, R-521 

=E ATTOKNEY GENERAL. 

Q,P TEXAS 

AUemIN 11. -rExAla 

June 12, 1947 

Honorable Geo. B. Sheppard 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

Austin, Texas Opinton No. V-240 

Re: Effective date 

of appropriatlon 

provided in 3. B. 

Dear Mr. Sheppard: 351 

Your letter request reads as followa: 

"Senate Bill No. 351, Acts of the 50th 

Legislature, Increases the salary of the Assistant District Attorney of the 72nd Judicial District of Texas and authorizes said 

salary to be paid out of the General Revenue 

Fund of the State. This bill carried thfi' 

emergency clause and passed each House by'a 

record vote, msking it effective upon May 

20, the date it was approved by the Governor. 

The bill also carries the Comptroller's CerUficate to the effect that the amount appropriated therein comes within the estimated 

available revenue. 

"But upon reading Section 3, there Is 

some doubt in this department as to whether 

the bill in fact mskes an appropriation for 

the two-year period beginning May 20, 1947, 

and ending May 20, 1949. 

"I shell thank you to advise whether or 

not the bill makes the appropriation available lmmedlatelg." 

You also furnished us with a copy of S. B. 351. 

This copy does not show that it passed the House by the 

necessary emergency vote. It also contains a Committee 

Admendment, that strikes out all of Section 3, and lnserts In lleu thereof an entirely different provision 

as to the payment of the salary OF said assistant. 
Honorable Geo. B. Sheppard - Page 2 

However, we examined S.B. 351 'as signed by 

the Governor and find that It finally passed both 

houses by the necessary emergency vote, and that such 

bill passed as originally enacted by the Senate without such amendment. 

Section 3 of S.B. 351 reads as follows: 

9ec. 3. The Assfstant District 

Attorney In the 72nd Judicial District 

of Texas shall receive an annual salary 

of Thirty-Eight Hundred ($3800.00) Dollars, payable monthly, out of the General 

Revenue Fund of the state not otherwise 

appropriated, upon the sworn account of 

such Assistant District Attorney, approved by the Dlstrlct Attorney of said 72nd 

Judicial Dlstrict.g 

Section 6 of Article VIII of the Texas Constitution provides that: 

n'. . . no money shall be drewn from 

the treasury but In pursuance of specific 

appropriations mclde by law; nor shall any 

appropriation of money be made for a longer 

term than two years, except by the first 

legislature to assemble under this constitution, which may make the necessary appropriations to carry on the government until the assemblage of the sixteenth legla1ature.l . . .* 

The question arlses, does Section 3 make an 

appropriation to pay the salary of said Asslstant District Attorney? It 1s clear that an appropriation ten 

be msde other then in the general appropriation bill. 

!I ;t;tet$y the Supreme Court in Pickle v. Finley, 

. . : "It Is also true that no specific vords 

are necessary ln order to make an appropriation; and 

that an appropriation wy be wde by lmplicatl&'when the language employed leads to the belief 

that such was the Intent of the leglsleture." 'Ihe 

Conrt in Nichols v. Comptroller, 4 Stew. end PI 1% 

held that an appropriation had been made when the law 

which fixed the salerg; in question ues couched in the 

following language: A salary of $1,749, to be paid 

quarterly out of any money not othellrlse approprla.ted". 
, 

Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard - Page 3 

The Supreme Court In Pickle v. Finley (supra) in approving said holding said: "The phrase 'not otherwise appropriated' means not appropriated, to any 

other purpose than here Is appropriated, and clearly 

implies an Intent to wke a present appropriation." 

It Is, therefore, our opinion that S.B. 351 

mskes the appropriation available lmmedlately. 

SUMMARY 

S.B. 351 wkes an appropriation of 

Seventy Six Hundred ($7600.00) Dollars to 

pay the salary of the Assistant District 

Attorney of the 72nd Judicial District of 

Texas for the two year period beginning 

on the 20th day of May, 1947, and ending 

on the 19th day of May, 1949. 

Your very truly, 

A=BEBEBALOFTJSXAS 

By w 

U. V. Geppert 

Assistant 

WVG/lh