485 

Au-. - 

PILCICE DANIEL 

-- o-us 

SeptAber 29, 1948 

PADAN DICXBON 

-- 

Bon. V. C. Marshall 

Executive Director 

Soil Conservation Board 

2nd Floor, Denman Bldg. 

Temple, Texas 

Opinion Ho. V-693 

Re: The authority of a Commissioners1 Court to 

transfer funds and 

equipment of a wind 

erosion district to a 

soil conservation district. 

Dear Sir: 

Reference is bade to your recent request which 

reads, in part, as follows: 

%ouse Bill '30. 978, as enacted during the 

regular session of the 44th Legislature for 

the State of Texas, and filed for record Bay 

21st, 1935, provides for the organleation of 

Wind Erosion Districts. House~Blll 444, Acts 

of the 47th Legislature, regular session, provides for the establishment of soil conservation districts. .~ . 

'When a-wind Erosion District, as provided 

for in House Bill Bo. 978, and a Boll Conservation District, as provided for l.n Bouse 

Bill 444, embrace the same territory, and 

certain funds and equipment have accrued to 

the Wind Erosion District, may such funds 

or equipment, ar both, be transferred by 

the Commissioners' Court, as the governing 

body of the wind .Erosion District, -to the 

supervisors of the soil conservation district?" 

House Bill No.'g78, supra (Art. 165a-2, V. C. 

S.) is a law authorizing the creation and incorporation 

of Wind Erosion Conservation Districts coextensive with 

the area of any county In the State, by a vote of the 

people of the county in an election called by the Corn; 

missioners Court, prescribing that the Commissioners' 

Court shall constitute the Governing Board of such dis- 
Hon. V. C. Marshall, page 2 (V-693) 

,. : 

tricts; providing that the Governing Bo&d shall make an 

estimate of the costs of the impr.ovement to be made and 

to make assessments against the propdrty to be benefited 

by such improvements; providing that the function of a 

Wind Erosion Conservation District Is to conserve the 

soil by the prevention of unnecessary erosion caused by 

winds. 

R. B. 444, Acts of the 47th Legislature, 1941, 

(Art. 165a, V. C. S.) known as the State Soil Conservation Act, provides for a State Sol1 Conservation Board, 

for five State Districts, for District Supervisors and 

for a Soil Conservation Committee of four members In each 

county within each.district to be appointed by the County Judges of the respective counties. Upon a petition 

of fifty landowners within the distriat the supervisors 

of any district may call an election for approval of an 

ordinanoe regulating and conserving the soil within the 

district. 

Section 7 of said AQt authorizes the State Soil 

Conservation Board to acquire property, real or personal, 

by purchase, lease, gift, or otherwise. Therefore, there 

la no doubt as to the authority of said Board to receive 

property from any source. However8 it is a well settled 

principle of law that the Commissi~nersl Court does not 

have any authority except that ?hich Zs expressly or impliedly conferred u on It by law. Edwards county v. 

Jennings, 33 S.W. 3 8 5; 15~0. Jti 457, Sec. 103; 15 C. S. 

537, Sec. 221; G. H. & S. A..Ry. Co. v. Uvalde County, 

167 S.W.(2d) 305, error refused. 

H. 8. j78 does not.authorlze such paver nor are 

we able to find any Qther statute authorizing same. On 

the contrary,.Section. 5~ of Section I.4 of Ii. B. 444 provides, in part, that: .. 

"'Phi&Act &all not in anywise affect, 

ggQgyE&y :I:, ~~t~~ig~:;:~ s"',,- 

sion of the Forty-iourt.h Legislature, under 

which Wind Erosion Conservatloa Districts 

have been created or ma$ hereafter be created, but the same is expressly preserve: in 

accordanae with the terms thereof. . . 

In view of. the foregoing it IS our opinion 

that the Commissioners 1~Ccmrt. as the Governing Board 

of a Wind Erosion District,created undes H. B. 978, 44th 
Hon. V. C. Marshall, page 3 (V-693) 487 

Legislature, 1935, may not transfer funds or equipment 

of such district to the Supervisors of the Soil Conservation District created under H. B. 444, Acts of the 

47th Legislature; 1941, even though such districts are 

comprised of the same territory. 

The Commissioners' Court may not transfer funds or equipment of a wind Erosion District to the Supervisors of a Soil Conservation District, even though the districts are 

comprised of the same territory. 

Yours very truly, 

AlTORNlEGRNERALOFTEXAS 

BA:mu BY 

Assistant 

APPROVED: 

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