OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
G- c. MANN
&-oP(-
Honorable Barry -ox, Chaintan
State Board ot Control
Austin, Texas
Dear Sirr
iluus on polioiar or*
oovsring a thrae-
opinion of t&is’ dapart-
a bean rsOmOa.
ontrolhas her0t0r0ra
ran00protsotion at
and, agencies on a
in advanoa out of our-
enanae approprlatlons, t bus
mktng a three fear oonttiaot.
Can the Board of Contziol lsg-
for inlatzrance iox? a three-year eon-
Gan the various Stat. inetitu-
aganol6s pay in advanar, fr0a ourrrnt
appropriations, for praalums on p0liOiae Of In-
suranoe oovarlng a three-year period?”
This departrasnt ln~ Opini~on No. O-201, held that
the. State Board of Health was unauthorieed to insure State
property in its posrcrsion against lose bp firr, unless a
speoliio appropriation had been mada for, that purpose.
That opinion was based upon the ~rop0~sltion that ths Lagis-
laturs had in Senate .Oonauxrsnt Rssolutlon NO. 3, passed
wo0011Y”“lcA?wt4
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APPROVED
BY
TWE
ATTORNLI
OLNLRAL
0”FIRST
ASS,S,ANr
Honorable Harry Knox, Page 2
at the Second Called Session of the 37th Legislature, &a-
clarad it to “be the fixed policy of this state to carry
its own Insurance upon stata buildings and contents, and
that no insuranoe golioy shall be taken out upon any of the
pub110 buildings and contents tharaof.. . .n
Our opinion No. O-842 holds that the Commlssloner
of Agriculture has no authority, in the abeanaa of a sproitlo
appropriation for suoh purpose, to pay the premium on fire or
caaualtp ineursnoe policy Issued on certain livsstock owned
by the State..
An available, apealfio approprlatlon to pay the
premium on any kind of 8 polioy issued in favor o$ the State
uould amount to a subsequent declaration of policy by tha
Legislature and would, to that extant, rapaal the policy an-
nounoed by the resolution above referred to.
Be have carefully examined the various appropria-
tion bills passed by the 46th Legislature, and so far as we
have been able to find, there are no spaoifio appropriations
made to the various State institutions and agsnolas for the
purpose of paying the premium on the polloias under oonsld-
oration.
“All pabllo oifioea and officers are oraaturas
of law. The powers and duties of pub110 offioara
are defined and limited by law. By being derlnad
and limited by law, we mea,n the eat of a public of-
ficer must be exprasel~ authorized by law or lm-
plied therefrom. 22 R. C. L., p. 555, Sac. 114. It
rollows from the above that publia orrioers may
make only such oontraots for the government they
represent as they are authorized by law to make.”
Fort Vorth Cavalry Club, Inc. vs. Sheppard, 83 S.W.
(2d) 660.
hrtar carefully raviawlng Chapter8 1 to 7a, lnolu-
SiVS) of Title 20, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, we do
not find whare the Board of Control is authorized to eontraot
for insurance for a three-year period. Therefore, your first
question is respectively answered in tha negative.
Bonorabla'Harry Knox, Pa&a 3
In view of what has bran said abava, It naturally
follows that your saoond question must be anzwarad in the
negative and is so answered.
Trusting that the foregoing fully amwars your
inquiry, we ara
Very truly your8
ATTOREETCBT8RhL Or TPJCAS
Ardall William8
Asmletant
AWlor
ATTORNEY GENERAL OP TEXAS