OFFICE OF THE A’ITORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
ative date of Bouae
Aat of S&h Leg-
48th 343gblatur8.
of the 3enste
a/ Bob Darker
secretary 0Y cm3 3eaat.o
a/ F'rlce Drnlel
Speaker of the iiouae of Eiepre8eatative8
,.
85’
$&ah 24, 1943, by the folloving Votes Yeas 102,
Nwa 5.
/a/ Clsrenae Jane*
i&et Clerk of the house of’ Repressntatives
PILRDnIT3RoFFIcPoF
SIX SxoRETAxYOF STATX
THIS 2nd lax OF A it 1943
A~',~WS&=~~&kRU'=S
P
a/ Coke R. Stevenson $earetsry of State
Oovernor n
The bill containa an eamrgenay clause.
Seotlan 39 of Article Ilx of the Constituttiuu of
Ga8, reads as r0lm8 a
"X6 .tiv passed by the Iagialature, exoept
the genwal appropriation aat, shsll tske effeot
or go into forae until nS.natg dsr8 sSter the ad-
journment of the semdon at vhisia It vas enssted,
unless ln aase OS an emergemay, vhlah emergenay
mustbeM~eased.S.naprssabl.e or in the body OS
the rot, the &@laturo shall, by vote OS tva-
thuds OS a ll th e memb er sa b a ted to la a hB ~use,
othervise direct; M id tote to be takea by Teas
and nays, and entered upan the journsls.”
Zn sm apln$om of tbls departmsnt dated Idaroh 26, 1922,
by ths Honorable Wallace lifmklna, Assistant Attorney ffeneral,
vhlah opinion vs8 approved by the Romorablo U. A. Keelfae, At-
torney Genersl, it Yam held tbst Were 8 bill aarrylne sn ew-
prey alwse and dlreatiq that it beaame 4ffeatlve an a date
aertain, passes the House and &n&e under suspsnslon OS the
rule requiring bills to be resd on three seversl dsys, or ps88es
both houses vith three several days’. aon8idWsticui, and the
flnsl psssage in either ‘instsnao is by recorded tvo-thirds v6tc.
the bill becanes effective as direotsd by the Legislature, but
ii in final ptmsage the House or 3enat.s concurs in an sSnaidrPsnt
it must be by tvo-thirds vote tskan by yeas and nsys and a&
vote entered OS reoord in tha journals, before such bill cS0
become eftectlvs as an emergenaymeasure.
.
8%
Ih&artment 0S Agriculture, psge 3
In the opinion above referred to it vas saldr
90 hold that & tvo-thirds reaorded vote is
unneoesaar~ in oorrourring on suoh amendment Ye
mustaonolude thatin saane prior stage air the pro-
oeduro of a bill It vas ilnally psssedd, %vo lines
OS author&t188 exist ou the defhltlon oi rlnsl
P-We* UUls the vomiing ,oi our statute is auf-
fib&e& to support the sozaaluslon above, yet lf
it be neaessar~ to adhere to or resirrt one ol the
two lines OS &nthoritles asntLone6 ve vould sm-
bmerths holbtngtbstvotlnguponsuah snsmsnd-
ment as ve have bef0re.us Is voting u+n the final
pesoage or the bill.'
Jlnoe the renditlan of this dspsrtaent~s opinion ti,
1922 the tvo bigbest oourta of Texas hsve followed tr?e sazue
rule 8s eunaunoad fn that~ opinhxh
In EX psrte Mcry, 40 9. W. (2d) 811, the Court of
CrlaUnal Appeala. of Texas In 1931, Ln passing Npon 8 8i1ULer~
question to the one vith vhlah ve'are hare aonoerned, said: ,~
. It seems enough to ray thst a reasan-
bbls &id*l~g,giaal lnterprstatlon or the .aamtrollln$
provision of the Constitution of this state aau-
fore upon t&e Legislature both the power, by a
reaorti vote vlth majority or tvo-thirds or the
members of each house, to ahauge the tine within
vhlah an aat of the Legislature llvry ordlnsrll7
beaoasp: effective, and requires that they exsr-
CLSO sudh autharlty and povsr at the time vhen
they beaome avsre of the ternq ot the law as fln-
ally agreed upon. Previous gctlon up- a 5111 %
its ieltiaf stages, before purterial md rsdlcsl
absnges have been nods, vould not aontrol."
In Caplea v. Cole, 102 3. W. (2d) 173, the Supreme
Court of Texas in 1937, ln an opinion vrltten by Jurtiae
3bsrp, with reference to a sIpilsr question vlth vbiah ve
are here amaerned, saldr
*This precise question has never been be-
fore this oourt for decision. A conflict has
arisen by reasoa af EM opinion rendered by the
court or Civil .+peals 3t Zort Worth, in the case
.. .
DtqNrtMnt
of &rlculture‘~‘~ge4
of uilsonI* rounsOounty aardvlr0a Furniture
262 3. IL 873, andM OpipiOP rendered by
t~‘Couz%~tC~imfnalA~ala iatha case of XX
l&y, ll8 Tui~Cr. R. 165, 40 3. W. (26)
F-11. IA tha Wilaoa Case the Court oi Clvllhp-
pealahald,I.noiieot, thattha9aaaa2a of abill
rsuulred to be takan by ayes ad nays is tha
rot. by *hLoh Woh houu 8da9ta it:aiter final
,rWdln& and not~th8t vote by vhloh tha house la
vhfoh it arfgirvkd may subarqcentlyoonaur in
mmta aadai~brthe other house. !thla ease
did not rbmch th0 Suprenu,Court, 80 far as our
records ahav, aad the ho&king thmeln hna never
been approved 0 diaagprovsd’by thla aomt. In
the &lay Case tha Court ot Crimlzial Appoala held,
in aubatana8, that a auhatitutebill, dlffarent
froa tha orl&nal bill, and not passed by a record
vote d1011ing ,OQOQW~~~CO 0r .tv0-thud8 or th0
bgialatuve, ,vaa lnefr0ctiv0 88 in amergonoy
maaauro; and that the pouer to make an emarganay
~aaure muat,k axemired vhan the k@.alaturo
begoars ar8ro.d the torma ocntalned in tha bill
8a SInally agreed i~pon and passed. !Ihe Court of
,Clvil&w8la follovad the rula a~ouaoad bp tha
Court of OrimLnal Appsala in the May Case, and
.hald that the vote upon tha asendamnta,and not
tha vote t&pm the original bill, vould oontrol.
. . .
8. . . .
9nMklerrorr, ve agree vith th0 how OS
the CourtcfCx’lminalA9peale in the xay ma., and
hold that this bill bsoama effeotiva Umadlatoly
ast0r ftr paaa~ge. It is olear ‘that the objeot
of the provision cf the Constitution above quoted
i8 ribat if tt bill i8 t0 th 0sr88t b5dm0iy
on its passage, it nuat containan emergbnop
clause, aab awh bill must be passed by a vote
or two-thirds ol all the numbers olaotad to eaoh
house, and auuh Vote to be taken by yeas and nays
und entered u9M the journals. We think the rule
prcacribed bg the Constitution also a99ll.e~ to
amendmentsand reporta of conference oommlttws.
If tfiia were not true, It is quite obvioua how
tha rule could be abused. A hax%uleaa bill night
be parsec ia it8 inception bp the requlalte vote,
86C
Depactmento?Agriuultur8,pa~ 5
andthenbe radfcallyamendedf3ndsucharaend-
mento ba put into lmmdl~te offoot without tha
vote r-tired by the Conatitutlon~ If auoh Were
the rule, tha vok on the originalbillwouldoon-
trol as to vhethm it beam8 a lav lmmdlat8lp
artec its final passage, and not th8 f+rral vote
aubaequsntly taken on th8 mmndmenta9;laoed there-
on by the other branch of the Leglrlature, and the
plain provision of the Courtitutlon fMUidn8
that it be adopted by l vote of two-thirds of all
tha mombare ai oath botuo, in order to deolaro
an omergonay,oould be wradodrm
3enate.Bill3.34, Acts of~the 48th Legislature, passed
the Senate by a votp of 27 yeas and-0 nays. Thereafter it _ vaa
_
sent to the Hou88 vher8 It vaa aa8ncieciand paaeU a8 aaena8Q
by a vote of 102 yeas and 5 nay% The bill was then rsturn8d
to the Senate vbere the liouse amendnenta were ooncurred in by
(L VlV8.VoO8 Vote, as reflected on page ,574 of the Senate Journal.
la therefore the opinion of this department that
It
Senate Bill Ho. 134, &to of the 48th Legialaturro,la not of-
feotive as an 8m8rgenoy mamu- as the Sonat. Journal fails tO
reflect that such maawe reuelved the required tvo-thirds
vote of the San8te and fails to refleot that the fInal Vote
oar taken by ayes end naya as requlmd by Section 39 of ASi-~
018 III of the constitution of Texas.
&'Isglalatwe adjouriml on Hay 11, l943, &rb t&
bill b8okaea 8ffeative ninety full days after auoh date. ~:
With refezenae to &use Bill IIo. 52, Aota of the
48th Legialat~8, ve have maa.ned the dOcum8nt as filed ie
the offlc8 or the Secretary of State and rind the f~l.l~Vln&
oertificatsa and notations endorsed on same:
/ John Lee Smith /a/ Price Daniel
eeldent of the senate Speaker OS the Eouae
*I hereby certirp that 3. 8. No. 522vaa pass-
ed by th8 House on April 8, 1943, by tha fo1lovl.q
votec Yeas 112, Nay8 6.
/a/ Clarence Jmea
Chiei Clerk of the House
'X hereby beatify that li. B. lo. 52 vaa pass-
ed by the Swat@ on April 21, W3, by the iollov-
fng vote: Yes8 26, ilay 0.
s/ Bob Barker
Seoratary of the S8te
'JlPiJRov3Dr
Data
Governor PILED IH 5 OFFICE OF
TM( SE’ORETARY‘3F STATE
!FBIS 3rd MY OF XUY 1943
PE ll O’CLGCXAm 30 ~I
l6ImPRa~
ThheHouse Journal rsfZeote On &a 1580-1681 that the
bill vaa jMaaod by that body by a Vote of 102 ayes u agUru& 7
nays on .;prll 8, 1943. It vaa passed b the 3anato bj- a vote,
of 26 yeas vith no naye on April 21, 19$3, as refleotaa on page
883 of the 3enate Journal.
It :a observed that the bill vaa illed in the ofiioe
of the Searotary of State on May 3, 1943, without the algnat*
of the Oovvrmr. The bill was therefore effective on X&y 3,
1943.
Uhet vaa said ln this de~artment*a opkmn Xo. O-f&7,
which opinion vam addressed to the Somrable Sidney I&thmn, @eo- ~~
rotary Of &kt@, uaciar date of June 1, 1943, i8 likeViSe ap&-
oable in thla instlnce. In that opinion it vaa aaldr
“Thhoreasoa r”or this anmmr la that the tven-
ty days alloved to the Governor Und8r the olraum-
etanoes stated by you vltnin which to file the
Bill Vlth his objections or approval are dnya of
grace or prlvllsge of time ulthln vhlch he may
exerolae his discretion of executive approval or
disapproval. When, however, even though sizort 2f
that period. he has exercisea his prerogative, te
has fully f*mctioned, the matter is out of hi8 COAX-
trol, and the Biil bacosles el’f’native according tO
862
it.8torrrm
88 though he had amleatml to oxsrofm
the prl~lle~eof the full tventJday8 allovedhim.'
‘Phi8 department’s opinion MO. O-1064 in hereby ax-
pronely ov~r~u.led,
lasoior88 it may oonfllet01th the hold-
2.qi1expretrred
in thlr opinion. ,
-
>
very truly your8
E%Z:db