Honorable John W. Crudgington County Auditor potter county Aniarlllo,

Texas Dear Sir: OpinionNumber O-5493 lb: Construction of the decision in the Co&ran County Mmdmmm Suit in the Supreme Court of Texaa
. We are in receipt of your letter of recent date, reading as followa:

"With reference to theman~amua'proceeding, involving a refunding bond recoz+d, filed last April by Cochran County in the Supreme Court of Texas, which recentlyhas rendered a final decision, as we are informed, in favor of the petitioner, will you kindly adviseus with respect to the followingpoints of law: "(a) What is your official qonstruction of the declsion'~ l'(b) ;t;;,;;nty bonds are slgible for re-
"(c) '%hatspecialprocedural requirements, under this rulfny;, must be met by a county, scekin-,

to refund its outstandingbonds, :n crdcr tc FreDare a prcper reccrd for submission foryour apprcq&lV.. -*

Honorable Sohn ii. grudgington, page 2 C-5493

"(d) In your opinion, is there any reason why PrOCSSdingS under this decision should not be instituted at once by a county, desirous of refunding its elgiblebonds?
"Inview of themany conflicting opinions current, regarding the proper constructlcn of this law, as it now stands,we beg to submit that a comprehensive, forthrl@t, official statement from your office, to clarify the sltuation, would be,of inestimable value at this time to county officials throughout the state, toenable them to appralss the opportunities lntellinentlv and to oroteet the legal righta of thel$res&ctive cbuntier,‘I

lows: Your questions are answered In their order aa fol-

(a) Our construction of the oEinibn is that the Attorney Coneral is requiz+J,to approve the ochrm County bonds issued to refund co&ran County Courthouse bonds. The origina ter 1, i bonds sought to be refunded were issuedunder Chapltle 18, tievised #tatutes 1911. The opinion of the court declares:

"As we construe the above statute, where bonds are issuedunder the Chapter thereinreferred to, if the ~ommlssionersICourt at the timeare issuedmakes no provision concerning its.'right to redeem the bondsprior to theirmaturity, they may be redeemed at the pleasure of the county at any time after fiveyears after the "8ssuence thereOf. However,,the Commissioners'Court may, by sn appropriate order entered at the time thebonds are issued postpone the date afterwhich the bkds may be redeemed to not exceeding ten years from the date of their issuance." (Underliningcurs)L -

Honorable John W. Crudgington,page 3 C-5493

Chapter 1, Title 18, Revised Statutes of 1911, is now Chapter 2, Title 22, Revised Statutes of 1925.

(b) We construe the opinion of the court ES being appliczable

only to countybonds issuedunder authority of Article 610, Revlaed Statutes 1911 (nowArticle aevlsed Statutes 192.5). This statuteprovides that the z18,ommisaloners’ Court of a county,pursuant to an election duly held, may Issue the bonds of such ccunty for the following purposes: 1. To erect a county courthouse and jail, or either;

2. To purchase suitable siteswithin the county and construct buildings thereon to provide homes or schools for dependent and delinquentboys and girls or for either;

3. To establish countypocr homes and farms in the county; 

## 4. To purchase and constructbridges for public purposes within the county or aoross a stream that conatltutea a boundary line of the county:

5. To improve and maintain thepublic roads in the coutlty. 'Whenthe Commissionera~ Court shall deem it advisable to issuebonds for both thepurchase or ccnstruction of bridges and Improvement andmaintenance of thepublic roads, both questions may be submitted andvoted on as one proposition.

The Supreme Court confined its opinion cnly to bonds issued under Chapter 1, Title 18.

'Ne.cannot,

of course, determinewhat effect the Supreme Court would give said ocinlon In constru!.ng other statutes relating tc bond issues.Honorable John W. Crudgington,page 4 O-5493

(c) There are no specialprocedural requirements. The refundingbonds may be issued as any other refunding bonds Issued to refund optional bends. The court should adopt a resolution authorlslng the publication of call notice, a copy of suchnotice to be supplied tothe paying agent names in the outstandingbonds, andpublished in such papers of general circulation as shallbe designated in the resolution.(d) 'dethink thatwhether a ceunty proceeds to refund its bonds under the decision of the upreme Court In the Sochran County case is amatter wit,hiAthediscretion of 'theCommissioners Court. "cry trulyyours ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TMAS
BY C. F. Gibson

Aseiat%ult CFG-s/Pw APPROVEDAU0 6 1943 GROVER SELLERS FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE BY WiB, CHAIRMAN