*1 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN

Honorrble George R. Bhemard of ?ublio :.ooounta

Crmptrollsr Au;; tin, Tcxae

letter of reoet date, of the Oeneral Laws 3lnking Fund, whioh mount oovera interest on the invest- cient of the Slnklng Pund, and intereet by the County Ycu will pleaso advins us whether the degoeitorg.

ij5,240.33 ehould be kept by Mmrton County or paid into the Stute ;%YYIYU~."

Chapter 48, r.ots of the Seoond Called Jessloz of the 38 Leglsiuture, la?J, pflee 122, Ad valorem state tares levied for ;c~t.e :)'ir:jo3cs sginst lnhzbitsnts of and property in Collmls- the in sionersl rraoincta 203. 1, 2 xd 4 of ;:Jtagords County ad *2 .iiinorable Ceorqe 3. .iheppml, pigs a

..aarton County were released Sor a gerlod of twenty-iit0 yeara, do;ect -a certain oonuitiona all or whloh have be.13 ruiriiied.

Boada of marton County were lamed In accordance with ;ile term of the ..ct, and all exceae money in the lnteroet and 3lnrrlng fund was lnrcated by the oounty aud the interest w68 credited properly to the lntereat and l inkicg fund. Saldtdot oon- prorl4o: nprotlAeA, however, that.,.Q the tha follorlng siined ;Aount of tarea 60 colleated ehall be auiflolent to retire aald bonds and Intereat on 4-e berore the explratlon or 28 ye&r*, x.en from and after the d&r of retirement of raid bonds, the zsxea shall revert to the State and be paid into the: Stat?

i'reuaury 48 now provided by law."

In 1935, the 44th Leglalature, at its Blrat Called sea- 3 ton, 9asseA a donation act, aame being Chapter 402 or the Act6 ;r that session. In the preeinble or thle itot we find the follow- lsp statement : “Wheres6, by reaaon or tha deolalon ot the Suprame court OS Texas rendered in the oa6e of Sheppard v. Eidalgo County, 2. ?I. (2d) 649, them la a aerloua question aa to the ~8% ldity of the Act releasing the inhabitants of and property In said dlS- trlcta from the payment Of &ate times, the Court holAlng:ln et- _Pzot that the Legfsl%ture ~48 without authority to aid oalamity strloiren oountlea by releaalng the inhabitants oi and property in j~ld county from the papent of state taxoa, and it now appears &at the only way In whloh the &ate oan aid auoh oountler la by donating or appropriating St&e tsxea oolleoted in suoh Counties. This fiat donated ror tha remainder or the period of tlm6 ror whloh the inhabitants of and property in said Whnrton County end oertain partlone or hlatagorda County were released from the psyzaent of taxes,’ the net amount oi all State ad valorem taxes levied end ookleoted for State general 9IIqoaO6 on all property, both real anA personal, in esld &mton County and said portions oi Matagorda county.

deotlon 3 of etrld Conrrtlon .,ot la a6 fOllOW6: "That if at any tline before the ex9lratlon of the period oovered by this Lot, the mount of txXe6 hereby Ypproprljited shall be sufficient to retire aald bonds and then rrom and after lntereet due on the ame, the date of the retlrelnent ot said bonds, the tore8 and my b&moe remlnlng in the hmda of the County Sresourer of-said reagectlve counties shall revert to the Gtote of ,, A~IL~S 2nd shall be gald : he Ltzte Tre~..sury aa now into provided by law.”

62 dbotion 6 or mid lrot lo In the roii0wing 1snguaur: dlrereion of the money8 herein The use and - - ~ruttsn ror any purpoaa Other than for the payment or interest and principal of' the bonda voted and Issued under Chapter $8, hots Sroond Called S8a81000, Thirty-eighth Leglsluture is hereby prohibited and thr violation or any provision8 of thlr riot shall constitute a rnissppllcatlon of pub110 money and thr person or persons so orrending shall ba punishrd as grovided for In i,rtlcle Be of the Penal Coda or th, tit:ate 0r Toxm.”