Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1965 )

Acsomutic:s Con-
ml.sa3.on
is authorixcd
to loan or grant
funds for the.pur-
pose of conatruct$on,
repalr or tiprove-
ment of alrporta,on
Dear sir:. : .li?ased
. Jand;.~:'
.,Y& ?mve.r~ested.aa op%QzLon:conce&'wh&&
the Texas Aerotiutics Couir@sskn may loan or grant
Zunds for the purpose of constructloi?, repair or tiprovc-
sent of aIrport on leased land, and If so, under what
cinditions,If any. ~QU potit out that the Texas
lidroaautlcsCo~sslon baa ipz6.n'authoriried
-underII-B...
12 .snd.H.&.'43of.the 59th:``is'a``..to,Iq````.-``~:
mcaey-to lbas. ~eommunltle*
cfor %:ij:coasl+i+orx,``r.epaAr
.or-improvementof airports';'~':.
ii. 43 (Acts 54th Leg, 19G5, 'Ch. 196; $.'3;7)
mends Article 466-6, Vernon% Texas'Clvll Statutes, by
add%ng a new subditisiotitoread as follows:
"Subd%vlsl& i0 1 When Lnthe'discretior~
of the Comission the public Interest will
best be served; and the governmental funCtlOn
of the State or its political subdivisions
relattiveTaoae~onautica'kll best be discha+!d,
it,may grant or leap fucds, appropriated.to
..itfor that purpose by the Legislature, to any
incorporatedcity, town or village in.thls
State for the establishment,coiwttictlon,:
reconstmc~tion,enla*gemqt or repairof air-
ports; airstripa or air navigational facilities;
-24&L
Tne eneral appropr:.ation
b5li (1I.a.12, Acts 59th
kg. lge5
-7 .appropriated
Sunds for such purposes.
ObviouslyrSubdl,vlsion.lO contempltitesthat The l&M. ~:
upon whlch~these"tistsllations are to be made.8hal.lbe:,~:.,
owned.by the munlcipaUtg,&.le~ed by :ltSo?? ~amInImum_:;:.::
oS.twentyyears: .' .: .' .,. .,.. . I .. ,' :'.
The basic questionwhich'must be answered in .. .'
connectionwith these~statutesis nhether the'.use of
public Sunds for the improveine@t of:pr%vatelyowned ..
'land (which is'merely leased'tc? .the.mmI.c%pa``) :_,.
.constitutesa grant oS~.pub&ic> 'funds.& Wed%``%vMilxi~the'~,'
iaeanbg.of’Sect~ons’50; .5X or 52 or Ax+%cle III or T -'.'
'.
Section-6 of Article XVX of the..Constltutlon of Texas.
: The pertinentportions.oS these.constitutional~provlsions
8re as Sollows:
"Sec..50. The L&gislature shall.haveno
power to give or lend, 'orto authorise~the
giving qr lendin& of the credit OS the State
in.aid OS, or to any tierson,associationor
corporation,.,whethermunicipal tir:other,or'
to p,ledge.thecredit of the State in any
manner whatsoever; for the payment of the
liabilities,present,or prospective,of any
indivIdua1,association of indivtduals,-
. municipal or other corporation.whatsoever."
"SeC. 51. The Le&slature shell have
no -powerto make any.grant or authorize the
m&Ing of any grant of public moneys to any
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,,. ,-
ljonorableJames N. L&l~:m, pkge 3 (C-5l.!L
)
"Sec. 52. The Le$ciaturi sbz~13. have XI
power to a~?.lhn:?be any county, city, tox;~or
other political oorporat%o.nor cubd:lvi::ion
of the State to Lend l'tscr;:G:;if;
or to grant
p?blic money or thing of value in asd of, or
to 2ny inAlvlduzsh as!3o!dr;tir.o3
or co?'poratlo;l
whatsoever,.. . .
"Sec. 6. No appropr$.atziozfor private‘or
lndP.%dual purposes shal3 be m&de. . . .(I
The questionwhether Sectlo& 50.and 51 OS Article XII
absolutely prohibit the gtianting.oSState Sunds to'munl-:-;:
clpal corporations gives.us no trouble because ithas:be,en '.
settled that said.provislbn$:,do.no~.bar the'granting o,S'~:i.
estateSunds.to municipal corporations for use in overn-,
Shelby County v ‘Alf;~WilS?t!Pe$~-,
``$%%!&@4). l+urthe-rk A +- i
'Vernonls Civil Statutes, a part of'the knicipal A&port's
act, states.in,part:.
"Tne.acqul$ition:oZ;'```` land:or,interest
therein pursuant to thls ;rct,, ths ~. ; : c.onstruc-:
tion . ~;,i .maintenance ;.-.. and policing of.``.':
alrports":k.~; are 'hereby~ declared to~be.publlc
'andgovernmental Sun&ions, . . ..;"
and in Attorne Qeneral!.sOpinion ko.,C-202, dated
August 11, 1961 tithis-office held that'sectlon 51.LOS
.ArticleIII of the Constitution of Texas wouid not be:
violated byethe proposed amendment.to Article 46c-6, :
Vernon's Civil Statutes;,so as to authorize thegrant OS
funds to fncoroorated cities Sorthe constructionof air-
Ports and navigational Saciiitlea. This opin&k was based
.tipon City of Corsicana vi Wren, 159 Tex. 202, 317 S .W.2d,
,516,520.(1958) which sustained the constitutionality
of Article 46d-i5, quoted in ,pastabove, and.held that ..
the'ovMership'~and operation of an airport is a governmental
function.
However% the above mentioned opinion and court
decisions do not involve the.question presented by your
request; that Is, the use of public funds for the lmprove-
..mentof privately owned'land, It is.clear that Ji.B.43
'. '.
-2klO-
Ronorable 3ames N. Lundlum,~page 4 (C-,fXl~)
quoted above contemplatesthe possible use of pub!.ic
i?:x:GcSati@~;.~
funds to improve land belonging to %ndividua!.s,
v,.;+-lons
or corpo-,- other than niunicipaiCorRorations. At
the C.??Ld Of t.hc tW2ili’y- :J.!````)j`` 0:: the
land will become the property of the ~o?:lier
of t?!efeeI
In our opilnion,the tc-:i;m
of the Ic~se has nothing to do
with the questlon'ofthe authority of t:hnState or
municlpal5.tyto use I>ublicfunds to improve the larld.
The statutoryprovision now requiring a twenty-year lease
may be emended at any time to rcqwire a one->:ear o:*'
a
two-year leas'. 2.X1 CVei!t, t1a-x
:in:l qgest;t~n1:;I;l:e
sa:::c:.
The clear and unambiguous lr:ngu?zein the above
quoted constitutionalprovi:3.ons, In our'opini~n,rend-ers
.'invalld.theabove.quotedstatutory provIsIons to thc.extent
that they authorize the expe~diture.of.8tate.o~.mur&cipal
funds t6construk.t imp-rovements-on prlvat~ly.ow~ed,'lar,d,
,',
.and,therefore,:t,he'
Commission.is.not autho.r$z,ed,,
.toToan
-(&.J-!;li;-.< : ~:, : ~ I ,‘... .~: :: i ;., .., ,. : :.. 1 :
.. If.-&-icQw$lity owns ~thefee tftle.to%he .1&d,
as distinguish& from the mere leasehold interest in
it, the prohibitions~of the above quoted.constitutionaX
provisionswould not apply.
.“. .~Y. .‘~ ~2..
.43’(Act+59th I&., 1$&5, $h:~:$;-'~;
~K~;E$
pi 397) and H.R. 12 The General Appropriation
Bill- Acts
-___-, 59th Leg.I are unconstitutionalto
.~_ _- __
the extent.tl hat they provide for the grant of ~'
public money~and tomthe extent.that they ap-.~.
.propriate. Ijubl$c'money to Improve leased land,
-and; therefore, the Texas'Aeronautics Com-
: mission is not authorized to loan or grant
``funds for the purpose.of,.tionstrutiti.on, repair
or improvem.ent of airports on~leased land.
.Yo&s very .truly~, ...
: WAGGONER CARR ,.
. Attorney Gen,eralof Texas
.
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.
:.... -.?, .,’ ‘, , j..,