JIM MATTOX 

Attorney General 

Supreme Court Building 

P. 0. BOX 12548 

Austin. TX. 78711.2543 

512l4752501 

Telex 910/874-1367 

Telecopier 512147502SE 

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Dallas. TX. 75202.4508 

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An Equal Opportunity/ 

Affirmative Action Employer 

The Attorney General of Texas 

r---------.- 

June 18, 1984 

Mr. John C. Wilson 

Btecutive Director 

State Commission for the Blind 

P. 0. Box 12866 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Opinion NO. .TM-167 

Ret Whether the State Commission 

for the Blind my contract with 

private organIzationa to perform 

rehabilitative services for blind 

adults 

Dear Mr. Wilson: 

The General Appropriations Act of the Sixty-eighth Legislature 

includes the sum of $272,146 for older blind contract training in the 

appropriation to the State Comission for the Blind for each of the 

fiscal years ending August 31, 1984 and August 31, 1985. Acts 1983. 

68th Leg., ch. 1095, art. II. 15~. at 5949. The Appropriations Act 

also contains the following rider: 

9. It is the intent of the Legislature that 

out of funds appropriated above in item 5.~. Older 

Blind Contract Training an amount not to exceed 

$272,146 each fiscal year shall be expended for 

entering into a contract with the Texas Lions 

League or a similar organization to provide 

rehabilitative services to blind adults at the 

Texas Lions Camp for Crippled Children at 

Kerrville or at a similar facility located outside 

Austin. At the end of the 1984 fiscal year, the 

Executive Director of the State Commission for the 

Blind shall submit a fiscal report for 

consideration by the commission for continuation 

of such contract beyond the 1984-1985 biennium. 

Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 1095, art. II, 19, at 5954. 

The Texas Lions League for Crippled Children is discontinuing its 

training program for older blind at Kerrville, Texas, on May 31, 1984. 

You ask whether the Commission for the Blind may use funds 

appropriated in item 5.~. to contract with Lighthouse organizations to 

perform rehabilitation services to blind adults. We conclude that the 

commission is authorized to expend item 5.~. funds with such 

organizations for older blind contract training. 

p. 736 
- .-, 

Mr. John C. Wilson - Page 2 (JM-167) 

The Texas Supreme Court has long construed article III, section 

35 of the Texas Constitution to prohibit the enactment of general 

legislation in a general appropriations bill. See Moore v. Sheppard, 

192 S.W.2d 559, 561 (Tex. 1946); Attorney General Opinion V-1253 

(1951). Article III, section 35 provides, in part: 

[no] bill, (except general appropriation bills, 

which may embrace the various subjects and 

accounts, for and on account of which moneys are 

appropriated) shall contain more than one 

subject . . . . 

Therefore, as long as a general appropriations bill includes only 

subjects of appropriating money and limiting the use thereof in 

harmony with general legislation, it may relate to any number of 

different "subjects and accounts." Attorney General Opinion V-1254 at 

6 (1951). 

It is well established that a rider to a general appropriation 

act is valid if its only effect is to "detail, limit or restrict the 

use of funds therein appropriated" and if it does not conflict with 

general legislation. See Attorney General Opinions IN-585 (1982); 

M-1141 (1972); V-1254.v-1253 (1951). Hence, the legislature cannot 

make mandatory by a general appropriation rider that which general law 

makes permissive or discretionary. Attorney General Opinion MU-104 

(1979). 

The rider in question is not confined to detailing, limiting, or 

restricting the expenditure of the appropriated sum, but attempts to 

confer an affirmative duty on the cosasission to expend the 

appropriated funds to "enter into a contract with the Texas Lions 

League or a similar organization to provide rehsbilitation services to 

blind adults at the Texas Lions Camp for Crippled Children at 

Kerrville or at a similar facility located outside Austin." See 

Attorney General Opinions MW-585, MU-104, MW-51 (1979) (holding valid 

a rider that directed use of funds by state agency to construct 

building and holding invalid a rider directing state agency to take 

affirmative action to impose certain parking fees); cf. Coatea v. 

Windham, 613 S.W.2d 572, 575-76 (Tex. Civ. App. - Auxn 1981, no 

writ); but see Attorney General Opinion Mw-389 (1981). Section 

91.052(b)othe Human Resources Code places the decision to enter 

into such a contract within the discretion of the commission. Section 

91.052 provides, in pertinent part: 

(a) The commission shall conduct a program to 

provide vocational rehabilitation services to 

eligible blind disabled individuals. 

-, 

p. 737 
. -( . 

Mr. John C. Wilson - Page 3 (JM-167) 

(b) To achieve the purposes of the program, 

the commission may: 

(1) cooperate with other public and private 

agencies in studying the problems involved in 

providing vocational rehabilitation and in 

establishing, developing, and providing 

necessary or desirable facilities and 

services . . . . 

Because the general appropriation rider in question attempts to 

make mandatory that which general law makes permissive or 

discretionary, we conclude that the rider is invalid general 

legislation contained in a general appropriation act in violation of 

article III, section 35 of the Texas Constitution. See Attorney 

General Opinion MW-585 (1979). We overrule the opinioncontained in 

Attorney General Opinion MU-389 (1981). 

Under the authority granted by section 91.052(b)(l) of the Human 

Resources Code, the commission, in its discretion, may use funds 

appropriated in article II, section 5.~. of the current general 

appropriations act to contract with public or private agencies to 

provide rehabilitation services to blind adults. 

SUMMARY 

The State Commission for the Blind way use 

funds appropriated by article II, item S.C., ch. 

1095, at 5949 of the Sixty-eighth Legislature to 

contract with public or private agencies for older 

blind contract training. The rider relating to 

funds appropriated in item 5.~. violates article 

III, section 35, of the Texas Constitution, in 

that it attempts to make mandatory the entering of 

a contract which is permissible under general law. 

Attorney General Opinion MW-389 is overruled. 

JIM MATTOX 

Attorney General of Texas 

TOM GREEN 

First Assistant Attorney General 

p. 738 
Mr. John C. Wilson - Page 4 (JM-167) 

DAVID R. RICHARDS 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

Prepared by Nancy Sutton 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Rick Gilpin, Chairman 

David Brooks 

Colin Carl 

Susan Garrison 

Jim Moellinger 

Nancy Sutton 

p. 739