Hon. John H. Winters Executive Director State Department of Public Welfare Austin, Texas Opinion No. 

### v-1357.

Re: Availability of funds appropriated to the WacoState Homein the general approprlation bill for the rental of pasture land and for the purchase of livestock for the biDear Sir: enniumending August 

### 31,1953.

You have requested the opinion of this office relating to the authority of your department to expend certain moneys appropriated to the WacoState Homein the general appropriation bill for the biennium ending August 

### 31,1953. Your specific questions are as follows:

(1) Is there an appropriation to the WacoState Homewhich maybe expended for rental of 200 acres of pasture land? the

may 

### ma
trol and (2) Is there an appropriation which

be expended for the purchase of cows a bull for the dairy herd? In 

### 1951the Legislature transferred the consupervision of the WacoState Homefrom the I Board for State Hospitals and Special Schools to the Department of Public Welfare. This act provides In part:

“Sec. 

### 5. The State Department of Public Welfare is hereby directed to set up a school and training program for the children in the institution namedin this Act so as to enable the children to become self-supporting through training and education in accordance with the capabilityHon. John H. Winters, page 2 

### (V-1357)

of the individual child. Such training program maybe set upwithin the institution or it mayrequire maintenance and support of the children in one of the State institutions of higher learning. The moneys appropriated for the maintenance and support of the institution may be used for this purpose in accordance with rules and regulations and limltations as prescribed by the State Department of Public Welfare.

“Sec. 

### 6. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to delimit the responslbllities of the institution namedherein for the care of the children entrusted to it as provided in the General Statutes creating the institution and as provided in subsequent amendmentsprescribing the duties and responsibilities of the institution for the care of such children.” H.B. 

### 540 Acts 52ndLeg., R.S. 

### 1951,ch. 

### 485, p. 

### 860. The following line item appropriations to the WacoState Home(H.B. 

### 426,Acts 52ndLeg., R.S, 

### 1951 ch. 

### 499,p. 1228, at ,p. 1273) are necessarily involved in a determination of the questions asked:

“For the Years Ending August 

### 31, 1952 August 

### 31,

1953
27. Stationery, printing, gasoline, 011, grease, recreation, amusement, drugs, medical, hospital and laboratory supplies, clothing, dry goods feed, seed furnishings,

, groceries, meats, perishables, andmiscellaneous supplies (out of General Revenue Funds) 

### $112,700.00 $112,700.00Hon. John H. Winters, page 

### 3

30.

31.

32.

33. Bond premiums, postage, telephone telegraph, heat, ljght, water travei power and

expenses, out of local funds Maintenance and repairs, out of local funds Capital Outlay--Improvements and Equipment, out of local funds Total--Out of Local Funds 

### 14,500.00 14,5oom

10,000.00 20,000.00



### 6.000.00 2.OOO.OQ



### 30,500.00 36,500.00" Both of your questions are related to the authority of the Hometo acquire and maintaina dairy herd for the use and benefit of the children of the Home. Theauthority of eleemosynary Institutions to maintain dairy herds or carry on other agricultural pursuits for the purpose of economical operation as well as providing constructive labor andvocational instruction for inmates of the institutions is well established. 

### (1943). Att’y Gen. Ops. O-2738 

### (1940)and

### O-5439

TheWacoHomehas maintained a dairy herd for several years for the benefit of the Homeand since 

### 1945has rented the pasture land here involved. That the Legislature approved the maintenance of a dairy herd Is shownby the fact that in 1949 it appropriated $lO,COOto be expended for an addition to and equipment for a creamery. H.B. 

### 321 Acts 51st Leg., R.S. 1949, ch. 553, p. 1068 that on September 1, at p. $075. You state 1951, ihe Comptroller approved a warrant for a pasture rent Installment and charged it to the appropriation in Line Item 27, sunra. In prior years the Comptroller has approved the pasture rental warrants, although there has never been a specific

“pasture rental” appropriation. This past department; al construction has oersuasive value. Isbell v. ~Gulf Union Oil Co., 

### 147Tex. 6, 209 S.W.2d 7

### '62(1948). However, you state the Comptroller Is nowof-the oplnion that there is no appropriation from which the pasture rental maybe paid.Hon. John H. Winters, page 4 (V-1357)

You state that the 200 acres of pasture land are necessary to maintain a herd which will supply sufficient milk and milk products for the normal requirements of the Homeand that these products are necessary to the health andwelfare of all the children in the Home.

In view of the above facts, we must ascertain if any of the line Item appropriations to the WacoState Homemaybe expended for pasture rental. Section 10(d) of the General Provisions following the appropriations to the various State hospitals and special schools provides:

l’(d) All items herein appropriated to the several institutions including the Central Office, for bond premiums, post office box rent m rental, postage, telephone, telegraph, heat, water, light, power, travel expenses, maintenance of structures and equipment, and capital outlay expenditures for improvements 

### anaequipment, shall be paid from the Board Local 

### Fund. It is further provided that the items herein enumerated shall not be supplemented from any other funds appropriated in this Article, except as provided in Section 7(a) and (b) and Section 

### 9,as provided in this Article.” (Emphasis added.) It will be noted that the appropriations out of local funds, Line Items 

### 30,31,32, sunra, do not include a “land rental” appropriation. Therefore, the rental expense cannot comefrom local funds. Unless Line Item 27, subra, makes provision for the payment of pasture rental, there Is no appropriation from which pasture rental maybe paid.

The only categories in Line Item 27which might include pasture rental are “feed” and “miscellaneous supplies.” l’Pasturage’l is a proper, but now obsolete, meaning for the noun “feed.” Webster’s New International Dictionary (2d Ed. 

### 1938). Article 5502, V.C.S., gives livery stable owners a lien for “feed” and also a lien for “pasturage.” However, this distinction is not controlling here, since it grew out.
Hon. John H. Winters, page 

### 5 (v-1357)

of the common-lawtheory that a livery stable owner did not hava an agist-er’s or ‘“pasturage” lien. 3 C.J.S. 1118, Animals, Sec. 21. This statute was adopted to give a liens in either s.ituation. In a situation other than for the enforcement of a statutory lien, which is to be strictly construed, the word llfeed” might includes “pasturage.” El Paso CatL n Co. of El Paso. Tag.. v. Bug&, 228 Pac. (ir Mex. Sup. 1924). The other category, “miscellaneous .mJpplies,ll is one of a.very general nature, Its inclusiveness depending primarily upon the history, fact situation, and type of.buslness’or operation in connection with which, it is used. Conner v. Littlefield, 79Tex. 76, I5 S.W. 217 (1890). Our’Texas courts have approved the following, definition of l’supplylt: “One definltion of ‘supply1 is to ‘furnish with what is wanted.’ Webster’s Dictionary. Other definitions are: ‘AWIlable aggregate of things needed or demanded;

. o
. anything yielded or afforded to meet awant; the act of furnishing what is wanted. I 37 cyc. 607." Qp ton Brldseuort Mach. CQ ., 33 S.W.2d 787, 789 (Texy&v.App. 1930, error ref.). The provision is thus seen to be very broad and general, but it was intentionally madeso by the Legislature so that the

‘necessary items for the health, welfare, and schooling of the children in the Homecould be purchased whenthe need for the. items arose and such items were not within some other specific appropriation.

Fromthe foregoing, wethink the Leglslature, Intended for the pasture rental to be paid from Line Item 27 funds. In view of the past history of the WacoState Home’s maintenance of a dairy herd, of the creamery building and equipment appropriation, and the departmental construction which authorized the issuance of warrants for the payment of pasture rental changedwe can not hold that the Legislature has

its policy upon the sole basis of its failure to makea specific “pasture rental” appropriation, there having been no prior practice so to specify,

Theanswer to your second question depends upon whether livestock maybe purchased from either Line Item appropriations 31 or 32, sunra. Section 10 (d)4.sunra, of the General Provisions provides in par
.Hon. John H. Winters, page 6 (V-1357)

n

. . . maintenance of structures and equipment, and capital outlay expenditures for improvements and equipment, shall be paid from the Board Local Fund.” This definition more specifically enumerates the Items for which Line Items 31 and 32 may be expended, and by its terms eliminates the possibility that livestock maybe purchased from Line Item 31 maintenance funds. However, weare of the opinion that Line Item 32 funds maybe expended for livestock necessary to develop a herd capable of producing the milk necessary for the requirements of the Home. The dairy herd is a permanent asset and therefore a capital asset of the Home, and the contemplated expenditures are, in our opinion, wlthin the scope of the capital outlay appropriation.

The appropriation madeto the Waco State Homeby Line Item 27 (H.B. 426, Acts 52ndLeg. 1228 R.S. 

### 1951,ch. 499, p.

“pas ure i at p. l2+3) maybe expended for rental,” and the a propriation madeby Line Item 32 (H.B. f:26, supra, at p. 1273) maybe expended for the purchase of livestock necessary to develop a dairy herd capable of supplying the needs of the Home. Yours very truly, APPROVBp

: C. K. Richards Trial &Appellate Division Jesse P. Luton, Jr. Reviewing Assistant Charles D. Mathews First Assistant PRICEDANIEL Attorney General

ByI: v$$*u E. Way Thode Assistant

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