Hon. J. E. McDonald oplnlon Ho. TV-923. 

Co8missloner of Agriculture 

State Land Office Bldg. Re: Construction of SecAuatln, Texas tlon 11, House Bill 

Deer Sir: 

~;~~~~"a 51st Leg- 

. 

Reference Is made to your request for an oplnIon es to the evelleblllty of the fees collected by the 

Comnlssloner of Agriculture In accordance with the provlslous of Section 11, House Bill lio.35, Acts 51et Legislature, page 112'7, forthe purposes stated therein. 

Section 1 of House Bill No.35 reeds es follows: 

"There Is hebeby established in this 

State the following procedure for vegetable 

plant certlflcetlon: 

."The purpose of the vegetable plant 

certification law Is to provide for the 

purchaser of vegetable plants the benefit 

of honest end reliable opinion of the freedom from such dlseeties end fungus infection 

es can be determined by field %nspectlon 

prior to preparing the plani% for shipment 

to insure in so far es possible, proper handllng end peckeglng the plants certified. 

"The Commlssloner of Agriculture 1s 

charged with the duties of preserlblng sueh 

rules and regulations es ere necessery to 

the enforcement of the law. The eppolhtmeut of qualified lnepectors, collection of 

fees, Issuance of tags end the ectuel enforcement of the law. 

"The flrm or Individual holding such 

license end meeting the requirement of inspection are issued such certification StampS 

or tags es may be deemed necessary, such 

stamps or tags to be affixed tt containers 

Cafiying the certified plants. 
Hon. J. E. McDonald, page 2 (V-923) 

Sections 10 and 11, read, respectively, as follows: 

"Sec. 10. Inspection fees shall be es 

follows for tomato, cabbage, broccoli, collards, cauliflower, pepper and onions: 

"At the time of applying for the certlflcatlon a minimum fee of Five Dollars ($5) 

shall be paid, and for each acre over five 

(5) acres the fee shall be not less than 

twenty-five cents (25#) nor more than One 

Dollar ($1); this fee to be paid et the 

time of application. The certlfleatlon 

tag or stamp to be affixed to the contelner shell be ten cents (log) per thousand 

plants contained. 

"Sec. 11. (1) Application for certlflcetlon of sweet potato plants shall be 

made ~prlor to harvesting time the preceding 

season. The fee to be paid at the time the 

application 1s made for this Inspection 

shall be a mlnlmum of Five Dollars ($5) and 

for acreage of more than five (5) acres the 

added fee of not less than twenty-five cents 

iz?icEe shall be paid 

er acre nor more than One Dollar ($1) 

All plants lifted 

or shipped shall be pa&caged ln bundles of 

one hundred (100) plants and ~8 label or tag 

shell be affixed to each bundle. The price 

of labels or tags shall not be less than *. 

One cent f 

14) per label nor more than three 

cents (3# per label. 

“(3) Out of the feks collected under. 

this Act, the Chief of the I&rkets and Warehouse Division of the Department of Agrlcnlture shall be paid In addition to the amount 
Hon. J. B. MaDonald, page 3 (V-93) 

of his salary in the general approprlation bill In the sum of Four Hundred and 

Eighty Dollars ($4&o) per annum; which 

amount Is hereby appropriated for said 

purpose. " 

*) , 

(HumberIng of paragraphs addParagraph'3 of Seotlon 11 olearly and deflnltely makes a speclflo appropriation of $480 out of the fees 

collected for the purpose of supplementing the annual 

salary of the Chief of the Markets and Warehouse DlwlSiOU, as fixed in the general appropriation bill for the 

ourrent biennium. Paragraph 2 of Section'11 does not 

aontaln the words "whloh amount is hereby appropriated 

for sald purpose" found In paragraph 3. Therefore, we 

must determine from the entire Act whether it was the intent and purpose of the Legislature to appropriate the 

balance of the fees oolleoted by the Department of A@- 

oultura for the purposes mentioned In paragraph 2. 

We quote from Attorney General's oplnlon Woo. 

V-887, as follows: 

"Se&ion 6, Artlole VIII of--the Constitution of Texas, in part,,eads: i 

"%o money shall bedrawu from the 

Treasury, but in pursuanae of speoifio appropriations made by law; nor shall any 

approprlatlon of money be made for a longer period than two years.' 

"In the case of Pickle v. State Co - 

&Justice Gaines, :&%!$!oFEhs 

troller 91 Tex. 484, 

Court, said: 

"'It is clear that an appropriation 

need not .be made In the general approprlatioa bill. It 1s also true that no speoiSic words are neuessary In order to q akm 

any appropriation; and It may be conoeded,~ 

that an appropriation may be made by lmplication when the language employed leads to 

the belief that such was the intent of the 

Legislature.'" 

In 39 Texas Jurisprudence 205, Statutes., SeOtim 
J. E. McDonald. page 4 (V-923) 

it Is said: 

"It Is elementary that a statute 

will be oonstrued in such manner as to 

make It effeotlve - that i.s, enforceable 

and operative - if it is falrlg susoeptible of suoh Interpretation. Thus where 

two conatruotions might reasonably be 

given a statute, of whiob one will effectuate the leglslatlve Intent and purpose 

and make the act operative, while the 

other will defeat such Intent and purpose 

and render it inoperative, the former oon- 

'struotton will be adopted." 

This law was enacted for the protection of purchasers of vegetable plants therein named by assuring 

them as far as possible that the plants are apparently 

free front diseases and pests "as determined from,field 

inspeotion prior to the lifting of the plants for sale 

or 8hipment.v It is a matter of common knowledge that 

the production of these plants Is a large and growing 

industry in oertain looalifles of thie State. It is 

also a~~well known faot that many states have eneoted 

statutes prohibiting the Importation or sale of such 

plants grown In 'pexas, for the reason that this State 

has not heretofore had a law provfdlng for their proper certlfloation. By the enactment of this law, the 

Legislature Intended to not only give the producer of 

such plants the protection therein provided, but to give 

the producer nev fields in which to sell them. 

If the Legislature has failed to make an appropriation of the fees collected for the purposes stated In 

paragraph 2, Section 11, It necessarily follows that the 

purposes of the law have felled. The appropriation ape: 

oifioallg made by paragraph 3, Section 11, also fails, for 

the reasons no certifioation fees or fees for tags, stamps: 

or labels will be oollected. You are not euthorlzed to 

issue certlfloatlon tags, stamps, or labels unless there 

has been a "field inapeotion~prior to the lifting of the 

plsnts for sale." Suoh tnsyieations cannot be made vithout qualified lnspeotors to make them. you cannot obtain such lnspeotors unless funds have been made avallable to pay them for their servloes. Therefore, if the 

Legislature hasp faLled to appropriate then fees you are 

authorized to,oollect and expend for the purposes stated in the law, the law must remain lneffeotlve and lnoperatlve from Oatober 5, 19@, until such the as the 
* 

Ron. J. E. McDonald, page 5 (v+23) 

. . : 

Legislature appropriates such fees for the purpose of enfortzing its provisions. 

We do not believe the Legislature intended swh 

a result. We think the Legislature Intended to make the 

law operative and enforaeable frcm Its effective date and 

to make an appropriation of all fees oolleoted for the 

pnrposes therein stated. and did make suoh appropriation. 

S&h a ooiastrizotlon Is reasonable and neither violates 

the ~provisiona of Seotloa 6, Artiole VIII of the Constitution of Texas, nor any other provision of that document . 

Furthermore, the Legislature evidently believed it had appropriated all the fees colleoted by the 

language used in paragraph 2, Section 11, or It would 

not have in plain language made the appropriations in 

paragraph 3 of the same seotlon. Otherwise, it would be 

apparent that the Legislature had intentionally done a 

useless thing, by appropriating fees whioh it knew oould 

not~be oolleoted without an appropriation to enable you 

to oolleat them. 

Therefore, It is our opinion that Seotion 11 

of~~F@tie~Blll Ro.35, Acts 51st Legislature, Chapter 581, 

pa e.1327,~~o'onsfltutes a valid~approprlatlon of the fees 

ahfoh the Commissioner of Agrioulture is authorized to 

oolleot thereunder, for the purposea therein stated, for 

a.period of years, beginning Ootober 5 199, 

beoomes effeotlve, and ending October 4, 1951. 

the day it 

SUMMARY 

House Bill Ro.35, Aots 51st Legisla- 

.ture, made a valid appropriation of all the 

fees oolleoted thereunder by the Commissioner of Agriculture for the purposes stated~ 

there&n for a period of two years, beginning October 5, 1949, the effeative date of 

the Aot,.and ending Ootober 4, 1951. A-G. 

Opinions Ros. v-887, w-895 and authorities 

there oited. 

Yours very truly, 

A'Rl'ORRRYCRRRRAL OFTRXAR 

Assistant