THE ATTOKNEY GENERAL
OPTEXA~
October 5@ 1948
Hon. C, H. Cavness
State Auditor
Austin, Texas
Attention:
Mr. William A. Harrison
Opinion No. V-696
Re: Effective dates of clem-
ency proclamations and
the legality of payment
of discharge funds 5
years after a condition-
al pardon is granted,
Dear Sir:-
In your letter of reoent date you request an
opinion by this department upon the following questions:
"Under Section 10 of Article 6203,
Vernon's R, C, S., the Texas Prison Sys-
tern is required to pay $i5aO0 to each pa-
rolee who receives a Conditional Pardon,
"In checking the records of the Texas
Prison System we find that during the oal-
endar year 1948 the Prison System has made
payments to parolees who received Condi-
tional Pardons back in the year 1943* Is
this procedure legal in view of our two-
year Statute of Limitation?
"In our examination of Clemency Proc-
lamations signed by the Governor, we find
that the Texas Prison System is following
the practice of starting Clemency on the
date the convict is released from Prison,
in view of the fact that specified dates
are not shown in the Clemency Proclame-
tions,
"This procedure has caused confusion
as no one seems to know whether such
. .
Hon. C. H. Cavness - Page 2 (V-696)
Clemency should become effective as of
the date of the Proclamation or as of the
date the prisoner is released from Prison.
Xi11 you please advise whet procedure
should be followed?”
Section 10 of Article 6203 of Vernon’s Civil
Statutes is as follows:
YJpon the discharge of any prisoner
upon parole, either under the provisions of
this Act, or through the exercise by the
Governor of executive clemency, independent
of this Act, such person so paroled, shall
be furnished by the proper officers of the
State Prison Board with such clothing as is
usually furnished to prisoners upon dis-
charge from prison in this State together
with a railroad non-transferable ticket
from the place of his discharge to the place
of his conviction and sentence, and in addi-
tion thereto the sum of $5.00,”
The current appropriation for the Texas Pris-
on System contains the following rider:
“Discharged convicts revolving fund,
Twenty-five Thousand ($25,000.00) Dollars
is continued and reappropriated until Sep-
tember 1, 1949, to be deposited equally in
the First National Bank 01 Huntsville and
the Huntsville National Bank, and each of
said Banks shall deposit with the General
Manager of the Prison System, bonds or se-
curity to be approved by the Prison Board
and the Attorney General of the State of
Texas to secure said deposit, and this ep-
propriation is made under and by virtue of
the law of the Acts of the First Called Ses-
sion of the 43rd Legislature, page 228,
Chapter 104, and it is the intent of the
Legislature to carry this Act out in full
as provided for in Chapter 104, Acts of the
First Called Session of the 43rd Legisla-
ture, and all discharged, paroled, or par-
doned convicts shall be paid out of this
fund from moneys earned from any source of
the Prison System and deposited to this
C. H. Cavness - Page 3 (V-696)
fund under the provisions of said Chapter
104 of the Acts of the First Called Ses-
sion of the 43rd Legislature,”
The Prison iievolving Fund thus appropriated is
a part of the State monies, and the appropriation there
made is a part of the biennial appropriation and as such
expires at the end of the biennium,
Answering your questions in the order in which
they are above repeated, we beg to advise:
It is the opinion of this office that biennial
appropriations are meant to cover items and claims for
the current period for which the appropriations are made,
and may not be used for purposes such as you mention of
paying claims arising prior to such appropriations.
Undoubtedly, an appropriation could be made to
pay an existing liability antedating the Act if the lan-
guage used clearly evIdencea SW& iltentlm, but no such
intention appears in the rider quoted, Your first ques-
tion, therefore, is answered in the negative.,
An executive clemency is the Act of the Governor
evidenced by his .proclamation. The legal effeot of the
proclamation is.to tender to the ooavict the clemency
therein drfined, and in the terms and upon the conditions
therein stated, Any clemency (especially one involving
conditions) must be accepted by the convict before it be-
comes effective, Ex parte Frazier, 239 S, W, 972; Ex
parts Davenport, 7 S- WD (2d) 589, For computing the
time of the clemency, therefore, the period begins when
the proclamation io made known to thr Brirol Hanagor, the
prisoner haa accepted thm same and has bmon lotuallj IO-
leased thereunder 0
The lpBrowiatio& of the ourrtit bismium
to the Texap Prirr &Lqak@ for paying $5.00 to
a convict reoeiving a oallitioral par&n rry
amt be use& to pay these conviots whcse coali-
tional pardons were issuea prior to the Apprr-
priation Act.
A olemenoy to a convict released from
prison is computed, as to time, rru ths (Iay
- -
Hon. C. H. Cavness - Page 4 (v-696)
such convict is released from the Prison.
Yours very truly,
ATTOIXN~YGBNERALOF TiXAS
BY a&
Ocie Speer
0S:wb Assistant
ATTO.RNEYGENERAL