THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OP TEXAS 

CWAWIrORD c. MAlrrlN AUSTIN.TEXAR 78711 

Ax-rORNEY QENERAI. November 25, 1969 

Honorable Joe Resweber Opinion No.!+517 

County Attorney 

Harris County Re: Chapter 652, Acts 

Harris County Courthouse of the 61st LegisHouston, Texas 77332 lature, 1969 which 

exempts from taxation 

the property owned 

by Garden Clubs. 

Dear Mr. Resweber: RQ 550 

You have requested an opinion from this office as to 

whether the property of the LaPorte Bayshore Garden Club 

is exempt from ad valorem taxes by virtue of the exempting statute (Article 7150, V.C.S., Chapter 652, pi 1950, 

Acts 6lst Legislature 1969, R.S.) being unconstitutional 

under Art. VIII, Sec. 2, Constitution of Texas. 

In order for an organization to be exempt from ad 

valorem taxes, it must bring itself within one of the 

classes of properties enumerated in Article VIII, Section 2 of the Texas Constitution which provides as 

follows: ,~ 

"All occupation taxes shall be equal 

and uniform upon the same class of subjects 

within the limits of the authority levying 

the tax; but the legislature may, ty general 

laws, exempt from taxation public property 

used for public purposes; actual places or 

/-or? 7 religious worship, also any property 

owner by a church or by a strictly religious 

society for the exclusive use as a dwelling 

place for the ministry of such church or 

religious society, and which yields no revenue whatever to such church or r,ellgious 

society; provided that such exemption shall 

not extend to more property than is reasonably 

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Hon. Joe Resweber, page 2, (~-517) 

necessary for a dwelling place and in 

no ,event more than one ‘acre of land; ~’ 

places of burial not he1.d for private 

or corporate profit; all buildings used 

exclusively and owned by persons or associations of persons for school purposes, 

and the necessary furniture of all schools 

and property used exclusively and reasonably 

necessary in conducting any association 

engaged in promoting the religious, educational and physical development of boys, 

girls, young men or young women operating 

under a State or National organization of 

like character; also the endowment funds 

of such institutions of learning and religion not used with a view of profit; and 

when the same are invested In bonds or 

mortgages, or In land or other property 

which has been and shall hereafter be 

bought in by such Institutions under foreclosure sales made to satisfy or protect 

such bonds or mortgages, that such exemption of such land and property shall continue only for two years after the purchase 

of the same at such sale by such instltutiona and no longer, and institutions of 

purely public charity; and all laws exempting property from taxation other’ than .the . 

property above mentioned shall be null and 

void m As amended Nov. 6, 1906, proclamation 

Jan, 7, 1907; Nov, 6, 1928.” 

Pursuant to the authority granted to It by Art. 

VIII, Sec. 2, the Legislature enacted Art. 7150, Vernon’s Clvll Statutes, which specifies exemptions from, ‘. 

ad valorem taxes. The 6lst Legislature by Chapter 652 

,amended Article 7153, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, which 

provides as f 0110~s z 

“Section 1 D Ar’c,icle 7150, Revised, Civil, ,, 

Statutes of Texas, 1925, as amendeU, is amended 

by adding new Sections 24 and 25 to read as ~: 

follows: 

-2468- 
Hon. Joe Resweber, page 3, (M-517) 

‘24. All property of organizations, 

whether incorpora ted or not, which are 

devoted wholly to the promotion and encouragement of, or the dissemination of 

information concerning, the development, 

propagation, growing, or arrangement of 

flowers or decorative shrubs, plants, or 

trees, is exempt from taxation, provided 

the property is owned and used for such 

purposes only, is not in whole or in part 

leased out to others, and is not in any 

manner operated at a profit or houses any 

individual or entity which operates a business upon said premises at a profit. 1 

“Sec. 2, All garden clubs owning real 

property in Texas shall be exempt from ad 

valorem taxation.” 

Inasmuch ?s the last phrase of Art. VIII, Sec. 2, 

provides that . all laws exempting property from 

taxation other than the property mentioned above shall be 

null and void,” it is necessary for the garden club to 

come within one of the enumerated classes of properties 

to be entitled to an exemption. 

The Supreme Court of Texas In City of Houston v. 

Scottish Rite Benevolent Ass’n, 111 Tex. 191, 230 S.W, 

978 (1921) held that an institution qualifies as ,one 

of “purely’public charity” where (1) it ,makes no gain 

or profit, (2) it accomplishes ends wholly benevolent, 

and (3) It benefits persons indefinite In number and In 

personalities, by preventing them, through absolute gratuity, from becoming burdens to society and to the State. 

In the recent case of Hilltop Village, Inc. v. 

Kerrville Ind. Sch..Dlst., 42o S.W.2d 943 (Tex.Sup. 1968), 

the Court in considering the tests of what constitutes a 

“purely public charity” stated at page 948: 

“River Oaks Garden Club v. City of 

Houston, 370 S.W.2d 85l.(Tex,Sup. 1963)j 

is our most recent writing upon the subject of charitable exemption from taxation, 

-2469- 
Hon. Joe Reaweber, page 4, (M-517) 

In denying exemption there, we reiterated 

the previously stated tests: 

‘* * * fA 7n organization is not 

an instituti’;ii sf purely public charity 

within the meaning of’the constitutional 

exemption unless it assumes, to a material 

extent, that which otherwise might become 

the obligation or duty of the community~ 

or the state’,; and I* * * unless its funds,~ ‘~ ‘, 

property and assets are pledged and used 

to provide for the basic needs of the 

‘~ ‘, 

sick, distressed and needy, whether the 

benefits be extended only to a small segment of society or to the public generally.‘:” 

Under our Constitution the Legislature, is powerless, 

to exempt an organization unless such organ1za,tlon is 

either an institution of “purely public charity” as that 

term is employed in our Constitution or unless the organlzation comes within one of the enumerated classes of properties set forth therein. 

Whether an organization is an “lnstltutlon~~ of purely, 

public charity” is a fact question upon which tnis office 

cannot pass. We have been presented no facts as to:‘,the 

use .belng made of the property, and the corporate charter 

and by-laws of the LaPort,e Bayshore Garden C.lub are not 

before us D 

The Tax Assessor~Coll.ector 6hburd”as~kr;‘tain’,~” ,,.,. -. 

the facts and make the initial decision. If the LaPorte 

Bayshore Garden Club is a “garden club” of the type refused an exemption by the Supreme Court in the River Oaks 

case, supra, under the holding in that case, there can be 

no exemption. 

We are unable to conclude as a matter of law that 

the exempting statute is unconstitutional and that under 

no conceivable state of facts could the LaPorte Bayshore 

Garden Club qualify its property for a charitable exemptlon or for one of the other enumerated classes of properties set out in Article VIII, Section 2, Constitution 

of Texas. 

-2430- 
Hon. Joe Resweber, page 5 (M-517) 

SUMMARY 

If the LaPorte Bayshore Garden Club 

qualifies as an "institution of purely public 

charity" as that term is used in Section 2, 

Article VIII, Constitution of Texas, or for 

one of the other exempted classes of property 

enumerated in Article VIII, Section 2 of 

such Constitution, it is ,exempt from ad valorem taxation and If not an "Institution of 

purely public charity", it is not tax exempt. 

7 

Ve$/truly yours, 

I 

Prepared by Terry Reed Goodman 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Kerns Taylor, Chairman 

George Kelton, Vice-Chairman 

Earl Hines 

Arthur Sandlln 

Fisher Tyler 

Wardlow Lane 

MEADE F, GRIFFIN 

Staff Legal Assistant 

NOLA WHITE 

First Assistant 

., 

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