Hon. John H. Winters 

Executive Director 

State Department of Public Welfare 

Austin, Texas 

Opinion No. v-1357. 

Re: Availability of funds appropriated to the Waco State 

Home in the general approprlation bill for the rental of 

pasture land and for the purchase of livestock for the biDear Sir: ennium ending 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 Waco State 

Home in the general appropriation bill for the biennium ending August 31, 1953. Your specific questions 

are as follows: 

(1) Is there an appropriation to the 

Waco State Home which may be expended for 

the rental of 200 acres of pasture land? 

may 

ma 

trol and 

(2) Is there an appropriation which 

be expended for the purchase of cows 

a bull for the dairy herd? 

In 1951 the Legislature transferred the consupervision of the Waco State Home from 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 named in this 

Act so as to enable the children to become 

self-supporting through training and education in accordance with the capability 
Hon. John H. Winters, page 2 (V-1357) 

of the individual child. Such training 

program may be set up within the institution or it may require 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 named herein for 

the care of the children entrusted to it 

as provided in the General Statutes creating the institution and as provided in 

subsequent amendments prescribing the duties and responsibilities of the institution for the care of such children.” H.B. 

540 Acts 52nd Leg., R.S. 1951, ch. 485, 

p. 860. 

The following line item appropriations to 

the Waco State Home (H.B. 426, Acts 52nd Leg., 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, see d 

furnishings, 

, groceries, 

meats, perishables, 

and miscellaneous supplies (out of General 

Revenue Funds) $112,700.00 $112,700.00 
Hon. John H. Winters, page 3 

30. 

31. 

32. 

33. 

Bond premiums, postage, telephone telegraph, heat, ljght, 

water 

trave i 

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 Home to acquire and maintaina dairy 

herd for the use and benefit of the children of the 

Home. The authority 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 and vocational 

instruction for inmates of the institutions is well 

established. 

(1943). 

Att’y Gen. Ops. O-2738 (1940) and O-5439 

The Waco Home has maintained a dairy herd 

for several years for the benefit of the Home and 

since 1945 has rented the pasture land here involved. 

That the Legislature approved the maintenance of a 

dairy herd Is shown by the fact that in 1949 it appropriated $lO,COO to 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., 147 Tex. 6, 209 S.W.2d 7 '62 (1948). 

However, you state the Comptroller Is now of-the oplnion that there is no appropriation from which the pasture rental may be 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 Home and that these 

products are necessary to the health and welfare 

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 Waco State Home may be 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 ana equipment, 

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 come from local funds. 

Unless Line Item 27, subra, makes provision for the 

payment of pasture rental, there Is no appropriation 

from which pasture rental may be paid. 

The only categories in Line Item 27 which 

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-law theory 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 llf eed” 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, 79 Tex. 76, 

I5 S.W. 217 (1890). Our’ Texas courts have approved 

the following, definition of l’supplylt: “One def inltion 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 a want; 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 made so by the Legislature so that the 

‘necessary items for the health, welfare, and schooling of the children in the Home could be purchased 

when the need for the. items arose and such items were 

not within some other specific appropriation. 

From the foregoing, we think the Leglslature, Intended for the pasture rental to be paid from 

Line Item 27 funds. In view of the past history of 

the Waco State 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 

change d 

we can not hold that the Legislature has 

its policy upon the sole basis of its failure 

to make a specific “pasture rental” appropriation, 

there having been no prior practice so to specify, 

The answer to your second question depends 

upon whether livestock may be 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 may be purchased from Line 

Item 31 maintenance funds. However, we are of the 

opinion that Line Item 32 funds may be 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 made to the Waco 

State Home by Line Item 27 (H.B. 426, 

Acts 52nd Leg. 

1228 

R.S. 1951, ch. 499, p. 

“pas i ure 

at p. l2+3) may be expended for 

rental,” and the a propriation 

made by Line Item 32 (H.B. f: 26, supra, 

at p. 1273) may be 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 

PRICE DANIEL 

Attorney General 

By I: v$$*u 

E. Way Thode 

Assistant 

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