Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1947 )

R-666 ``A-``oMNEY GENEIKAL Q,F ?R?lrsAs PRICE DANIEL ATXXWEY CENERAI. YUIY 26, 1947 Hon. Roy Xov+.nthal, t*ivestock bmltarg 2002 W. T. Waggoner Fort Worth, Texas ,,/ Opinion MO. V-316 Re :, The expiration date ‘,‘,.,.: ,,, ,,,, of the emergency ap- propriation for the Livestock Sanitary Commlseion in H. B. 879, 49th Legisla- Dear Sir : ture. In your letter of July 15,, 1947, you request the opinion OS tbls #‘fice,. upon the question therein contained, which folc cotN&nlenoe we quote, as follows: ,, 2,~ -i,,,,, ;\,.:.‘A ‘~;: “On June llth., 1945, the Legislature made available to th~ls Department, through House Bill 879,;: qn ,emergency agpropriation in the amount of ‘$10.000.00. “In the &t&p, $&of ‘Sectida I of House Bill 879: +o,u gill, .fbd the foliow- lng wording: ,, ~;,,~“ i, ‘And the 8ai.d Commission shall be ent;itled .to the use and to the expe,ndltWe of said’ monies hereby appropplated up to Septem- ‘, .., .*p g&y,.?594.7&. t.‘j. . ., * ,a..‘,.. :. , ‘we are advised by Mr. Geo. Ii. Shep- pard, Comptroller of Public Accounts, that the Iegislature Is not authorized to appro- priate money.for State expenditure for a period exceeding two years from the date the appropriation is made available. “It occurs %o;,us that the two year llmlt applies, to rsgular appropriations, and that it d&es nti apply to appropria- tibns for emergency purposes. Hon. Roy Loventhal, rage 2, V-316 “Due to the fact that the close of our fiscal year Is near and that a consld- arable amount of the $2,400.00 yet unex- pauded in this appropriation is needed for materials and supplf:,a, we will appre- ciate an early respoare. It appears that you are under the Impression that the restraint placed upen the Iagislature by Sec- t ion 6 of Article III of the Const ltutlon of Texas, which reads as follows: n . . . nor shall an7 appropriation of meaey be yde for le8ger term than two gears . . . applies only to regular lpproprlatlons, but not to appro- priat ions for emsrgancj purposes. A careful reading of If. B. No. 879, (Acts 49th leg., 1945, p. 531) does not disclose that the LeglalM.ure treated this as an emergen- cy appropriation. The act mrely contained the usual emrgencg provisloas aurpeelling the censt it ut lonal rule requiring It to be read en three several days in each House In order that it take effect lmadiately from end after Its pessage. It is, tkOw0r0, of no legal sig- nificance that it may be thus tenad an emergency appro- pr iat Ion. It 1s manliest that the plain language of Sec- tion 6 of Article VIII of the Constitution, “nor shall anj approp$iatlon of mea07 be rade for longer term thaa two years, applies to all lppPoprl8tlons whether they be termed emergency appropriations or regular approprla- tions. This office has heretofore written several oplm- Ions stating vhat we coacalve to be the correct rule of lnw, and it would serve n8 usefnl purpose to write ex- tensively upon the said questloms again. We enclose herewith a cop7 of Opinloa !fe: O-3639, approved June 15, 1941, the last paragraph of whleh anawers your questloa. A more extended dlacusslon la found in Opinion No. O- 3651, a copy of which is herewith enclosed. This opln- 10s cites aad quotes fpe8 several eplalons of the courts of this Stata vhlch confirm the rule that an approprla- tion may not be made by tke bglslaturt for a longer term than tve pars under the sxpross provisions of Sec- tien 6 of Article VIII of the Oenstltutlon. , Hon. Roy brenthal, ?age 3, v-316 House Bill Iio. 879, Acts of the 49th bglsla- ture, 1945, was approved June 11, 1945, and became Im- mediately effective on that date, and ceased to be ef- fective at midnight on June 10, 1947, two years there- after. You are, therefore, respectfully advised that an balance remaining in this appropriation on June 11, 19 t 7, is no longer available, notwlthstandlng the Ap- propriation Act provides, “and the said Commission shall be entitled to the use and to the expenditure of said money hereby appropriated up to September 1, 1947. Section 6 of Article VIII of the Con- stitution, which provides that no appro- prlatlon of money shall ba made for a long- er term than two years, applies to all ap- propriations whether termed emergency or regular approprlatloas. Hence an approprla- tion effective June 11, 1945, ceases to be efSectlve on June 10, 1947, notwlthstandlng the Act contains a provision that “the Com- mission shall be entitled to use the money . . . up to September 1, 1947: ‘I’ Very truly yours, ATTORRRYGEH&RALOF TEXAS LPL:lmIlc:mr j