Case Information
*1 war& 1, 1959 Xonorabla 19. Lee O%anlel
Covernor of the Btste of Texaa
Austin, Terai oplnlon Roe. O-?uil
Deer Coremar OQmlelr Ret H.B. Ho. Z?O9 held invalid beoauso 0r lnsurflolenoy or
its eaptloa This III in tmwef to your letter of Pebnmry 14, lQs9, wbloh reada as lollorrs:
"I am ~rezwig to you LB. Ilo* 69, re- latbq to oommon 8ohool dlatrlota, and desire to ask the r0ii0hg q\aetlone:
*sn the 0tipti0fi 0r tu8 mu ita proda- to Oertain mhool di8triots ion8 are restriotti rgiletb Bill lt0d.r 8emmre general ana, it appeara to me, *y apply to all sohool bi8- trlote.
*mill you pleaae kdvl80 so whather or not the oaptlon lr tp.erioim to 1-t the pmmi8- iOM or tbb Biu"'to tb 8pOOiriO 8OhOOi di8- trlotr therein de80ribed.w
Yo&attaohed to this letter a aopy ot R.B. Ro. 809. That; psrt of the caption OS the Bill in whlah we are lntere&eb read8 as r0iim8:
*AR J&T to vulldate, ratltf, approve, OOLF firm deolare enioroeable all levle8 and as- 8essmenta OS ad oalorem tares heretorore made by oounty line independent eohool dietriots, part- ly situated io three or mare Oountfes, the super- vision of bald sot1001 balnn looatsd oountlelr having a population not l&i than 17,ooO nor more than 17,500,+ * l "
Oovernor ll. Loo OfDaniel, lhroh 1, 1939, me 8 Eoimter, the boaJ or the Bill applier to laeepeadent ccm 17,000 to
l oh001 dlstrlots in o0untles baring a~popalatlon of Y 17,500, and does not lmt its applloation to aouaty line lmlepend- ent who01 distrlot8 a8 detined in the oeptlon. That part or the body of the Bill with whioh m are oonoerned ?Md8 a8 tollore:
"Thatallle*iieandarrel8~nt8at edva- loremtaxea beretoioremadebythe goternlaq body oi any independent sohool dlsitrlot, la this State, in oountles hiariag a population 0r not less than 8eventeen thouaaad (17,OOO) aad not mor% than 8%VOllt8Oll thousand rive hundred (17,5OO), aooordlllg to the last preoedlng Fed- eral &meu8, L7t in exoe88 of the ilait now pro- vided by law, whloh dre mid or uhenioroeable beaauee 8uoh levies mx-e made and adopted by resolut%on, m&ion or other inrolrsl aotlon, lmtead of lx~viag been made order as requlrd by the Stntnted of thi8 8tate; * * +&e eaoh and ail hereby validated, ratltied4 gpqrovod, oonfirm- ed, and deoiared enforceable,,
* ‘whether or not th.ls oaptlon 1s ml’flolant 18 governed by Artiole III, Seotlon 35, 0r the oonstltution of rsxaa, whloh reads as iollor8:
Vo bill, (emept gumral approptiatl0a bflls, tdxhioh may embraae t& varione subjeotr aooounts, ror aad on aooouat of whioh aon- ey8 areapproprlated) &all oontalnmorethan on% subjeot. whioh shall be apre88ed io ittr title. But if any subjeot u&l1 be aabraoed In an not, whloh shall not be expressed in the title, swh aot shall be void only a8 to 80 auoh thereof, a8 8hall rrot be 80 oxpre88e6." The attitude 0r the oourts of thlr Stat4 in resgard t0 Bills providing for mre than 1s e~lmmmd the Caption 18 well stated lo tha oa3e of Rx parts Iieartdill (Ter. Or& App.) 3S S.W. (24) 003, as roiiaprs:
"AU laus passed by the Loglslatme Of this state otlanate in blils, upon each of which mat appear a oaption or title, and aeotton 35, art. 3, 0r our Constitution for- bids that any bill, with oertain %XoeptiOM, shall oontaln pars than one subjeot, which shall be expreesed in ita title. It ha8 been held by the oourts that &en the express VW- biage o? auoh title iklts and raetricte the *3 Gomraar U. Lee O*Danlel, Maroh 1, 19SOI Pago S
purpose oith8 blll,any attenpttolegl8lat.e otherwbeln azoh bllltarlant rmm the pur- pose presorlbed, 18 in exoes* 0r the leglsla- tlte parer, and that a law subjeot to this ooaplalnt 1s unOorurtltutlonal.m
The purpose of thI8 oonstltutlonal provlslon 18 erpre8se6 in 39 Tex. fur. 77, as rOmYNI8:
"It Is intended to secure notlce to the legislators and the people, through suoh pub- lioation of leglslatlve prooeedlngs as 18 usually amdo, of the subjeot, nature or oon- tents or each partloular bill, thus avoiding deoeptlon, misapprehension and surprise in legislation and giving those u%o are later- eated in a subjeot under oonsideratloa an op- ~a.xunlty tom be heard thereon, ii they so de-
.- The Bill we have under oon8IderatIoa applies to all school distriotr ai this size, but the oaptlon 1Imtte the bill to county line dietriots. me oaptlon wuld not, at the tlm the bill was pending la tha I,++elature, have given not100 "to the le.egislators the people 0r th e l * * oonteat8a o r th e Bill, o r giten those who were interested *an opportualty to be heard thteorP, be- oause those rho lived la sahool diPrt&ots that ware nat on oountf lIne8 oould not tell read- the oaptioa that the Bill applied to their distrlots.
III the -808 Of GiddlDg8 V8. 8an AntOnib, 47 %X. 528; Adams vs. San Aageio Uater lbbrke Go., 86 Tex. 485, 25 S.U. 605; and uohey ~8. state, lZS Tex. Grim. hpp. 458, 59 S.U. (Ed) 406, a6 well as in some other oases, the oaption OS the aot Iarolted was not sui- tloient to oover the entire body of the bill, and the 00~1% held that the bill uas ~vold only as to that part not aabraoeU In the osptlon; but In t&me oases the part nat embraoed In the oaptlon vas eoparate seotlons and paragraphs, and, as said in the Arohey ease, it wx~s *easily separable rrcm the other matters and things naned in the title", ard when it was 8ttiOken out the bill was still oomplete and lntelllgIble.
In the bill we hsve under oonslderation, the part not covered by the oaption is not "easily separable from the other nrat- ters and th%ngs named in the title*. In fact, it mould be Imposs- Ible to strike out that part OS the bill apply14 to distriota not on couutJ lines and leave a bill that only applied to county line dlstriOt8. Therefore, the entire aot wIl1 have to be held mid for the reasons stated ln 25 R.C.L. 64C, as follOaa: *4 Qovernar W. Lee O*Danlol, Maroh 1, 1.939. Page 4
*Xf M act ir broader than it8 title and the sub eot or obJeots not oovered by the title are so 1 ntlmtely ootubeoted with the one lndi- oat& by the title tbert the portion of the aot relating to thaa oahmt be rejeoted and leave a ocaplete and senslblo enaotmmt tiloh is oap- able of beiw +8xzo2ted, the ontlre aot wmt be held lmalld;
The bill that we hsve limier oonslderntion Is airallar to
the one th?t was oonsldered In the case of Sutherlmd va. Board of Trustees (Ter. Ct. Clv. App.) 261 S.T. 488. In that case the body oi the bill oreated a now sohool distriot, includlnx parts of the Agua Duloe dlstriot and the Rtxnber 4 district, but &e oaptlon of the bill, whluh attempted to describe the telrltary covered by the new d&&riot, did not lnolnde the aSua Dulos and H-P 4 parts, and the court refused to ~1l.m the rest oi the district to stand, and sald:
-Be conclude that tested by this rule ho part of the aot la enforooable tor any prpose, &tar the provlsioha lnoorporatlng yctrts of iqpm buloe and ho. 4 dletrtots Into the propossd diatriots are sroluded, es they must be.* In the 08138 of Texas-lacllslana Power Co. vs. City of Far- ppersvllle (Tex. Carw. &pp.) 67 S.rC..(Zd) 2?i5, In an'opinion by Judge Sharp, it was held that an aot ahioh lnoreased the nrnaber of oltler with the right to regulate utility ratea, and also ohaaged the aoale OS rates that oonld be okrged, ~98 Irnnlfd in its entirety beoanse tlm oaptfon did not refer to ths ohi-inged soale oi rates, and the oaurt held that the provisions of thr aot wore so intercpovon that It oauld not let tie other psrts of the sot stand; and in this eon- neotion lt said:
'*rho establlahed rule a?pUoablo horc 38 rerlsoted by the deoisiona of the various oourts la oorreotlg s&ted ln JAwia* Suthsrlmd, Stat- utory Construotlon (2d Ed.) ~51. 1, sea. 306, as f3llows: ‘xi, by etriki~ out a void exoeption, proviso or other restrictive olause tk;s ratvain- der, by reason of its generality, w~llh~lve a broader mops as to sub cot or terrltorp, its op- eration is not la aooor d tii=h the legislative in- teat, am3 the whole would be affected and made void the Invalidity of zuoh pqrt**.
Our an8wer to your qgestl0Cs is t!l3t it iS Out 0plniOll tbst beoause of the insuffioieaoy of it& caption this Bill you heve *5 Oovemtor U. Ime O'Ikmlel, Maroh 1, 1939, Faga S
referred to 08, H.B. Ho. eO0, la entirely vold and invalid.
Yours very truly 5CR:M