Honorable John Connally Opinion No. C-54 

Governor of Texas. ! 

Austin, Texas Re: Whether House Bill 377 of 

the 58th 'Legislature is 

in compliance with the pro,- 

visions of Section 9 of 

Article IX of the ConstlDear Governor Connally: tutlon of Texas. 

Your request for-an opinion reads as follows: 

~%nclosed'ls a copy ofRouse Bill 377 

which has been passed by the 5- 8th Legisltiture 

under'the, authority of the recently'ipproVed_ T. 

Article IX,- Section-9 of the Constitution of 

Texas. - 

-"The first paragraph.of that Section provide&that such hospital districts shall not 

be created -'unless approved by a majority of 

the qualified property taxpaying elehtors'therebf'voting at iin election called"for the purpose'; whereas the last paragraph states that 

'In no event may the Legislature provide for' 

a district to be created nlthout the' afflrmatlve vote of a majority of the taxpaying voters 

,ln the district concerned.' 

"Since House Bill 377 provides for creation of the Jasper Hospital District upon a 

vote of Ia majority of the resident qualified 

property taxpaying voters voting at said election,' will you please advise me If this Bill 

meets all of the requirements of Article IX, 

Section 9 of the Constitution?" 

Section 9 of Article IX of the Constitution of Texas 

provides: 

"The Legislature may by law provide for 

the creation, establishment, maintenance and 

operation of hospital districts composed of 

one or more counties or all or any part of 

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Hon. John Connally, page 2 (C-54) 

one br more counties with power to Issue 

bonds for-the'purchase, construction, acquisition, rtipa1.r~ or-renovtitlon of~'build; 

lngs and Lmprdvefietit8.and equipping same, 

for hospital purposes; providing for the 

transfer to the hospital dlkitrlct of the 

title to-any l&d, bulldlngs,'lmprovements 

and equipment located whelly ~withln the " 

district which may be~~~jotntly orseparately 

owned by any clty;town dr county, providing 

that any district so created shall assume 

full rdsponsiblllty for providing medical 

and hospital care for Its needy Inhabitants 

and assume the outstanding Indebtedness incurred by cities, towns and counties for 

hospital~purposes prior to the creation of 

the district, If same are located wholly 

within Its boundarles,~&nd a pro rata portion of~Buch'lnd~btedries&based upon the 

thi?n' last-.approveil-tax Asaesstient rollS of 

the'lndkzded cltfes, towns and.'cbuntles If 

less than all the territory thereof~~ls in-- 

eluded within the district boundaries; providing that after Its creation no other 

municipality or polStlcal'subdl;vislon shall 

have the power to levy taxea or. lssui bonds 

or other obligations fbr hospital purposes 

or for providing medical care within the 

boundaries of the district; providing for 

the levj'of annual taxes-at a rate not to 

exceed seventy-five cents (754) on the one 

hundred~ddllar valuatloti of all taxable 

property within such district,for the purpose of meeting the requirements of the 

dlstrlct8s bonds, the Indebtedness assumed 

by It and its maintenance and operating exp&sea, providing that such district .&all 

not be created or such tax authorized unless 

tenance of the district's hospital system 

shall never become a charge against Or obllgatlon of the State of Texaa nor shall any 

direct appropriaklon be made by the Legislature for the construction, maintenance or 

Improvement of any of the facllltles of such 

district. 

"Provided, however, that no district shall 

be created except by act of the Legislature and 

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Hon. John Connally, page 3+(C-54) : 

It will be noted by the underlined portions of the above 

quoted constitutional provisions that-the first Paragraph of 

Section 9 requires approval "by a majority of the qualified 

property taxpaying electors thereof voting? at an election called -for that purpose," whiZe~t.he last paragra& of the Section 

requires an affirmative vote of "a majon.cy of the taxpaying 

voters in then district concerned.~" 

In construing the above quoted provisions, It Is our 

opinion that the. rule.& construction governing the proper lnterpretation tobe givenSection g:of,Artlcle IX of then Constir 

tution of, Texas is.stated:in 39 Tex.Jur. 162.et seq., Statutes, 

Sec. 91, as follows: .: ,, / 

"An important rule to'be observed In 

statutory. interpretation 1s that an act should 

be given a fair, rational, reasonable and .' 

sensible construction, considering Its language and subject-matter, and with a view to 

accomplishing the legislative Intent and purpose. In .other words, construction should 

comport with common sense and justice, and 

irrational conclusions or deductions should 

be avoided; Contrariwise, according to the 

terms used~ in the decisions, ,a statute should 

not be given a 'forced,' 'fancy,' 'strained,' 

'subtle' or 'technical' construction, nor one 

that Is nonsensical or unreasonable. In the 

absence of compelling language found in the 

enactment." 

The above rule was cited with approval by the Supreme 

Court of Texas In Wood v. 

(1939). 

State, 133 Tex.110, 126~S.W.2d 4 

Applying the foregoing principles to Section9 of 

Article IX of the Constitution of Texas, It appears that a 

study of these two paragraphs reveals that whereas the first 

paragraph provides that such district shall be created only by 

a majority of the property taxpaying voters voting at an election, the second paragraph provides that the Legislature may 

not provide for a district to be created without an afflrmatlve vote of the majority of the taxpaying voters in the district. A literal application of this latter provision would 

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\ 
Hon. John Connally, page 4 (C-54) 

render lrration@l this Section of the Constitution. It is felt 

that this.Sect$on 6f the Conatltutlon is susceptible of but 

one ~easo~a~l~.'.~onstructlon; that being, that the creation of 

the district Is authorized only upon the vote of a majority of 

the qualified property taxpaying electors voting at ati election. 

House Bill 377 contains such a provision and~ls expressly enacted pursuant to the p?ovlslons of Section 9 of titicle IX of the 

Con&tution of Texas. You are therefore-advised that 

377 meets all the requirements of Section 9 of Article 

Constitution of Texas. 

SUMMARY 

House Bill 377 of the 58th Legislature 

provides for the creation of the Jasper Hoepltal District, upon the vote of a majority of 

the resident qualified property*%axpaylng: 

+foterd,-vbeing.at' said election, and is therefore In compliance with Section 9 of Article 

IX of the Conatltutlon of Texas. 

Yours very truly, 

WAQGONER CARR 

Attorney Genera?. 

JR:ms 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Albert Jones 

Jerry Brock 

M. K. Wall 

J. Arthur Sandlln 

APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By: Stanton Stone 

House Bill 

IX of the 

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