324
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Bonorablo Thomas A. k’hmat
Oountf Attornel
Lfborty County
Llbortr, Tsrar
IMar Sirr
oarcfully eonrl
stat4 in JOur
P, or IR thb d.WrnaQltr &see
fry part of the rxpwiro of bulldlng aaao.
*In 0n8wc to p,w quertten at ffrrt t,toM
fou In an sit-hand oplnlaa that I t&l not FhWc
that th6 Oosmi86~~nsrs~ Mart ha4 tiu autherlty
to a0nrtruat said Lwy beeauae It 4X&l a0t ia Uy
wry pwtaln to OounfiJ %miRorr. rsmrsr, sine0
Honorable Thomas A. Wheat, Pace 2
that time, I have ha& the opportunity to briei
this gueotion and my opinion ;e still the earn0 -
that ie tbo County would not have the power or
authority to oonetruot or pertly oonetruot or
proolde funds for the conetruotion of a levy as
deearlbed In your queetlon, unless tkere Is
oreated a &ry Ioprorement Dietriot under end
by virtue of Worielone of Chapter 6, of Title
128, of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas,
providing for the cetablleiment and oreatlon
of Levy Impror*meat Dletrlote. In other worde,
the kgielnture has invaded thie field and pro-
vided under what oondltkme euah pub110 funds
m~y be used for She purpose of crerting lerlee
along nerlgable streams and Ln add.itlon thereto
in Chapter 1, of Title 128, we find Artiolo 802a,
whloh provides:
ulUFon mA after the taking effret of this
Aat (epeik:ng mbmt the Letry Iaaprorelneot Die-
trlot Aot) it ehall be unlavful for any person,
oorporation OF Levy Improvemeat Uietriot, with-
out first obtaining approval of the plane for
the same by the 8tnte ReolamatAon Engineer, to
aoaetmot, attempt to oonetruot, oauee to be
conetruated, aatntnin or oauee to be malnBlned,
mylevy or other euoh improvement on, along or
near, any stream of this State whiah is eubjeot
to floods, freehuts, or aver-floue so fa r le to
oozitrol, regulate or otherwise ohnnge the flood
water o f lueh rtresn; and any p weo n, c o r p o r a -
tlon or Dletrlot violating thla leotlon or this
Act em11 be deemed pulltr OS a mledemeanor and
upon oonvlotlan ehall be punished by a fine of
not ex0eeaing 6100.00. . .I
*Then the Aot (toes en and provides that euah
Illegal oonetruotlone am be an)oined by the At-
torney Oeneral.
gf think that eny inqlriauale who may ae-
etre to have the levy oon~tmroted 00uia only
conetruot it out af tholr private funds, after
they have first obtained the approval of the
plane for same by the State Reolametion FtnnlnOOP.
Honorable Thomee A. #heat, Page J
And after thle 1s done, I am still of the opin-
ion that the County oould not have any authority
to appropriate money for the oonetruotion of
same. The only way they oould partlolpate in
the same la by creation of a Levy Improvement
llletrlct. It Is the law o? our land that Coun-
ties and Oome&eeionere9 Court only have euoh
powcre as are l peoIally oonrorred upon them,
and unleee there 1s a provlelon in our Oonetl-
tution or Wiatutee provldbg for then to have
a oertaln power they do not have It.
“I have aleo studied Chapter 6, Title 22
o? our Satutce and I do not tnink it throws
any light upon the Iml)Jeot.
*Llkcwlse, ArCi 6830 of our Statutes
providing thnt County Coeueleslonern Court may
build lcvlce or seawallt but it only appllcs
to County Comm~eeLoncr Court of ~luntlce and.
muniolpality authorities a? our Cltlee boracr-
lng on tfre aoaet of the @ulf or Hexloo. OS oouree,
tLlc would not apply to Liberty County.*
Artlole 8028, vernon’e Annotated Texas Clvll atat-
utee, reads am rollowe:
*From an6 after the taking effcot of this
hot it shall be unlswful for any pereon corpor-
etion or levee Improvement dietrlot, wI{hout
flret obtalnlnq the approval of plane for the
eeme by the State keolamatlon EnKinecr, to oon-
etruot, attempt to oonetruot, oauee to be aon-
ltruutea, -2ntain or oauee to be mclntalncd,
eny levee or other euoh improvement on, along
or near eny etreRe of this State vbioh Is eub-
jeot to floods, frcrhete or overflcve, so aa to
oontrol, regulate or otherwise onan(jc, the flood
waters cf euoh stream; an4 an? person, oorpora-
tlon or dIetriot vlolatlng this eeotion of this
Aot shall be dceemd guilty OS a mle6emeanor, and
upon convictlou shall be punlehed by a line of
not exoecdfq one hundred dollars. bnd in the
event any euoh etruoture 3.n about to be oonetruot-
cd, 1s oonrtruoted, or mcIntained by any pereon
IlonorabloTheam A. Uhbat, PagO 4
or sorparr6lonvithout approval of tho plner by
tho State Roohutlon Eztginrrr, it rhall bo tho
buxFyoi the Attorney @moral, on the nquort of
Oh0 s'ate Faol~mationEnguaror to file ru3.tin
one OS tho dir8riot courta al barlo Couet~y,ia
uhlch the oonur of such oultr lr hereb? fixed,
to .nJolo the conrtruotionor emlntomoo OS rueh
rtmoturo. Proridod, that the prvrlrionr of thlr
erotlon chall not apply to dama, oanals Or other
lmproromontssatloor to be mdr by lrrlgation,
vator impcorenentsor irrigationlmprotemonte
made br ind%ridualror oorpo~a1;16n~.'
Ye have oanfully o o eo lder thoe
dlOatuter poiatti
out by JOU; WI harr aleo beoa \rmblo to ?%ab W,~etatutory
authorityvh%oh rould authoriso thr '@ma%8rloaer8'QQur8
t0 lxp0ab 00unty mtbf0r th0 prvp0000 inpuma Ob0ut.
It io lettlod l&V t&alt o o m4 iso ~o a reo
the r s’
ur s
bar only onoh power ml authorit;gatItho rtatutra sld %a-
rtitutlon oonfo~ upon it, oithor oxpreml~ 88 br nrsoaauy
kBpl~oatlon.
It is ow cplnlonthat yor harr aornotly.aemwr-
04 the quort1on.
Your8 very tm1y
Am’QnxET - OF ¶mM
Pr /eiP-;d
Wm. J. Panting
Irosirtant
UJPIwl
*='RO'JEDMAR .28,1941
-d-d-
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ~~~~