Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

. . Honorable 0. H. Gilmer, Chairman Committee on Judiciary and Uni:omm State Laws House of Representatives Austin, Texas Dear Sir: Opin.ion No. O-3654 Your letter of June 1.0, 1.941,,request:.ng the opilt.inn ef this department on the above stated q,uesti.on. has been :receked. We quote from you:? ?etkr as fol,lows: “I hand you here copy of S. B. No. 346 by Sen,at:c- Spears, which i.s pending in. the House Committee on Judiciary and Un,l.form Skate Laws, and requ.est. thaj: you advise me, as Chairma of this rommE’Zew, whether OP not this bill is u.ncoc,,~.il:,rOioarah as a l,ocal 6~ sp~t:i,a!. bill. under the authoriky of the :?ecent case rC J. R a Mj.!.kc, et al. v. the CounQ of El’. Paso, Texas, et al,.” Senate Bi1.P No. 346 pads as fol,lows: ‘“A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT (Captioned Omifed) ‘BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEX.AS: “Section 1. In, all, counties of Texas havkxg % popn,.l.a- tion of not less than three hun.dred twenty-fi?e thowan,d (325,000) inhabitants and not more than three hua.dsed fifty thousand (350,000) Enhabitan,ts, as shown. by the ,Fed- era1 Census of 1940, or any succeeding Federal, Cexsw, Honorable 0. H. Gilmer, Chairman, Page 2, O-3654 a direct tax of not over twenty-five (25$) cents on the valua- tion of One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars on all property in said counties, may be authorized and levied by the Commissioners’ Courts of such counties for the purpose of erecting buildings and other improvements and for equipping, maintaining and operating hospitals for the treatment and cure of persons suf- fering from any affliction, dise,ase or injury, and for the pur- pose of establishing, maintaining and operating with or without the co-operation of the Government of the United States of Am- erica or agencies of such government, shelters, storehouses and workrooms, and for supplying paraphernalia, mate,rial and utilities for the unemployed, indigent and destitute, and providing for the direct relief of paupers. “Sec. 2. Before any such tax shall be levied, there shall be submitted to the qualified taxpaying voters of such counties the proposition whether or not such tax shall be levied by such Commissioners’ Court, at a regular or at a special election called for such purpose by said Commissioners’ Court. When- ever any such proposition shall receive a majority of the votes of the qualified property tax-payers voting at such election, said Commissioners’ Court shall be authorized to levy such tax or any portion thereof as may be necessary and expedient. ~“Sec. 3. If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence or word of this Act be held i.nvalid, such holding shall not af- fect the validity of the remaining portions of this Act. “Sec. 4. Al.1 Acts, laws or parts of laws in conflict here- with are hereby repealed, to the extent of such conflict only. *Sec. 5. The fact that counties now have insufficient funds to erect, equip, maintain and operate hospitals and have had no direct legislative authority to establish, maintain and operate shelters, storehouses and workrooms and to supply parapher- nalia, material and supplies for unemployed, indigent and desti- tute persons in such counties, and the fact that there are thou- sands of needy persons in such counties entitled to the benefits of this Act, creates an emergency and an imperative public neces- sity that the Constitutional Rule requiring bi1l.s to be read on three several days in each House be,and the same is hereby suspended, and this Act shall be in force and take effect immediately upon its passage, and it is so enacted.” Honorable 0. H. Gilmer, Chairman, Page 3, O-3654 Section 56, of Article III of the State Constitution, provides as follows: “The legislature shall not, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, pass any local or special law. . . . regulating the affairs of counties, cities, towns, wards or school districts; . . . and in all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no local or special law shall be enacted; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit the legislature from passing special laws for the preservation of the game and fish of this state in certain localities.” Chapter 5, Title 71, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, is the general law authorizing the commissioners’ court of any county to establish a county hos- pital and to enlarge any existing hospitals for the care and treatment of persons suffering from any illness, disease or injury, subject to the provisions set forth in said chapter. After carefully considering Senate Bill No. 346, supra. in connection with the opinion handed down by the Supre,me Court on April 23, 1941, in the case of Miller, et al v. County of El Paso, et al, and the authorities cited therein, we are of the opinion that said Senate Bill No. 346 is a local or special law and there- fore unconstitutional and void. We also call your attention to Section 3, Article VIII, of the State Con- stitution which provides: “Taxes shall be levied and collected by general laws and for public purposes only.” The above mentioned Senate Bill, being a spedal or lo- cal bill contravenes this provision of the Constitution as well as Section 56, Article III, of the Constitution. Trusting that the foregoing fully answers your inquiry, we are Yours very truly ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS FIRST ASSISTANT Ardell Williams ATTORNEY GENERAL Approved Assistant AW:LM Opinion grnm Chairman