Ol=F!CE OI= THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS . ._
AWWIN
honorableJ. S. ?kmMcort
:100utivo Dlroctcr
$tste %e;;i:rt-,rJ::t
of ZubIic hlfsre
:.u tin, Texas
Snd FTW?ti.CCtS
pertmnt or 3u
the Eouse of 2
duct the iAVS
is set but'ln
investigctors n:1d Eu&Xl'v lsora
!Jivisloilara allspd to have bcon
treating old cgs assistxico eppli-
criminstin~ betnocn nppllcants; that
Q be cqm~3rec? t0 SubpdIa XitA3SS0S,
5
3n and faotual eviCenc0, 00:22!aAd the
.
brinEin& b&ore it of such records of the Cld &a
Aszistr\noeComisoiim ac it nay &en f&t and pro-
perf nnd thatiw.Sd comlCt0?, irtzddltinn to con-
. .
..
5%
t-r
3 d
ppornble 5. S. Zurohison, pa@ 3
tasadand appeared before the Gomittoe butrofuged to an&r
rertalnquestions propounded to hi& The witness after being
r;restedundcr.a oomittzent issued by the Lieutenant Governor
a,edout a writ of habeas corpus whioh was @antQd by a mmber
cf the Court of CrIminsl Appasls Gnd the case via0 set down for
:oarlng. It was conte;:Uedby the Relator that ono branch of
tielegislaturehad no cuthoritg~toappoint a oomIttee and au-
(:orize, it to.oonduot an InvcetIS.atlonfor the purpose of ob-
~~ininSinfositaticn and nakIn(irscomendations and that If such
;ovcrexisted, it oxisted in the Ls&slature as a whole and would
rakethe concurrent aotion of both Rouses, tog&ho? Viiththe ap-
;rovalof the Governor, to give life and validity to an InvestI-
tatinScomittee, In holding that either Rouse zaayappoint
oomfthx%3 to conduct investigations,the Court, through Judge
Earper,said:
n* * * Soct~ion37,.ort. 3,'oP the Constitu-
tion provides that 'no bIllsha be considered un- I
1eSS it has first been referred to a comIttea,* eto.
, Does this mean a comittee appointed byauthority of
both houses? Since the organizationof our govarme&
each branoh of the Legislature has assmed authority
to appoint Its om oozmittcee,without the concurring
action of the othor branch, and our Supre::.sCourt in
the case-of Day Land'& Cattle Coapony, v. State, 68
Tex. 544, 4 S, 3. (373,hol&s, 'The aaav:erof the do- .
fendant ellegsd that the act OS IFebruary25, 1879, was
, never legally passed, In that.the bill~vms not referred
to a ootittee of eaoh house before it was acted upon,
, The anaviorshows that ~thobill vtaareferred to a com-
mittee by the Senate, who rcportod upon it favorsbly
before the Sonata aotod upon it; but that it won not
referred to a cormnitteeby the Douse of,Represontc,tives
before that body acted upon it, Ths Constitution pro-
vidas that 'no bill shall be considered unless it has
been first referred to a cozimitteeana reported thereon.'
i ’ Conat; art. 3, section 7. This-does not in terms re-
. quire a bill to be referred to a committee by each
house before it oan become a levr. The requirensnt
is that a bill shall be "referred to a co.znitteeand
reported thereon' before It shall be considered. This,
from the averments of the enswr, was done, and we osn-
.
EosoXableJ. s. Uurchison, page +%
not, under the wording of the Constitution, say
that nore than this was necesssry.'
Y&us It Is seen that, when a bill Is re-
ferred to a comittee oreated by the Ssnr?tealarm,
It hm been held a sufficientcozplience with sec-
tion 37 PP article 3, thus rocoypizin~ the right
of each branoh of the Legislature to appoint Its
own co.mlittees;and section 11 of~article 3 semi-
fioallg provides that 'each house nay detertine ; .
the rules of ifs em Proceedings,'and if the
Sonata in the exercise of its aiscretion dec.3it
esaentisl to aapnirt a comittce to rather inform-
tion and report beoi-reoo.~~~endstIons
In rep*ardTaothe
enactment of lam, wo think it had the povjerand au-
thority. This has been the oonstruotionof our Con-
stitution by all of our LsgislaturosIn the past, the
oonstruction that the Congress of the United.States
has given to the power possessed by eaah branch there- I
4 of, afidthe oonstruction of the poWers of eaoh'branch
of the Legislature In aliiostevery state'in tho Union,
I In the absence of oonstitutionalInhibition; and xe .
hold that the Senate had the authority and pouer to
create the aomittee and authorIze,Itto gather In-
formation and m&e reaomendntions on all subjects
upon whIoh the Lcflislaturewould have the right to
oneot laws. * * *q: (Underscoringours}
I
The facts In Terre11 vs. Bin& 118 ‘hex. 237, 14 S.
1 'f;*(Zd) 786, show that a tax surveysoomittea w~asoreated by a
JointResolution by the 40th Legislature to colleot Information
-necessaryto the revision of the tax lous of the State. Tha
' esolution'providedt,hatthe members of the ComIttee were to
%e paid Ten ($10.00) Dolltirsper day for aach day they served.
~PPellce,as a citizen and taxpayer sought to enjoin the C&p-
trollerfroraIssuisC warrants to the comittec msmbws beoausa,
i ' yeshe contended, the Comittee was unconstitutionaland void.
. h spsakinf:of the xi&t of each Rouse to appoint i.nvestiCating
fmmittces, t&e court said:
.
EonorableJ. S. Xurchison, page.5 _'
-n* * * fn declaring, in section 11 of article
3, that 'eaoh house may determine the rules of its
own proceodings,r the Constitutionplslnly delegates
to each hope the choice cf methods for the nose ea-
vantogeous use of its fur&ions in the exeroise of
the stz~te's'legislativepovier,'which ?.le
S~aolatl.on :Ior71, such comlttee ~111 be clearly cotins with
‘dceeuthorityof Chc State.” The porxr rnatca~~in the I~OUCO
iofBepr~se:~t~tiv~.~ hno, titour o~tiion, been lc~itlr~telyoxar-
!tiredthrou,-hthe g,n,diux of Eouse ::lzl;lo
&xiolution~No.71P. .%o-
:om!ia~ly,, it i3 our o;iuios?t!:atthe cmzittee so appointed is,
llthillt&l MMllil??Of Seotfon 31, SWiiitV Dill 3’0.~ ,90,46th legis-
i:turo, “duly authorized by the State * * * to aako” an InaDeotlon
Or tba rocozda wntionsd in ycur ODInion re~uoat.
The 8bovo coudl.uston:.Snot inoOnaiEt8nt or inCOm-
;:tlblewith Attorney @aore Opinion Ho. O-2432;:in Opiaion
I
FO. CJ-2432, tbo a_usstioaimd.er6onaidcr::tlon ViflS ri!d!:sr under
Aotioa 31 of Se:!atsBill Xo. 96, 66th :egisl~tu~re, ah explogco
I Of tta Department of i?ubl~!.c
~:~;‘elf~~r&
oow1.dbe aozrolled to dia-
01030tn court, in 0c,scsJ.nvol.vi!:~Frivato wrtioat my OS the
f3ota Jr;& l:~form~~t~i~;i~.td $2 c':tm rcc2?~:5 Or applicants
$, or rocj.plantn of, old.~ago&%fstanc%r The oDinion is
crbsrlyl&&ted to c-23?uestlon pr.x%~tsa there13 and sow
tatpurportjto BGS:YO~0 question rs~nrdlsi:tha rl,?ktof Stste
affioo?ato insyloctold o$e aaai,stailo6
records :LIconnection
\
rltht!wir official dutiei.
Yours very truly