Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1946 )

THEAYTORNEYGENERAL
OF TEXAS
GROVER SELLERS
Honorable T. M. Trimble
First Assistant
State Superintendent of Public :Instruction
Depaptmeyt of Education
Austin, exas
Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-7017
Re: Effect of tax reduction by
school district during school
year of 1943-1944, concerning
equalization aid unSer S-B,
167, Acts 1945, 49th Legislature.
Your recent communicat~ionto this department read as
follows:
"Article 1, Section 2, Paregraph 2, of Senate
Bill 1.67of the 49th Legislatur:e,which is cormrionlg
known as tke Rural Aid Bill, pr>ovidas 'No school dis-
trict will be eligible for aid under2the provisions
of this Act ,whichhas retiuced itu tax ra,tewithin the
,twoyears immediately pieceding the yea? for which
aid is applied for hereunder.'
"We nave on file in the State Deparxtmen:of
Educat~ionseveral applications for aid from school
district that are levying the same t,ax rate as they
levied la& year, but it 1s a lesser tax r'a,te t.hanthe
one which was levied the first year of the last bien-
nium. The reduction in the tax rate was made prio:r
to the time ,thaSthe Act 1-efe:rred
to above was written,
and rural aid was paid to the school di3t,rlctduring the
last biennium on the tax rate as levied.
'!Undert,heprovisions of the Act quoted above,
is such a school district which reduced its tax rate
during the school year, 1943-44, eligible Do receive
aid? May I call your attention to the fact that there
was no way for the school districts to know that an
act which their~board took some ,twoyears ago would
affect them in securing aid under the provisions of
some future Rural Aid Bill when their maintenance tax
rate is a minimum of fifty cents,"
Honorable T. M. Trimble, page 2 O-7017
In view of the negative language of S.B. 167, quoted
by you in the first paragraph of your letter, the question sub-
mitted must be answered in the negative.
Statutory provisions affirmatively worded and provid-
ing for the time and place in which an act is to be done are
usually directory. However, when such provisions are negatively
worded or contain words restraining the doing of an act after a
certain time said provisions are mandatory. See City of Uvalde
v. Burney, 145 S.W. 311; Gomez v. Timon 128 S.W. 656; Markowskg,
et al v. Newman, et al., (Sup. Ct.) 136'S.W. (2d) 808.
Whether such provision is wise or otherwise, is not
for this department to determine. The Legislature is the public
policy forming body of this State. Its acts, when not in con-
flict with our State Constitution, or OUP Federal Constitution,
and the laws of Congress passed thereunder, are not for us to
question,b& must be upheld and enforced. "When the intent is
plainly expressed in the language of a statute, it must be given
effect without attempting to construe or interpret the law.
39 Tex. Jur., p. 168.
In our opinion No. o-6768, a copy of which is hereto
attached, we wrote as follows concerning Article 1, Section 2,
Paragraphs 1 and 2 of S. B. 167, 49th Legislature:
"The foregoing provisions of Sec. 2 are plain and
unambiguous. They rmzstbe complied with In order for
any school district to be eligible for any type of aid.
* * * This opinion applies & to local maintenance
tax rates."
Since your inquiry concerns a portion of paragraph 2
of Section 2 of said Article 1, the foregoing quotation from our
opinion No. o-6768 is also applicable to the districts covered
by your communication.
Very truly yours,
ATTORNEY CtENERALOF TEXAS
LRF:EP:wc By s/L.H. Flewellen
L.H. Flewellen
APPROVEB JAN 31, 1946 Assistant
s/Carlos C, Ashley
FIRST ASSISTANT
ATTORNEYGENERAL
Approved Opinion Committee By s/BWB Chairman