E ORNEY GENERATE 

OF TEXAS 

Mr. Ralph R. Wolf 

Executive Director 

Opinion No. ~~-633 

State Building Commlsslon Re: Authority of the State 

Austin, Texas Building Commission In 

regard to payment of 

professional fees to an 

attorney for services 

in connection with land 

Dear Mr. Wolf: acquisition. 

In your recent letter you have requested our 

opinion as to whether the State Building Commission has 

authority to pay an attorney for professional services 

rendered to the Commlsslon,in its land acquisition program. 

The Constitutional Amendment, Section 51-b, 

Article III of the Texas Constitution, creating the State 

Building Commission provides In Subsection (c) thereof as 

follows: 

"Under such terms and conditions as are 

now or may be hereafter provided by law, the 

Commission may acquire necessary real and personal property, . . . and negotiate and make 

contracts necessary to carry out and effectuate 

the purposes herein mentioned." 

Subsequent to the adoption of the aforesaid 

Constitutional Amendment the Texas Legislature Implemented 

the Amendment by enacting Article 678m, Vernon's Texas 

Civil Statutes, which provides in.part as follows in Section 4: 

11 

. . . The Executive Director may, with 

the consent and approval of the Commission, 

employ such professional, technical, clerical, 

stenographic, and other assistance as may be 

deemed necessary, the compensation for whom 

may be fixed by the Commission until September 

1955, after which it shall be fixed in the blennial appropriation bill. . . .w 

ours ) . 

(Empahsls 

1, 
. 

Mr. Ralph R. Wolf, page 2 (W'bJ-633) 

The Statute In Section 5 thereof further authorizes the State Building Commission: 

I . . . to take any action and enter Into 

any contracts necessary to provide for the 

obtaining of sites and the planning, designing 

and construction of the bulldings and memorials 

provided for by Section 51-b, Article III of 

the Constitution, and the Commission is also 

authorized to take any action and enter into 

any contracts to obtain sites which It deems 

necessary In order to provide for theorderly 

future development of the State Building Program which Is contemplated by this Act, lnaofar 

8s appropriations permit. . . .It 

It Is apparent from the foregoing that the 

powers conferred upon the State Building Commission by 

the Constitution and laws of this State enable the Commlsslon to employ and compensate an attorney for legal services rendered to the Commission in connection with the 

acquisition of land pursuant to the Cowmieslon~a building 

program. 

That the services for which the attorney now 

makes olalm were deemed necessary by the Commission and 

that the Commission did, In fact, employ the attorney to 

render such services Is manifest from the offlclal minutes 

of the meeting of the Commlaalon on May 13, 19.57. 

The particular claim to which you refer Is for 

professional services rendered from October 1, 1958, through 

March 31, 1959. The Fifty-Fifth Legislature, at its Regular 

Session In 1957, after appropriating various sums for 

salaries of other personnel df the State Building Commlssldn, 

set aside Ten Thousand, Eight Hundred Dollars ($10,800) out 

of the State Building Fund "for other salarles.or professional 

services, by contraot or part time employment" for the years 

ending August 31, 1958 and August 31, 19%. From this It 

Is seen that the Legislature anticipated and provided for 

such clalme as the one ln queatlon. It follows aleo that the 

extent to which the claim can be paid depends upon the amount 

of money now available under the aforesaid appropriation. 

It should be noted that Section 7 of Article VI 

of the Fifty-Fifth Legislature's appropriation bill provides 

In part as follows: 
Mr. Ralph R Wolf, page 3. (WW-633) 

' . . Where the Attorney General, District 

Attorney, Criminal District Attorney, County Attorney, or other lawyer is required by constitutional or statutory provision to represent .a 

State Agency, State Official, State Board or 

State Department, no compensation shall be paid 

from any appropriation made in this Act to any 

other attorney for representing the State of 

Texas in the trial of a civil lawsuit except in 

those cases where the Attorney Qeneral, District 

Attorney, Criminal District Attorney, County Attorney, or other lawyer, as the case may be, has 

requested that the attorney or attorneys employed 

by the particular State Agency, State Official, 

State Department or State Board, assist with the 

trial of the particular lawsuit. This provision 

shall not, however, restrict a State Agency, 

State Official, State Department or State Board 

in the investigation and assembling of evidence 

In connection with a pending or prospective civil 

suit. . . ." 

Insofar as the instant claim Is for representing 

the State Building Commission and assisting the Attorney General in the trial of civil suits, it must be viewed in the 

light of the above provision. Neither Section 51-b, Article 

III of the Texas Constitution nor Article 67&n, Vernon's Texas 

Civil Statutes, enjoin upon the Attorney General or any other 

official the duty of representing the Commission in civil suits. 

However, Article 5240, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes, does require the Attorney General to represent the State of Texas in 

such suits as those involved here. 

Prior to the commencement of the professional 

services in question,the Attorney General requested the attorney 

to assist with the trial of lawsuits,as well as to provide other 

professional services incident to the Commission's land acquisition program. Therefore, payment of the present claim for professional services is not prohibited by Section 7, Article VI of 

the appropriation bill of the Fifty-Fifth Legislature. 
. . . 

, 

Mr. Ralph R. Wolf, page 4. (W-633) 

SUMMARY 

The State Building Commission is authorized to pay an attorney for professional services rendered in the Commission's 

land acquisition program where the attorney has been duly employed by the 

Board, requested by the Attorney General 

(insofar as the claim is for representing the Commission in the trial of civil 

suits) and where the funds in the appropriation for such services permit. 

Very truly yours, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

By ‘& it+24 

Assistant 

HGB:mg 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman 

Robert T. Lewis 

L. P. Lollar 

Charles D. Cabaniss 

C. K. Richards 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: W. V. Geppert