HonorableHomer Garrison, $r. ”

Director,Department of Public Safety Camp Mabry Austin, Texas

Dear &. Garrison: OpinionNo. b-1649 Re: Diepositionof fees collectedunder H. B. ~rJo. “40‘7,‘Acts

of the Regular.

Seasloti

oft the 46th Legislature.. :

Your letter of June 27, 1939, addreseed to thle office,reads as follows:

*HouBe Bill 840’7

paeeed .bgthe Regtilar Session of the 46th Legislatureand known ‘~ a8 the lCertlficate of Title Act’ provides. ,. in part as follows:
Each applicantfor a or relssuancethereof shall pay to’thb deslgnat6dagent tht3 sum of Twenty-five .(25b) Cebte“whichshall be forkarded to the Department together,wlth the appllcatlonfor certificateof,tltle within twe$,$;four, (24) hours af.ter

same hae~ beeri receivedby him an&I the Department shall return t.o the designatedtigent each month Ten~(lOb) Cents for;ePoh,appli-, cotion to which a certiflcate’,df tltl+,~hae been issued, and the balanae shall be, paid over to Treasurer of thi% State to be upedlted to the General RevenueFtiud bf this State. 1
“This Depirtment,deaires tin opinion on the following

q2e~tiona:
“1. sliotiid’

‘the entire’ 25,d “iepro.ti&d In Section 57 be deposited In the StateHonorableHomer Garrison,Jr., page 2 (O-1049)

Treasuryand the 106 be returned to the County Tax Colleotorby State warrant?
"2. Should the De rtment of Public Safety deposit only 15 8"of the 25~i

collected In the State Treasury and deposit the 106 of the 25d aollectedin the banks and return the amount to the Tax Collectorsby certified checks?

"3. Should the Department of Public Safety deposit 15ji of the 2gb collectedIn the State Treasury and return the lo& to the Tax CollectorIn any manner the Department' might deem best?
a4. should,the

Department of Public Safety deposlt'theentire 25b In the State Treasury and remit nothing to the County Tax Co$lector lf an applicationaccompanied vlth a 25b fee Ls sent to the Departmentand a Certificate of Title is not issusd?
"If the answer to Questloh lo. 1 is in the aTfirmatire,then3
"5. Would'the.

Tsx Collectorhave to assums the discount Of a warrant drawn In his favor as his part of the fees collected for a month?",

House Bill 100.

407 is a comprehensive Act consistingof 66 scationsand is knowp as the "Certificate **of** Title Act.," Its purpose Is declaredby Sectlon 1 to be *to lessen and prevent the theft of motor vehicles,and the lmportatl~n~lnto this State of and traffic In stolenmotoryvehlcles, and the sale of **en** cumberedmotor vehicleswitliont the'enforced

disclosure to purchaser of any and all,lleas for whhich any s~uch motor vehicles or the tlree,~radios, parts, or appliances thereof stan&3 as~sectilty.* Its p~ovislonsare deslgaed to effectuatethat purpose by a system of applicationsfor and the lssuanoe of oertlflcates **of** title to "every kind oT motor driven or propelled~Wehicli now or hereafterrequired to be reglsteredor llcehsed~- under the laws of the State." By its pro'vlal.onsappllcations for certificateof title must be filed vith "County**Tax** Collector" (s) who are designatedas agents. A uopy of an application,togetherwith copies of allHonorableHomer Garrison,Jr., page 3 (O-1049) ,, .,,

accompanyingtitle papers .- . . offered In support thereofi 18 Bent ng tne agent, togetherwith the appllcatlon~~~ fee of twenty-fivecents collectedfrom the applicant, to the Departmentof Public Safety,vhlch may aloge .' Issue such a certlflcateof title. Section 57 provides, for the dlstrlbutlon and dlsposltlonof the fee so collected and remitted. The qtiestlons you have.

submittea call for a construction of this section.

We have examined said section In connection with the provisionsof the entire Act and especially with reference to Sections 1, 2, 13, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 38 and 39.~, We have encounteredno difficulty In arrivingat what we believe to be the leglslatlve, inte.nt as gathered from the words of the statute.

We answer your first question In the negative for two reasons.,In the first place, It Is made perfectly clear m the plain wo~lng of Section 57 that only fifteen eents ,out of each fee of twenty-five cepts Is to be deposited ln.the State Treasury. In the next place, It Is equally~clear that ten cents 0P the fee Is to be returned to the 'oounty tax collectbr'that sends the fee to the Department. It Is not statemoney but Is consideredas a fee belonging to the collector vho;sends it In and Is to partly compensate him for servicesrendered and expenses Incurred ia performing. prescribedduties. The Departmentholds this moneys, ten cents out of every'fee collectedIn trust for the collectorthat remits it. The only reason we can assign for this proaedure Is found In our answer to your fourth question.

We answer your third question In the,afflrmative for this reason: !@he statute Is silent as to how these remlttaanoes

are to be made. 'fhey.must b&zde each month but that is the only requfrement. answer makes It unneceesaryto answer your secondques- ,, tlon.

We answer your fourth Question as lollover The pertinentpart of the particular sectionunder examinationppovldes that *tie Department shall return to the designatedagent ()aountytax aollector') each month Ten (10) oents for each appllcatlonto which a certLfl.eate

of title has been Issued." The ,DepPr*ent may.refuse to Issue a certifloateof title for any Of the reasons named In Section 38. An applicant so deriled such a certificatele given the right to,appeal'HonorableHomer Garrison,Jr., page 4 (O-1049)

to the county tax collectorof the county of his domlclle for a hearing on his application. If h$s appllcation Is by the collectordenied, he may, within five days, but not thereafter, appeal to the county court of the county of his residence. The procedure to be followed In such cases Is set out In Section 39. It Is not clear whether furtherappeal is contemplated from the judgmentof the county court.

It Is our opinion that when an application has been finallydenied that all of the fee of twentyfloe cents becomes the money of the State and should 'be deposited In the State Treasury. The Department is not authorisedto remit any part of said fee except where a certificateof title Is Issuedby It. Rovever, ten cents out of every fee where the oertlflcateof title Is refused should not be deposlted in the Treasury until after It has been determined that no appeal will be taken, or If taken until the case Is finally disposed of and It has been definitelydecided that no certificate

will be issued. For, if the money Is once In the Treasury, It cannotbe withdrawnexcept by a direct legislative appropriation.

We call your attention to the concludingparagraph of Section 57, not quoted in your letter,which reads:,

'Ro money collected ever be expendedexcept tion of the Legislature shall never exceed that

_ _ _ ~_

_ _ under this Act shall

by a dire& approprlaand such appropriation amount which vas col- ~_
__ lected under this Act in the preceedlngtwo .* years."

The above provisionapplies only to the State's part of the fees collected. It has no applicationwhatever to the ten cents to be returned to the collector.

Our answer to your first questionmakes it unnecessaryto answer your fifth and last question.

Hoping we have given you the Informationrequested,ve are BW&LM:lm APPROVED JUL 6, 1939 Yours very truly ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TEXAS
%FA%ZZ.Z Ry /a/ Bruce W. Bryant Bruce W. Bryant ATTORREY GERRRAL Assistant APPROVED OPIRIOH COMMITTRRBY /a/ R.W.F., GRAIRMAR