r
FfTE dh’PFOMNEY GENERAL
OF TICXAS
PRICE DANIEL
ATTORNEYGENERAL
Hon. Coke R. Stevenson, Jr.
.Administ rat or
Texas Licuor Control Board
Austin, Texas
Opinion No. V-1267.
Re: Percent of Confiscated Liquor
Fund appropriated to the Texas
Liquor Control Board, percent
to be transferred to the Gen-
eral Revenue Fund, and author-
ity to use balance to rent of-
fice space during the biennium
Dear Sir: ending .August 31, 1953.
You have requested an opinion of this office
in regard to provisions relating to the disposition of
the Confiscated Liquor Fund during the biennium ending
August 31, 1953, as follows:
1. What percent of the Confiscated
Liquor F’und may be used during the coming
biennium for the purpose of purchasing and
accumulating evidence and for other ex-
penditures authorized by Section O(b) of
;heP ;i;luor Control Act? (Art. 66 2-30,
. . .
2. What percent of the Confiscated
Liquor Fund is to be transferred to the
General Revenue F’und during the coming bi-
ennium?
3. If in view of the answers to the
above questIons there is a balance remain-
ing in the Confiscated Liquor Fund, may it
be used to pay rental on new or additional
quarters7
The general statute setting up the Confiscated
Liquor Fund and providing for its disposition is as fol-
lows:
Hon. Coke R. Stevenson, Jr., Page 2 (v-1267)
I!(b) Thirty-five per cent (3596)of
all moneys derived from the sale of alcohol-
ic beverages containers, any device In
which said ai cohollc beverages are packaged,
or property, as authorized in Paragraph (a)
of this Section shall be placed In a separ-
ate fund in the State Treasury to be desig-
nated as the Confiscated Liquor Fund, and
thereafter all moneys in said fund shall be
available to the Board to defray the expenses,
and is hereby appropriated for said purpose
of purchasing and accumulating evidence as to
violations of the provisions of this Act and
to defray the expenses ‘,;;;,r;;d in assem 6ling,
storing, transporting and account-
ing for said confisca 4 ed alcoh$ic beverages,
. containers, devices, and property and’for
any other purpose deemed necessary by the Board
in administering and enforcing the provisions
of the Texas Liquor Control Act. Any unexpend-
ed portion of said fund at the end of each bi-
ennium shall remain in said fund subject to
further appropriation for’ such purposes. Slxty-
five per cent (65%) of all moneys derived from
the sale herein referred to shall be deposited
in the General Fund of the State of Texas.”
Par.(b) of Art. 666-30, V.P.C.
The appropriation for the Texas Liquor Control
Board in the general appropriation bill for the biennium
ending August 31, 1953, provides in part :
“It is further rovlded that not to exceed
twenty per cent (20%P of the receipts from the
sale of confiscated beverages and equipment as
rovided in Section 30(b) of the Texas Liquor
8 ontrol Act shall be available for defraying ex-
penses as stipulated in said Act, and the same
are hereby appropriated for each of the fiscal
~;;;s ending August 31, 1952, and August 31i
. The Comptroller is directed to trans er
the remaining eighty per cent (80%) of the afore-
said recei t s to the General Revenue Pond.” (Art.
III H.B. i 26 Acts 52nd Leg., 1951, ch. 499, p.
1228, at p. 1382).
Hon. Coke R. Stevenson, Jr., Rage 3 (v-1267)
The general statute authorizes 35% of the COn-
available for such expenses.
The answer to your second question Is governed
by Attorney General’s Opinion V-1254 (1951). The valid-
ity of riders in a general appropriation bill is discuss-
ed in detail in the above opinion, and we will only point
out that in your case the general statute requires 65% of
the Confiscated Liquor Fund to be transferred to the Gen-
eral Revenue Fund, while the general appropriation bill
rider requires 80% to be transferred. Since a rider CUR-
not alter, amend, or repeal a general statute, the rider
is invalid to the extent that it attempts to require a
transfer of more than 65% of the Confiscated Liquor Fund.
Att’y Gen. Op. v-1254 (1951).
As a direct result of the answers to your first
two questions it becomes obvious that the Confiscated Li-
quor Fund wili have a balance of 15% remaining In it. In
regard to the use of that balance, you make the following
statement in your opinion request:
“We have been advised that on or after
September 1, 1951, it will be necessary for
us to move our District Office from the
Tribune Building here in Austin to another
locat ion. We are not paying any rent for
the space in the Tribune Building. But for
the additional or new space, it will be
necessary t 0 pay rent.
“It has also been necessary for us to
acquire different and additional office space
for our District Offices at Fort Worth, San
Antonio, Houston, McAllen and Wichita Falls,
effective September 1, 19!%*
‘1. . . .
Hon. Coke R. Stevenson, Jr., Page 4 (v-1267)
ItIt is our opinion that the rent for
the additional space for the hereinabove
mentioned moves may be paid out of the ap-
propriation in subparagraph ‘et of para-
graph (16) of Section: 2 of Article III of
House Bill No. 426, p. 1439, which provides
as follows:
” le. In the event during the biennium
beginning September 1, 1951, and ending Au-
gu.st 31, 1953, any department having suffi-
cient funds in a special fund separate and
apart from the General Revenue Fund, can
rent additional office space during sai bi-
ennium with the approval of the Legisla &ive
Budget Board and the Board of Control.
There is appropriated out of said special
fund a sufficient amount to pay the rent of
the department moving to new quarters all
of which shall be approved by the Legislative
Budget Board. 1”
The answer to your third question depends upon
whether subparagraph (e) above is a sufficiently specific
appropriation to meet the requirement of Section 6 of Ar-
ticle VIII of the Texas Constitution, which provides:
“No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in pursu-
ance of specific appropriations made by law; nor shall any
appropriation of money be made for a longer period than
two years.”
The Su reme Court of Texas In National Biscuit
Co. v. Statq, 13E Tex. 293, 135 S.W.?4d 687,693 (19401,
said: -i
11
. . . An appropriation can be made for
all funds coming from certain sources and de-
posited in a special fund for a designated
purpose. In such instances, it is not neces-
sary for the appropriating Act to name a cer-
tain sum or even a certain maximum sum.”
In like manner an undesignated portion of a special fund
be ap ropriated for a specific purpose. Att’y Gen. Op.
Kg87 (19c9,. The authorities above cited make obvious the
conclusion that the appropriation made in subparagraph (e),
m, Is constitutional and that the 15% in the Confis-
cated Liquor Fund, which is separate and apart from the Gen-
eral Revenue Fund may be expended for the rental of addl-
tional or nevj &f&e space.
Hon. Coke R. Stevenson, Jr., Page 5 (V-1267)
The provision in the general appropria-
tion bill (H.B. 426 Acts 52nd Leg., 195l,
ch. 499, p. 1228, a{ ’ 1382) appropriating
20% of the Confiscate I* Liquor P’und to the
Texas Liquor Control Board for the purposes
enumerated in Article 666-30(b), V.P.C., is
valid. The provision directing the transfer
of 80,% of this fund to General Revenue is
Invalid to the extent that It attempts to
so require the transfer of more than 65% of
the fund, since a rider In a general appro-
priatlon hill cannot alter amend, or repeal
a general statute. The 154 remaining in the
Confiscated Liquor Fund may be expended for
the rental of new or addit ional quarte,rs un-
der the appropriation made in subpar. (e)
p$.rd it,“), Sec. 2, A III, H.B. 426, ACES
., 1951, ch. T 99, pm 1228, at p.
14I;9.
Yours very truly,
APPROVED: PRICE DANIEL
Attorney General
C. K. Richards
Trial & Appellate ‘Division
Everett Rut chinson
Exe cut ive As si st ant
Assistant
Price Daniel
Attorney General
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