Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1957 )

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WILL WILSON
ATTORNEY ONNEHAL
October 4, 1957
Mr. Raymond W. Vowell,
Acting Executive Director,
Board for Texas State Hospitals
and Special Schools,
Capitol Station,
Austin, Texas Opinion No. ww-271
Re: Can monies be expended
from the $2,269,490.00
appropriated by House
Bill 133, for the purchase
of land upon which to
build a school for the
Dear Mr. Vowell: mentally retarded?
You have requested an opinion of this Department on
the following question:
"Can monies be expended from the
$2,269,490.00 appropriated by Rouse
Bill 133, for the purchase of land upon
which to build a school for the mentally
retarded?"
House Bill 653, 55th Legislature, Regular Session,
1957, provides for the establishment of a school for mentally
retarded and states in part as follows:
"Section 1. . . .
"The Board for Texas State Hospitals
and Special Schools shall select a site for
said school, and the Board, in selecting such
site. shall make such selection with a view
to its accessibility and convenience to the
greatest number of inhabitants, and the same
shall contain suff-icient land and have utili-
ties readily available. Said Board shall take
ti,tle to the land so selected by them in the
name of the State of Texas for the use and
benefit of said school; provided, however,
that the Attorney General's Department shall
first approve the title to the land so selected
by the Board.
Mr. Raymond W. Vowell, Page 2 (WW-271).
“Sec.2. . . . said Board shall have
the power and authority to do and perform
all things necessary for carrying out the
purposes of this Act."
During the same Session, by House Bill 133, 55th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, an appropriation was made
"for constructing, equipping, furnishing,,and paying architect
fees" for this project. In the same appropriation bill, Sec-
tion gd, page 928~, a special provision provides as follo,ws:
"d. No money appropriated by this
Article may be spent for planning or con-
structing new or additional institutions,
or for the purchase of sites ther?f'or, with-
out specific authorization of the Legislature.
All institutions shall be kept where they are
located by the Legislature, and all new build-
ings to be constructed shall be on these sites
unless otherwise specifically authorized by
the Legislature."
Section 1 of House Bill 653, supra, patently and
expressly gives the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special
Schools the power to "select a site for said building". It
further expressly gives +'leBoard the authority to "take title
to the land so selected". These provisions must of necessity
envision the purchase Lf land on which the building is to be
constructed. It follows that the power to select a site for a
school and to take title to the land so selected also includes
the power to expend purchase price money to acquire title to
the site so selected. Any contrary holding would, we believe,
defeat the expressed intent of the Legislature.
If, however, any doubt still remains that the author-
ity to purchase the land in question is not expressly granted
by the language of House Bill 653, we refer to the case of
Moon v. Allred, 277 S.W. 787 (Tex. Civ. App., 1925). It was
therein held that the power given to a Commissioners Court
under Article 610, Vernon's Civil Statutes, 1925, to issue
bonds for erection of a courthouse and jail, necessarily implied
the power to issue bonds to purchase the site and equipment
therefor. By the same reasoning, we are of ,the opinion that
the authority to "select a site" and "take title to the land
so selected" for a school for the mentally retarded necessarily
implies the authority to expend money to purchase land upon
which to build the school.
Mr. Raymond W. Vowell, Page 3 (WW-271).
We are, therefore, of the opinion that monies can
be expended from the $2,269,490.00 appropriated by House Bill
133 for the purchase of land upon which to build a school for
the mentally retarded.
SUMMARY
Monies can be expended for the school
from the $2,269,490.00 appropriated by
House Bill 133, for the purchase of land
upon which to build a school for the men-
tally retarded.
Yours very truly,
WILL WILSON
Attorney General of Texas
B. H. Timmins, Jr.
Assistant
BHT:pf
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman
J. C. Davis, Jr.
W. V. Geppert
Wayland C. Rivers, Jr.
REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
By: James N. Ludlum.