Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

Honorable George H..Sheppard Comptroller of Public Accounts Austin, Texas Dear Mr. Sheppard: OpinionNo. 0-5367 Re: Appropriation from the Permanent School Fund - validity. We quote your letter of June 4, 1943: ,"I am enclosing photostatic copy of House Bill No. 514, Acts of the Regular Session of the Forty-eighth Legislature, appropriating b452.60 from the Permanent School Fund for the purpose of reimbursing D. B. Eades, of Dallas, Texas, for funds paid by him as bonus and rental upon certain vacancies in public school lands. "Since this appropriation Is made from the Permanent School Fund, I respectfully re- quest your opinion as to whether the appro- priation is valid."' The nature of House Bill No. 514 is described in the caption thereto, said caption reading as follows: ,"A?~,ACTmaking an appropriation of Four Hundred and Fifty-two Dollars and Sixty Cents' ($452.60)from the Permanent School Fund for( the purpose of reimbursing D. B. Eades of'Dallas, Texas, for funds paid by him as bonus and rentals upon certain lands being described in State of Texas mineral leases Numbers 24090, 24091 and 24092; said lands having been claimed to be the property of the State of Texas and part of the public school lands, but by the terms of a final judg- ment of the District Court of Travis County, Texas, said lands were adjudged to be not the Hon. George H. Sheppard, page 2 (o-5367) property of the State of Texas; therefore, the sums paid as rentals and bonuses on said lands were improperly received; said Act further providing that the Comptroller of the State of Texas be directed to issue warrant 'to reimburse the party named herein in the amount specified herein; and declaring an emer- gency." The body of the bill contains the following ap- propriation: "To pay D. B. Eades of Dallas County, the sum of Four Hundr d and Fifty-two %1"k and Sixty Cents ($458.60) as reimburse- ment for rentals and bonuses paid by him into the Permanent School Fund on State Mineral Leases Nos. 24090, 24091, and 24092 of lands located in Duval County, Texas, which said lands were not the property of the State of Te~xas and the leases were for that reason void"~and of no effect; the State Permanent SEboo&: 'Fundnot being entitled to receive or: retain said money . s . $452.60." As is apparent from the portions of the bill quoted above, the act does not purport to appropriate moneys rlght- fully belonging in the Permanent School Fund, to uses and purposes other than those to which the fund is dedicated by constitutional provision; but the purpose of the approprla- tion is to require the Permanent School Fund to account for moneys not rightfully belonging to it which in equity and good conscience it cannot retain. Such an appropriation, in our opinion, does not violate the terms of Article 8, Section 7, of the Constitution, prohibiting the diversion of special funds. You are therefore advised that such an appropriation from the Permanent School Fund is valid. Similar appropriations have heretofore been ap- proved by this department: See the opinions listed in the following volumes of the letter opinions of this department --Volume 377, page 980, page 939; Volume 371, page 594, page 711; Volume 367, page 38. Yours very truly RWF:JP:bt APPROVED June 11, 1943 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS Gerald C. Mann Attorney General of Texas By s/ R.W. Fairchild Assistant APPROVED OPINION COMITTEE By BWB,Chr.