Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

THEATSORNEYGENEZRAL OF TEXAS Honorable Jerry Sadler Opinion No. C-352 Commissioner General Land Office Re: Whether the Veterans' Land Austin, Texas Board may use any funds from the Veterans' Land Fund after December 1, 1965,,to pay the purchase price on lands they agreed to purchase prior to Dear Mr. Sadler: December 1, 1965. Your recent letter to th1.soffice presents the questlon as to whether the Veteranst Land Board may, prior to December 1, 1.965,enter into a commitmentfor the purchase of land which, due to the details,of a title examinationand other closing matters, defers the ayment of the purchase price subsequent to December 1, 19%5. Your written supplementalinformationalso states that: "When the veteran's contract and other papers are mailed to him for the purpose of signing the contract with the seller, the Veterans' Land Board, at that time, is able to accept the assignment of his contract and process his applicationknowing that, when the contract is assigned to the Board, there is money available to handle that particular transaction. "The Board makes this determinationbased on experience of past percentages of contracts received back after executionby the veteran and seller and those originallymailed out to the veteransand not-returned. We receive approximately20$ of the contractsproperly executed by the seller and the veteran and assigned to the Board out of 300$ that are mailed out. Eighty per cent of the veterans are not able to find the land that they want, or, for some other reason, do not execute their contract with the seller, thereby en- abling them to participate in the Program. -1667- Honorable Jerry Sadler, page 2 (C-352) "After the descriptionof the land, the veteran's qualificationsand other require- ments have been properly met, the land is appraised by the Veterans' land Board ap- praiser. Upon receipt of the appraisal, the file is properly reviewed by numerous people within the Veterans' Land Board, including the Commissionerand the Chief Clerk, and a commitmentis issued for the exact amount of money that will be paid by the Board for the land." Article III, Section 49-b, Constitutionof the State of Texas, provides: " . . The additionalbonds herein author- ized may be sold in such installmentsas deemed necessary and advisableby the Vet- erans’ Land Board. All monies received from the sale of land and for interest on deferred payments on land purchased with the proceeds of such additional bonds, shall be credited to the Veterans' Land Fund for use in purchasing additional lands to be sold to Texas veterans, as herein provided, in like manner as provided for the sale of lands purchased with the proceeds from the sales of the bonds provided for herein, for a period ending December 1, 1965; provided, however, that so much of such monies as may be necessary to pay interest on the addi- tional bonds herein provided for shall be set aside for that purpose. After December 1, 1965, all monies received by the Veterans' land Board from the sale of the lands and interest on payments, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be set aside for the retirement of said additionalbonds and to pay interest thereon, and any of such monies not so needed shall not later than the maturity date of the la?trmaturingbond be deposited to the credit of the General Revenue F'undto be appropriatedto such purposes as may be pre- scribed by law. . . . Likewise, Section 9a, Article 542&n, Vernon's Civil Statutes, provides: -Y668- Honorable Jerry Sadler, page 3 (C-352 ) "Each year until December 1, 1965, there shall be set aside and paid from the Veterans1 Land Fund sufficientmoneys to pay interest and principal due on all bonds theretofore issued and outstanding. After December 1, 1.965,all moneys received by the Veterans' Land Board under the terms of this Act, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be set aside and used to pay principal and interest on bonds then outstandingas they shall mature. When there is in the Veterans' Land Fund an amount fully sufficientto pay all,intereston, and principal of, the out- standing bonds due and to become due there- after, any moneys in excess of such amount shall be deposited to the credit of the General F'undof the State of Texas to be appropriatedto such purposes as may be pre- scribed by law. . . . It is our opinion that a commitmentmay be made any time prior to December 1, 1965. Once a commitmenthas been made prior to that date, payment of the considerationmay be made upon completion of the final closing details even if that should occur after December 1, 1965. Where a commit- ment has been made prior to December 1, 1965, to say that payment of the considerationcould not be made after December 1, 1965,would be unduly restrictiveof the provi- sion in Article III, Section 49-b that purchases may be made' until that date. Consequently,it is our opinion, that a commitment having been made prior to December 1, 1965, payment of the considerationcan be made subsequentto that date. SUMMARY If a commitment to purchase land pursuant to Article III, Section 49-b, Constitutionof the State of Texas,:~isentered into prior to December 1, 1965, payment of the consideration can be made subsequentto that date. Yours very truly, WAGGONER CABB Attorney General of Texas GCB:afg -1669- Honorable Jerry Sadler, page 4 (C-352) APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE W. O.,Shultz, Chairman J. C. Davis Grady'Chandler Pat Bailey Paul F%y APPROVED FORTRE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: Roger Tyler -1670-