R-666



## ~~A-~~oMNEY Q,F?R?lrsAs

GENEIKAL

PRICE DANIEL ATXXWEY CENERAI. **YUIY** 

### 26, 1947
Hon. Roy Xov+.nthal, t*ivestock bmltarg 

### 2002W. T. Waggoner Fort Worth, Texas ,,/

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Dear Sir : Opinion MO.V-316 Re:, The expiration date

,,,, of the emergency appropriation for the Livestock Sanitary Commlseion in H. B. 879, 49th Legislature. In your letter of July 15,, 1947, you request the opinion OStbls #‘fice,. upon the question therein contained, which folc cotN&nlenoe wequote, as follows:

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“OnJune llth., 1945, the Legislature madeavailable to th~ls Department, through House Bill 879,;:qn

### ,emergency agpropriation in the amount of ‘$10.000.00.

“In the &t&p, $&of ‘Sectida I of House Bill 879:+o,ugill, .fbd the foliowlng wording: ,, ~ ;,,~“, i

‘And the 8ai.d 

### Commission shall be ent;itled .to the use and to the expe,ndltWe of said’ 

### monies hereby appropplated upto Septem- ‘,.., 

### .*p g&y,

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‘we are advised by Mr. Geo. Ii. Sheppard, Comptroller of Public Accounts, that the Iegislature Is not authorized to appropriate money.for State expenditure for a period exceeding two years from the date the appropriation is madeavailable.

“It occurs %o;,us that the two year llmlt applies, to rsgular appropriations, and that it d&es nti apply to appropriatibns for emergency purposes.Hon. Roy Loventhal, 

### rage 2, V-316

“Due to the fact that the close of our fiscal year Is near and that 

### a consldarable amount of the $2,400.00 yet unexpauded in this appropriation is needed for materials and supplf:,a, wewill appreciate an early respoare. It appears that you are under the Impression that the restraint placed upen the Iagislature by Section 6 of Article III of the Constltutlon of Texas, which reads as follows:

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. . . nor shall an7 appropriation of meaey be yde for le8ger term than two gears . . . applies only to regular 

### l pproprlatlons, but not to appropriat ions for emsrgancj purposes. A careful 

### reading of If. B. No. 879, (Acts 49th leg., 1945, 

### p. 531) does not disclose that the LeglalM.ure treated this as an emergency appropriation. The act mrely contained the usual emrgencg provisloas 

### aurpeelling the censt itutlonal rule requiring It to be read en three several days in each House In order that it take effect lmadiately from end after Its pessage. It is, tkOw0r0, of no legal significance that it maybe thus **tenad** 

### an emergency appropriatIon. It 1s manliest that the plain language of Section 6 of Article VIII of the Constitution, “nor shall anj approp$iatlon of mea07be rade for longer 

### term thaa two years, applies to all 

### l ppPoprl8tlons whether they be termed emergency appropriations or regular approprlations. This office has heretofore written several oplmIons stating vhat wecoacalve to be the correct rule of lnw, and it would serve 

### n8 usefnl purpose to write extensively upon the said questloms again. Weenclose herewith a cop7 of Opinloa !fe: O-3639, approved June 15, 1941, the last paragraph of whleh anawers your questloa. Amore extended dlacusslon la found in Opinion No. O3651, a copy of which is herewith enclosed. This opln10s cites aad quotes fpe8 several eplalons of the courts of this Stata vhlch confirm the rule that an approprlation may not be made by tke bglslaturt for a longer term than tve pars under the sxpross provisions of Sectien 6of Article VIII of the Oenstltutlon., Hon. Roy brenthal, ?age 3, v-316

House Bill Iio. 879, Acts of the 49th bglslature, 1945, was approved June 11, 1945, and became Immediately effective on that date, and ceased to be effective at midnight on June 10, 1947, two years thereafter. You are, therefore, respectfully advised that an balance remaining in this appropriation onJune 11, 19 7, t is no longer available, notwlthstandlng the 

### Appropriation Act provides, “and the said Commission shall be entitled to the use and to the expenditure of said money hereby appropriated upto September 1, 1947.

Section 6 of Article VIII of the Constitution, which provides that no approprlatlon 

### of money shall ba made for a longer term than two years, applies to all appropriations whether termed emergency 

### or regular approprlatloas. Hence an approprlation effective June 11, 1945, ceases to be efSectlve on June 10, 1947, notwlthstandlng the Act contains a provision that “the Commission shall be entitled to use the money . . . upto September 1, 1947: ‘I’ Very truly yours, ATTORRRY

GEH&RAL

OFTEXAS

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