Hon. Paul H. Brown 

Fire Insurance Commissioner 

Board of Insurance Commissioners 

Austin, Texas 

Opinion NO. v-1336. 

Dear Sir: 

Re: Constitutionality of a rider 

in the general appropriation 

bill prescribing the method 

of handling expense money 

collected pursuant to Art. 

4898, V.C.S. 

You have requested an opinion 

fice regarding the constitutionality of 

rider in the general appropriation bill 

nium ending August 31, 1953: 

of this ofthe following 

for the bien- 

“Provided also that such sums as are 

received by the Fire Division as provided 

by Article 4898 R.C.S. shall be deposited 

to the Departmental Suspense Account in 

the State Treasury. Expenses of State Bm-’ 

ployees incident to the investigations 

shall be paid from travel expenses hereinabove appropriated and such travel expense 

appropriation shall be reimbursed for the 

actual amounts ex ended under the provisions of Article t 898 R.C.S.-by a transfer 

from the amount on deposit in the Departmental Suspense Account .‘I (H.B. 426 Acts 

R.S. 1951, ch. 499, p. 1238, at 

Your first question is as follows: 

“Is this ri’der void and of no effect 

by virtue of Section 35, Article 3 of the 

Constitution by reason of the fact that 

the subject matter thereof is not quoted 

in the caption of H.B. No. 4261 (Reference Attorney General’s opinion v-1254, 

dated August 25, 1951, and cases cited.)” 
Hon. Paul H. Brown, page 2 (~-1.336) 

The general rule as to captions is stated 

;? z.W.2.d 680, 688 

an Antonio and A. P. RY. v. Statq 

(1936), as followsl 

128 Tex. 33, 

II 

. . . The generality of the title 

is no objection to it so long as it is 

not made a cover to legislation which by 

no fair intendment can be considered as 

having a necessary or proper connection. 

Jo v. City of Terre11 (Tex.Civ.App,) 

13 g S.W. 213, 215; city of Aransas Pass 

v. Keeling, Atty. Gen., 112 Tex. 339, 

247 s.w. 818. 

"'It would be burdensome if not intolerable to require that the title 

should be as full as the act itself. The 

word "title" implies that no such requirement exists. The purpose of the constitution-1 provision is merely to reasonably 

apprise the legislators of the contents 

of tne bill, to the end that surprise and 

fraud in legislation may be prevented.' 

Doeppenschmidt v. I. & G. N. R.R. Co., 

100 Tex. 532, 101 S.W. 1080, 1~181.~~ 

Thus, so long as the title gives notice of 

the contents of the body of the act, there is no evil 

in generality. However, when the caption provisions 

are narrow and restrictive, portions of the act broader than the caption are unconstitutional. 

Op. V-1253 (1951). 

Att'y Gen. 

We are of the opinion that the rider in 

question properly falls under the following portion 

of the caption to the general appropriation act: "An 

Act . . 

rules, 

. prescribing certain specific procedures, 

regulations, restrictions and limitations relating to and governing the expenditures of appropriations made herein . . .I1 The rider acl;;pr+aEe; thgor 

funds collected by virtue of Article 

certain designated uses and sets up the piocGd&g'for 

utilizing the appropriation. The title provision is 

general in form, but it gives sufficient notice of 

what is attempted by the riderj hence there is no violation of Article III, Section 35 of the Texas Constitution. 
Hon. Paul H. Brown, page 3 (v-1336) 

The remainder of your questions, deal with 

the means of utilizing the required deposit, and 

the answers depend on a determination of whether this 

rider attempts to incorporate general legislation 

within an appropriation bill or to altar, amend, or 

repeal a general statute. If the rider does make 

it is unconstitutional. Att'y Gen. 

:;:hvz2;Y3;i). 

be followed. 

If not, the rider provisions must 

Pour questions are as follows: 

"1s the rider invalid, illegal and ineffective by reason of the fact that it attempts to or does, in a general appropriation bill repeal, modify, or amend an 

existing i aw, to wit: Article 48981 

"Does the rider effectually require an 

insurance company requesting an investigation of a fire and the State Insurance Commission to deposit in the State Treasury 

the funds evidencing the expenses of the 

State Fire Marshall or other suitable person 

to act for him, which funds are for expenses 

as provided in Article 48981 

"Are such funds, as provided in Article 

4898 as expenses for the State Fire Marshal 

or other suitable person designated to act 

for him under the General Statute Article 

4898, such funds as become subject to legislative control or regulation by rider direction to an appropriation bill?" 

Article 4898, V.C.S., provides: 

"If for any reason the State.Pire.Marshall is unable to make any required investigation in person, he may designate the fire 

marshal of such city or town or some other 

suitable person to act for him; and such person so designated shall have the same authority as is herein given the State Fire Marshal with reference to the particular matter 

to be investigated by him, and shall receive 

such compensation for his services as the 

State Insurance Commission may allow. If the 
Hon. Paul H. Brown, page 4 (v-1336) 

investigation of a fire is made at the 

request of an insurance company, or at 

the request of a policyholder sustaining loss, 

town clerk 

or at the request .of the mayor, 

or chief of the fire department of any city, village or town in 

which the fire occurred, then the expenses 

of the Fire Marshal, clerical expenses, 

witnesses and officers fees incident and 

necessary to such investigation shall be 

paid by such insurance company, or such 

policyholder of such city or town as the 

case may be, otherwise the expenses of 

such investigation are to be paid as part 

of the expenses of the State Insurance 

Commission. 

or companie s, 

The party or parties, company 

requesting such investigation, shall before such investigation is 

commenced deposit with the State Insurance Commission, an Amount of money in 

the judgment of sdid Commission sufficient 

to defray the expenses of said Fire Marshal in conducting such investigation.” 

The money that is required to be deposited 

does not at the time of deposit become the property 

of the State, since at that time its status is undetermined. Only that portion of the deposit equal to 

the actual expenses of the investigator will become 

State property, and the remainder, if any, continues 

to be the property of the person or firm requestlng 

the investigation. The Legislature has, by general 

statute (Art. 4388, V.C.S.) provided for the handling of funds “the status o h 

as follows: 

which is undetermined,l* 

“The State Treasurer shall receive 

daily from the head of each Department 

each of whom is specifically charged w$th 

the duty of making same daily, a detailed 

list of all persons remitting money the 

status of which is undetermined or which 

is awaiting the time when it can finally 

be taken into the Treasury, together with 

the actual remittances which the Treasurer 

shall cash and place in his vaults or in 

legally authorized depository banks, if 

the necessity arises. The report from the 
Hon. Paul H. Brown, page 5 (~4336) 

General Land Office 

money for interest, 

shall include 

principal and . 

all 

leases of school, university, asylum 

and other lands. A deposit receipt 

shall be issued by the Comptroller for 

the daily total of such remittances 

from each Department; and the cashier 

of the Treasurer’s Department shall 

keep a cash book1 to be called Isuspense cash book, in which to enter 

these deposit receipts, and any others 

issued for cash received for which no 

deposit warrants can be issued or when 

their issuance is delayed. As soon as 

the status of money so placed with the 

Treasurer on a deposit receipt is determined, it shall be transferred from 

the suspense account by placing the portion of it belonging to the State in 

the Treasury by the issuance of a deposit warrant, and the part found not to 

belong to the State shall be refunded. 

When deposit warrants are issued, they 

shall be entered in this cash book, as 

well as any refunds, and the balance 

shall represent the aggregate of the 

items still in suspense. Refunds shall 

be made in a manner similar to that in 

present use, except that separate series of warrants shall be used for making such refunds, to be called ‘refund 

warrants, 1 and such warrants shall be 

written and signed by the Comptroller 

and counter-signed by the ,Treasurer and 

charged against the suspense funds to’ 

which they apply. Such warrants shall 

then’be returned to the Comptroller and 

delivered by him to the person entitled 

to receive them.” 

By the terms of the above Article, when the A,.. . _. . status or tne aepositea money is aeterminea,--in your 

case, when the investigator% expense account is approved,--the Treasurer will transfer by warrant an 

amount equal to the total of the expense account to the 

Fire Insurance Divisionls Travel Expense Account, from 

which a warrant may be issued to the investigator, and 

by a refund warrant return the remainder, if any, to 
Hon. Paul H. Brown, page 6 (v-1336) 

the person or firm requesting the investigation. 

Q&Die1 v. Richcrq& 118 S.W.2d 935 (Tex. Civ. App. 

1938), and Att'y Gen. Op. O-945 (1940). 

alter, 

The rider in question does not attempt to 

amend, or repeal any general statute. The 

provision requiring the money to be deposited to the 

Department Suspense Account is in compliance with 

Article 4388, V.C.S. This portion of tk rider merely reiterates the general statute and has no other 

legal effect. Att'y Gen. Op. C-1837 (1940). The appropriation in the rider is for the purposes set out 

by Article 4898, V.C.S. 

valid. Att'y Gen. 

and as such is proper and 

Op. f-1267 (1951). Therefore, you 

are advised that the method of operation provided by 

Article 4388, V.C.S., and the rider to the general 

appropriation bill is the proper method of handling 

and accounting for the funds in question. 

The title to the general appropriation 

bill for the biennium ending August 31, 1953, 

is sufficiently broad and general to include 

the rider (H.B. 426 Acts 52nd Leg. R.S. 

1951 ch. 499 pe 1328 at p* 1373)'regulating $he dispo&tion of'funds deposited with 

the Board of Insurance Commissioners to defray the anticipated expenses of a fire investigator. 

The rider does not attempt to alter, 

amend or repeal a general statute 

ly reiterates the requirements of k?"4$%~- 

V.C.S., a general statute prescribing the 

method for handling funds "the status of which 

is undetermined.n 

Yours very truly, 

APPROVED: PRICE DANIEL 

Attorney General 

C. K. Richards 

Trial & Appellate Division 

Jesse P. Luton, Jr. 

Reviewing Assistant 

Charles D. Mathews 

First Assistant 

EW.:wb 

,,rw~d~ 

E. Wa Thode 

Assistant