"IETOE~NEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

Honorable Robert S. Calvert 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

State of Texas~ 

Austin, Texas 

Opinion No. W-238 

Re: May the Comptroller of Public 

Accounts issue warrants to pay 

for a necessary easement an& to 

cover the cost of the plans and 

specifications involved in the 

construction of a certain radio 

building to be built by the 

Texas Department of Public Safety 

Dear Mr. Calvert: near Midland, Texas? 

You have requested an opinion which involves the issuance of certain warrants which are required in connection 

with the construction of a radio building by the Texas Department of Public Safety. In your request you have posed the following questions: 

"Please advise if I may issue my warrant in 

payment of easement on which the radio building 

is to be constructed? 

"Please advise if I may issue my warrant in 

payment of the plans and specifications of the 

radio building without the State Board of Control's approval7" 

We shall answer your questions in the order presented. 

Section 22 of Article VI of House Bill No. 140 Acts 

of the %th Legislature, Regular Session, 1955, chapter $19, 

page 1532, which deals with the acquisition of property under 

the provisions of the General Appropriation Bill, provides, in 

Part, as follows: 

"Except as specifically authorized to do so 

by existing statutes, none of the agencies for 

which appropriations are made in this Act shall 

accept the donation of real property, except 
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 2 0~238) 

gifts or devises of real property from private sources for the establishment of scholarships, professorships, or other trusts for 

educational purposes, provided such property 

will not thereafter require appropriations by 

the Legislature for operation, maintenance, 

repair or the construction of buildings; or 

exaend any of the moneys apurooriated her& 

for the purchase of real aronerty without the 

expressed permfssion and authorization of the 

Legislature. . . .I' (Emphasis ours). 

House Bill 140 Acts of the 54th Legislature, Regular 

Session, 1955 chapter 519, page 1499, which provides for the 

appropriation'of funds to the Texas Department of Public Safe+y 

for the current biennium, reads, in part, as follows: 

"The above appropriations are for salaries, 

seasonal or contingent help, travel, transportation, automobile maintenance and repairs, gas, 

oil, tires, etc., bond premiums, office and 

equipment rentals, storage, repairs, forage, duplicating supplies, printing, telephone and telegraph, postage, stationery, clothing and furnishings, express and freight, drayage, utilities, 

service materials, office supplies, books, drugs, 

medical, hospital and laboratory expense, and 

funeral expense when death results in line of 

duty. Also, necessary expenses for operating a 

law enforcement training school, and miscellaneous operating expenses. Purchase of equipment, 

guns, automobiles, aircraft, and any and all other 

necessary equipment necessary to the enforcement 

of all laws under the supervision of the Department 

of Public Safety." 

House Concurrent Resolution No. 26, Acts of the 55th 

Legislature, reads as follows: 

VHEREAS, The Texas Department of Public Safety 

is desirous of erecting a communications station in 

the vicinity of Midland, Texas, in order to continue 

to carry out the Department's statutory duty of providing for the rapid exchange of information concerning the commission of crimes and th+ aetection of 

violators of the law; and 

WRERRAS, It is necessary to acquire an easement upon property heretofore located and upon which 

an easement can be acquired for a reasonable expenditure; and 
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 3 (W-238) 

"WHEREAS, There exists sufficient appropriations necessary to purchase said easement 

and erect such station; and 

WEEFlEAS, A question has arisen as to whether 

the expenditure of such moneys heretofore appropriated can be lawfully made without the express 

permission and authorization of the Legislature, 

due to a restriction upon the purchase of real 

property contained in the biennial Appropriation 

Bill of the Fifty-fourth Legislature, Re?;ular %?ssion, 1955; now therefore, be it 

"RESOLVED by the House of Representatives, 

the Senate concurring, That the Texas Department 

of Public Safety is authorized to expend appropriated funds for the purpose of acquiring the 

necessary easement to permit the erection, operation, and maintenance, of such communications 

station," 

Because of the prohibitions of Section 30 of Article 

III of the Constitution of Texas, the above quoted House Concurrent Resolution does not have the status of a law. However, 

the Resolution does stand as an avowal of the Legislature's fntent. As such, we believe that H.C.R, No. 26 Acts of the 55th 

Legislature, clearly indicates that it was thi intent of the 

Legislature that the provisions of House Bill 140, Acts of the 

5%th Legislature, Regular Session 1955, chapter 519, page 1499, 

should include an expenditure of funds for the purchase of the 

easement in question. 

For this reason3 we a:-e of the opin~ion that an expenditure of funds for the purchase of an eas,zment upon which a 

radio building is to be constructed by the Texas Department of 

Public Safety, in the vicinity of Midland, Texas, is a~u,thorized 

under the provisions of House Bill 140, Acts of the 54th Legislature, Regular Session, 19559 chapter 519, page 1499, We, 

therefore, must answer your first question in the affirmative, 

Section 1 of the Acts of the 51st Legislature, Regular 

Session, 1949, chapter 323, page 606 (Article 681, V,C.S.) provides, in part: 

"The State Board of Control, through its 

chief of such division, shall design all public 

buildings erected at the expense of the state 

where designing is not otherwise provided by law 

or by its appropriation bill; but in no instance 

shall plans or designs be adopted by the head of 

any department, board, institution, or school, 
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 4 (~~-238) 

other than the state educational institutions 

of higher learning and the Texas Prison System, 

and the Texas State Board for hospitals and 

special schools, unless such design and plans 

have been approved by the Board." 

We construe this statute to require the State Board 

of Control to design any public building constructed at the 

expense of the State; except where the Legislature, by law or 

in the particular appropriation bill9 has granted some other 

State Agency the authority to design the building in question. 

We believe that the statute further requires that even if the 

plans or designs of the building be exempt under the preceding 

exceptions, the plans or desfgns must ue approved by the State 

Board of Control prior to their acceptance by thp he:z on any 

department, board, institution, or school. The only ageneies 

exempted from this latter requirement are: the state educational institutions of hfgher learning, State Prison System, 

and the Texas State Board for Hospitals and Special Schools. 

Your request, and the file attached thereto, indicates 

that the State Board of Control has not approved the plans and 

specifications of the particular building in question. 

We believe that this building must of necessity come 

within the requirements of Section 1 of Acts of thz 51st Legislature, Regular Session, 1949, chapter 323, page 6C6 (Article 

681, V.C.S.). For this reason we must answer your second question in the negative, 

This opinion is only applicable to the factual sitAation presented, 

SUMMARY 

The Comptroller of Public Accounts may issue a 

warrant to pay for the necessary easement involved 

in the construction of a certafn radio building to 

be built by the Texas Department of Public Safety 

near Midland, Texas, but may not issue a warrant to 

cover the costs of the plans and specifications for 

this same building. 

Very truly yours, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of TeRs h 

WCR:pf:wb d C Rivers, Jr. ./ 
- s 

. .- 

Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 5 (~-238) 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

H. Grady Chandler, Chairman 

J. C. Davis, Jr. 

John Reeves 

REXIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: Geo. P, Blackburn