Honorable P.J. X088 

County Auditor 

Yontaguur, Temm 

DCMU sir1 

fn your lottor or you request our 

0tm or uontagua 

the f’undr of 

person employed 

ution by the oounty 

would be mada 1 

ram whiah garmentr 

ributlon to poor 

epe0lriOally 80 

asmua.ed a8 a taot that 

the mwlng roonm generally 

es am to beoome publio 

terminated. Also, that 

given are unable to 

eraitie8 or me. our 

sslonerr~ Court to that err00t. 

8, oi Artio’le 18 or that dooument read88 

*aso. 6. Baoh oounty in the Stat. may provldm 

in crush manner aa may bo promorlbed by law, a Unnuai 

Labor poor noun aad mrm, rm taking oar0 or, numaging, 

ample irg snb supplying tba want6 of its lntllgent and 

poor I nhabltants.w 
Eonorable y. J. Moss, Fagagr 2 

section t or Arti0h 11 th0re0r ~~-0~id881 

"sea. t, The osnrrtruotion of ialla, courthou8er 

and brfd@8 and the establf sbment of oounty poor house8 

and mm8, and the lay& out oonstruotlon and repairing 

of county roads ahall be provjded for by general laws,* 

In Seydler V. Border, 118 8, ;V, (26) 702, error 

refused, the oon8tltutionallty or the 8tltut80 ‘authotizil@ 

the oon8tnaotion of oounty hoapltals was suetalnod, The oare 

and treatmnt or the slak wa8 thsre held to be 8 pub110 purpoeo 

a8 dlrtinyiehad from a private ore end a proper subjeot tar 

the expenditure or oounty funds. Ba4, on June S!b* 1940, id 

the case of The i!ouaing Authority of the C$ty of Uallar T, 

Elcginbotham, et al., not yet reported, in: an opinion by 

Jud&e Slatton, Coamisaloner, the 3upreme Court held oonetltutional the Texar Eousirg kuthoritiee Law, hrtlolo 1269k, 

Vernon'8 Ciril Statutes. It was there determined that the 

provision of decent dwblllr,gs aixl other living aooomodatione 

ior persons of low lnoom is a public purpose sod that pub110 

funds my be used to ~aoqulre bulldig sites and ereot thereon 

dwelling aocomodatlons to be rented at low rates to poor people. 

&ginning at pqg 851 of the ,?eporte of Attorney 

General Looney, 1916-1918, wo find an oplnlon written by tha 

late Chlsf Snetlos C. Ii!. Cureton, then Plrat Assistant Attorney 

General, sustaining the oonstltutlonality of ii, 3. ITo, 18, 

Ch. 4, p. 4, :;ots 35th Leg., 4th C. S., authori,zlnq the oountier to expend their general funds for the purohaee of plantlag 

seed which would then be sold on cxtdlt to rseidqcts or such 

oountlea who were poor and unable to prooure sueh seed. It 

war Judge Curstonfe opinion that tha purpose of uuah expenditure 

was a publlo one. 

T&e purpose ror whloh your Comi.sslont?re~ Court 

propo8e8 to use these fund8 ir unquestionably a pub110 one 

within Artiole 8, Yeotion 3, of our Constitution. Howarer , 

thi8 does not neoedsarlly nsan that the expenditure aan bo 

laaA6. For, it ha8 been hrld by ov oourt8 my times that 

Comdmloners* Courts are of llnlted jurlsdlotlon only an& 

am without any ponrr eroept thosr cOni8rred upon them 

expressly or by naoessary tiplioationr El Paso County f. 

Elam, 106 3. w. (ad) 393; Howard T. Eendorson County, 116 

s, ‘Is. [ad) 479t Hill County v. Styant, 864 9. XI 5801 

Contra. court 0r mdlson County v. ::allaoe, 15 S. W. (26) 535. 

We shall attempt to deternine whether the Conmisslonerrr* 

Court ha8 the neoeeaary authority to direat this eXp+ndltuI'e. 
f- 

. 

,, - ~, _ ~, .~ ~. ..-. 

.~ 

353 

Xouorable F. J. Yore, Page 5 

In Our opinion the raOt8 abore stated and ati8WUBd to 

be true would support a flndlng of the Conmlssloners~ Court 

that the employees in the sswim3 room, as well aa those reoelring the artfo~er of olothlag, are 80 needy and dependent as to 

oome within the authority prorlded in section 11. of Artlole 23S1, 

~8'Yi88d CiVil %iltUt@S. 

COn8ib8ring the hwitarlan pur;pose OS this statute, 

we do not believe it should be given a SereM~Md lIteraL oon8truotlon. Rathsr, lt Should be &ven at least a f&lrly llbanl 

oon8truotlon to the end that its wholly desirable purposes ehall 

at batit be po8slbla or aohl8rem8nt. The, oounty*ti general fund 

has ft.8 sareguardr. Seation 9, ArtlcLe 8, or the; Con8tltutlon, 

limits the ad rtiorem tax for &W3ral oounty purpOee8 to twentyfire oents on the hundred dollars valuatfon, and it mag also be 

! 

rsnuaed that the county oommI8sloners will be fIxgal and careful 

n making euoh e~ndltures. We do not believe that the statute 

was meant to requlra a man to be reduoed to pauperism In the 

starkest neanlni; OZ the word before aaefstacoe my be ertsndad 

to him. 

These proJeot8 known as Vi. P. A. sewing roOm aotually 

dispense aid in two torm8: (I) Ulreot aid to those who reoelTe 

the garzents, and (2) Indirect aid In the way or employment for 

the vmmefi operatic the tnacbinrr, Article 2351 does not rspuire 

the arslstanoe to be given in any 

P 

artloular manner. In many 

instanoer it will be moh mre who 88~8 and dewlrabt8 for it 

to be glvbn in the nature or employment. 

!&rthermore, wo do not believe that a oo&ty*a abllgatlon to extend ala is naoeaearily destroyed the momect the 

Federal Governmnt gfYe8 its aesistanoe. rhere IS nothIn% t0 

prevent the oounty from providing ror a part of suoh supcart, 

the Federal Government aleo oontrlbutlng. Xi the Comrnleaionars~ 

Court find8 that those to whom the clothes are given are deptindent upon public relief, elth8r direct or lndlreot, ror llvln& 

&eoeseltles, or that the sewing room employees would probably 

beooue aubjetota of dlreot teller II the proJeots should br 

terminated, in our opinion the oontribution rec,usated of the 

Oounty may be zad8. our oplnlon, or aoume, would be to the 

Wntrary if tho i%XtImf88fOMr8 * Court fin&S that suoh facts aro 

not true. 
354 

Ronorable P. J. Moss, Page 4 

This opinion is in aoaord with our conference opinion 

No. 3099, whfoh we believe to be oorreot. Our opinion No. 

O-2333 was gireo upon an inaompfets atatenent and understanding 

of the faots and is withdrawn, and llkewlse that part of opinion 

No. O-1972, holding that oomisoioners~ courts may not purohaee 

or rent sewing mahines for use in suoh ii. F. A. sewlag roomd. 

Youra very thlly ,, 

APPROVErJUL 3, 1940 

ATTORNEY GEKERAL OF TEXAS 

i-~, ~