## THE ATKBRNVEY GENERAL OF-XAS

Hon. W. S. Heatly Opinion No. ~-66 Chairman Committee on Appropriations Re: If the Legislaturepasses a House of Representatives general appropriationbill for Austin, Texas one year only, does Article III, Section &a of the Texas Constitution require sufficient cash and revenue to become available during the one-year Dear Sir: period covered by the bill? We are in receipt of your letter of May 3, 1967, in which you request our opinion on the following question: "In the event the Legislaturepasses a general appropriation bill for one year 'on1 in question (Section%' does the Constitutionalprovision ga of Article III require that sufficient cash and revenuebecome avellab 1e year period covered by the bill?" during the oneIt Is our opinion that the answer to your questionmust be in the affirmative. At the General ElectionNovember 3, 1942,Article III of the Constitution of Texas was emended by adding thereto a new section designated Section @a which provides in pert that except for a finding of an emergency, and an Imperativepublic necessity end "with a 4/5 vote of the totalmembership of each House, no eppropriation in excess of the cash end anticipated revenue of the funds from which such appropriation is to be made shallbe valid", end "no bill containingan appropriation shellbe considered es passed or be sent to the Governor for considerationuntil end unless the Comptroller of PublicAccounts endorseshis certificatethereon showing that the amount appropriated is within the amount estimated to be available in the effected funds." In Attorney General OpinionNo. o-5135, 1945, this office held that the above Constitutionalprovision doe8 mandatorily require the State to operate on a "cashbasis" from and after January 1, 195. The following observationwas made therein in construing this Constitutionalprovision:

"Thepeople, In edoptrng the amendment, evidently had that purpose in mind, otherwise the amendment would serve no purpose whatever, end it will not be presumed that the Legislature in submitting the amendment to the Constitution,end the people in

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adopting it,would do,e useless thing. That the Legislature In submitting the amendment (and the people in voting for it) intended that the purpose was to place the State on a cash basis is manifest from the language of the form of ballot contained in the resolution (R.J.R.No. 1) submitting the amendment
...'I It is settled law that in construing such a Constitutional provision that it shouldbe construed as it was understoodby the average voterwhen he cast his ballot for or against it. In Brady v. Brooks, 89 S.W. 1052, the following statementwas made:

"The voters, es a rule, are unlearned in law and, es persons of this class would reaeonebly construe the Constitutionupon which they vote, such ought to be the construction of the courts." It is, therefore, our duty to apply this rule of c,onstruction to the meaning

## ofthe Constitutionalprovision in questionend in doing so we must conclude'thet the voters evidentlyunderstood that the purpose of the amendmentwas to limit the authority of the Legislature to appropriatemoney in excess

## ofthe cash end anticipated revenues or, in other words, the average voter unlearned in the law understood that itspurpose was to place the State on a "cashbasis". It is a matter of common knowledge that prior to 1942 end beginning in the early 1930's, the State operated in the "red" continually and employee8

## ofthe State had to discount theirwarrants et the end of eachmonth et a loss to them. Until this Constitutional #;n-;;sion

was enacted, the Statewas never able to get out of the and operate on e cash basis. It is our opinion that the Constitutionalprovision imposes a duty upon the Comptrollerwhich is self-enactingend no further legislationwas required in this respect. When the Comptroller of PublicAccounts endorseshis certificate upon a bill showing that the amount appropriated Is within the amount estimated to be available,we believe that the spirit end intent of the Constitutionalprovision requlreg,thetthe amount appropriated for the particularyear is within the amount estimated to be availablewithin saidyear and not some other year.

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Hon. W. S. Heatly, page 3 (M-66)

SUMMARY In the event the Legislaturepasses a general appropriationbill for one year only, Article III, Section 49a, Constitution of the State of Texas, requires that sufficient cash and revenue become available during the one-yearperiod covered by the bill. Yo rs ,7 very truly,

ney General of Texas Prepared by Kerns Taylor Assistant Attorney General KT:sss APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Hawthorne Phillips, Chairmen W. V. Geppert, Co-Chairman John Grace Houghton Brownlee Robert L. Towery J. C. Davis STAFF LEGALASSISTANT A. J. Carubbi, Jr.

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