Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE ATI’ORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Eon. Tom C. King State A@ltor and Elilolenoy l%xpert Austin, Toxar Dear Slrt ienoy warrants against ipets& revBnue6. we 60knowi0age lt?tterof November 9 1939, asking for o Z(a) Ch. 444 Camerai Appropriation Aot neral Lews, regular so6elOn, p. 93918) io quastions hereln- after set out. a in the lnstltutisn- 0r the two risoal years ending 19'36,end August 31, 1939 hsmise appropriated r0r ei inrtitutiom during ‘oaoh or the rald ri006l ream, reispootival~.* Hon. To41 C. King, page 2 Your quaatlona are 04 follcm4r y(l) Arc suoh Institutions empowerad to laaua 'dafloiency warrants' agalnct antlolpa- tad revenues to suoh funds? "(2) Ara the7 empowered to bind such an- tlolpatad rayanuos on notes payable for the purchase prioa of equipment and/or property Insurance, whore the maturity dates of the notes extend oyar a period of three yaar81W The Laglslatura was wall within its prarogatlya In making the further appropriation ot balances in addition to the spaolfio approprlatlons stated in the act. The addltlonsl appropriation is sufiioiently spoolflo within Itself to mast the raquiraments or the Constitution. (Sea our opinion No. C-1661 addressed to you). It will be soon from a reading of Sac. 2(a) that all balances in the rospactlva institutions, including balances In their rarolvlng funds at the time, end the entire Income to said funds during each of the years named, have bean appropriated. Those WbalanoosR and tha 'lrl0om0'obrlousl7~portaln to sntiolpatad raoalpta, for it could not be aotlnltaly known ln adyanoa whether then would be suoh balances or lnooma. That an appropriation may rightly sot a pert anJ. tiolpatad raoaipts is no longer an open question In this state. Forguson y. Johnson, 51 2. A'. (2) 372 Involved the right of the Laglslatura to appropriate, or parhaps more accurately stated the right of the Highway Cozmission to contraot, upon tha basis of antlolpatad receipts in tha mat- tar of oonstruotlng hlghwa78 to the extent of about $S,OOO,- 000 .oo. The plalntlfi*8 oontantion was that suoh antlolpa- tad funds ware not Wands arailabloC within the statute of oontraotual power of the Commis8ion. (Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes Arts. 66746 (6674q-4), 66740 (66749-53, end 66741). chi0r matioo u0ci0naon, writing ror the court sala: '*Funds arallabla~ as marking the bounds OS the Cozal.88lon~soontraotual llsblllt~ oroatlng authority for *high- way improvements* can, wa think, mean but one thing, namaly, funds made avall- Hon. Tom C. King, paga 3 able for that purpose by the Laglsla- tura throu h appropriation. x * * Ii this item 7axpeotanoy) oannot be con- trectaa against until paid into the treasury, it xould be naoasaary to ao- cumulate an additional sum equal to the entire avaflabla Yadaral ai fun4 bOlor8 that fund could be contracted afalnst. * * * The department must oaaplata con- struction contracted against this tuna prior to the and of tha Federal flsoal year (Juno 30, 19JJ) otherwise the ap- propriation lapses. l l * Those appro- prlatlona (of revenues derived from Fad- oral taxation) are no more gratuities then any other authorized Tadera appro- priation, and -khanalloceted to a perti- culer sLata are a6 1av6ilabla~ as any other ‘fund* for ap?ro>rlata contrectual purposes.* The court hold tta antloipatad recal?ts to co the proper eubjeot of a?proprlation and that they vieraupon sooh appropriation wfunda arallabla* for use or the liighwayda- partmant. Now the word RZundw or “funds* has no fired meaning applicabla alike to ovary situation, but its real meaning la to be determined according to the familiar rule of statutory construction in tha light of the oontext and the assooiatad words:wlth which it 14 azploycd. In ths aoxmaotion hero used, as indloetad in the Farguson-Johnson case, it is not limltad to actual cash in hand but ia used in the more aosfiprahansiva sense as oovsring not only moneys but sacurltles and proper- ties of a nature to be or to baooma usable In connection %lth the epproprlatlon. The *lnstltutlonal funds* and the balances and inooma thereof ooatarcplatanot only money but the antlcl- patad receipts ior the periods stated. As to the issuance of ~datioianoy werrantsW, those instruments do not create debts, they merely servo the oon- vaniant purpose of avidanclng the liability of the fund for payment ii and when the lnatlttitlonhas funds available for cash payment. They are not spaoially authorized by law and .tean nothing substantial. wDaficiency warrant” in this oon- naotlon, Is ffiaralydepartma5tal language for "hot chock". Hon. Tom C. IUng, psga 4 There is no reason why the existing llabllity, contingent though it may be, msy not be thus atldanoed. 1. So that, you are sdrlsad this department is of the opinion ymr first question should be answered in tha ariLrmatlr0. The Constitution provides that no appropriation of money shall be made for a longer tern than two yaers. (Art. VIII, 880. 6). This aaanot be violated or ignored, The institution therefore has no right to oontraot upon the basis oi suoh antlolpatad ravanuas bayon the parlod of the appro- priation - two years. It may validly oontraot upon the reasonably antlolpatad raianuas ior aaoh year raspaotlraly of the blennfum, but no further. This oonoluslon is supported by the reasoning in Fort Worth Calvary Club Ino. Y. Sheppard, Comptroller, 85 S.W. (2) 960, and by the prinoiplea Of pub110 polloy in general. 2. From the above It follows that question number 2 should be SnBwered, “now. Vary truly pours ATTORNEY CRRRRAL OF TEXAS doia Spoor Assistant OS-XR