex- pauded is needed for materials and supplf:,a, we will appre- ciate an early respoare.
It appears that you are under the Impression that the restraint placed upen the Iagislature by Sec- t ion 6 of Article III of the Const ltutlon of Texas, which reads as follows:
n . . . nor shall an7 appropriation of meaey be yde for le8ger term than two gears . . . only to regular l pproprlatlons,
applies but not to appro- reading of priat ions for emsrgancj A careful purposes. 1945, p. 531) does not If. B. No. 879, (Acts 49th leg., disclose that the LeglalM.ure treated this as an emergen- The act mrely contained the usual cy appropriation. emrgencg provisloas aurpeelling the censt it ut lonal rule requiring It to be read en three several days in each In order that from end it take effect lmadiately Its pessage. It is, of no legal sig- after tkOw0r0, nificance it may be thus tenad an emergency appro- pr iat Ion.
It 1s manliest that the plain language of Sec- tion of Article VIII of the Constitution, “nor shall term thaa anj approp$iatlon of mea07 be rade for longer to all l ppPoprl8tlons two years, applies they be termed emergency appropriations or regular approprla- tions. This office has heretofore written several oplm- Ions stating vhat we coacalve to be the correct rule of lnw, and it would serve n8 usefnl purpose to write ex- tensively upon the said questloms again. We enclose herewith a cop7 of Opinloa !fe: O-3639, approved June 15, the last paragraph whleh anawers your questloa. A more extended dlacusslon la found in Opinion No. O- 3651, a copy of which is herewith enclosed. This opln- fpe8 several eplalons of the courts 10s cites aad quotes of this Stata vhlch confirm rule that an approprla- tion may not be made by tke bglslaturt for a longer term than tve pars under the sxpross provisions of Sec- tien 6 of Article VIII of the Oenstltutlon.
,
Hon. Roy brenthal, ?age 3, v-316 Iio. 879, Acts of the 49th bglsla-
House Bill ture, 1945, was approved June 11, 1945, and became Im- mediately effective on that date, and ceased to be ef- fective at midnight on June 10, 1947, two years there- after.
You are, therefore, respectfully advised an balance remaining on June 11, t is no longer available, notwlthstandlng the Ap- Act provides, “and the said Commission shall be entitled to the use and to the expenditure of said money hereby appropriated up to September 1, 1947.
Section 6 of Article VIII of the Con- stitution, which provides that no appro- prlatlon money shall ba made for a long- er term than two years, applies to all ap- termed emergency or propriations regular approprlatloas. Hence an approprla- tion effective June 11, 1945, ceases to be efSectlve on June 10, 1947, notwlthstandlng Act contains a provision that “the Com- mission shall be entitled to use the money . . . up to September 1, 1947: ‘I’ Very truly yours, ATTORRRY GEH&RAL OF TEXAS LPL:lmIlc :mr j