Honorable Henry G. Lehman, Chairman Claims and Accounts Committee House of Representatives Austin, Texas Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-3371 Re: Whether the Legislature may appropriate money to the Citiiens National Bank of Cameron, Texas, to reimburse itfor losses sustained by the purchase of certain Confederate Pension Warrants. I, You have requested our opinton on the question ofwhether the Legislature may appropriate money to pay the Citizens National Bank of Cameron, Texas, for losses sustained by it onthe purchase of certain Confederate Pension Warrants upon which the State Comptroller has stopped payment. You have submitted tous, together with your request, the files ofthe Bank relatingtothese warrants which reflect ~thefollowing warrants now held by the Citizens National Bank of Cameron:

1. Eight warrants of Twenty-five Dollars each issued to **Mrs.** Sarah Jane Adams from August, 1936, toMay, 1937, totalling Two Hundred Dollars. The file indicates that Mrs. Adams qualified for Confederate Pension from the State of Louisiana in 1938 upon affidavit **by** her that she had been a resident of Louisiana for at least five years prior to that date. 2. Nine Confederate Pension Warrants ofTwe,nty-five Dollars each issued toMrs. W. E. Oxford. In **letter of**  Mrs. Oxford, dated March 29, 1937, she states that she at that time had bean living in Los Angeles for ayear and ahalf. 3. Nine Confede,rate Pension Warrants ofTwenty-five Dollars each totalling Two Hundred and Twenty-five Dollars issued toMrs. Cordelia A. Forrest. Mrs. Forrest:dled in Knoxville, Tennessee on January 4, 1936, and the file indicates that she had lived ,inTennessee since August, 1934.Honorable Henry G. Lehman, Page 2. O-3371

4. Twenty-five Dollar and Fifty Dollar Confederate Pension Warrants totalling Six Hundred and Seventy-five Dollars issued toMr. W. M. Seale. The file submitted tous relating to Mr. Seale’s warrants Is not complete and consequently we made inquiry of the Confederate Pension Division of the Comptroller’s Department and learned that Mi. Scale had been receiving two warrants every month at different addresses for anumber ofyears and that by reason thereof he had received about Nine Hundred Dollars in pension money over what he was .entitled tounder the law and that’this Nine Hundred Dollars is still unpaid tothe State.
5. Five warrants of Twenty-five Dollars each totalling One Hundred and Twenty-five Dollars issued toMrs. Lucinda A. Miers. The Confederate Pension Division ofthe Comptroller’s Department advises us that Mrs. Miers remarried on June 29, 1937, and that she has cashed warrants totalling Three Hundred Dollars since the date of her marriage which sum she has not repaid to the State. Article 6220, Revised Civil Statutes ofTexas, 1925, provides in part: I’* * *, and nopensioner who leaves this State for a period

of over skmonths shall draw apension while so absent; * * *.” Clearly, under this provision the warrants described above in paragraph Nos. 1, 2and 3, issued toMrs. Sarah Jane Adams, Mrs. W. E. Oxford and Mrs. Cordelia A. Forrest, were invalid by reason of the fact that the payees were out ofthe State more than six months when these warrants we,re issued. The Comptroller properly stopped payment on thase warrants when he learned ofthe absence from the State ofthese payees.

Article 4350, Revised Civil Statutes ofTexas, 1925, as amended, reads,:
“No warrant shall be issued to any person indebted tothe

State, or tohis agent or assignee, until such d,ebt is paid.” Since Mr. W. M. Seale is indebted to the State inthe amount ofapproximately Nine Hundred Dollars because of double payment tohim as described inparagraph No. 4, above, Mr. Seale has been ineligible for further pension payment8 from the date such double payment commenced until the debt shall have been repaid by him.Honorable Henry G. Lehman, Page 3, O-3371

Article 6205, Revised Civil Statutes ofTexas, 1925, provides in part:

“9 * * A widow entitled to apension under this Act,

but who remarries aman other than aConfederate soldier or sailor shall not be entitled to apension, but shall not be barred from receiving apension inthe event she should be left awidow after such remarriage, so long a,sshe remains awidow.” By virtue ofthis provision, Mrs. Lucinda A. Miers has been ineligible for Confederate pensions since the date oflar subsequent marriage on June 29, 1937, and consequently pension warrants issued toher since that date are invalid.

Itappears, therefore, that none ofthe payees ofthe above described

, warrants were eligible to receive Confederate pensions when these warrants were issued. State warrants are not negotiable paper in the sense that they become incontestable inthe hands of aholder indue course. Lasseter v. Lopez (Tex, Sup. Ct.), 217 S. W. 373; Keel v. Pulte (Tex. Corn. Ape.), 10S. W. (2d) 695. 38 Texas Jurisprudence852 states the rule as follows:

“A warrant issued by the Comptroller is not anegotiable instrument inthe sense that an innocent purchaser could collect from the State the amount stated on the face ofthe warrant regardless ofthe amount actually due.” Since under the statutes, the State owed nothing tothe payees ofthese warrants when issued, the Comptroller acted properly instopping payments on the outstanding warrants upon being advised ofthe ineligibility ofthe recipients.

We turn now tothe question ofwhether the Legislature may appropriate money to reimburse the Cittzens State Bank of Cameron for its loss by reason of its purchase ofthese invalid warrants.

InState v. Wilson, 71 Tex. 291, the Texas Supreme Court held invalid an act ofthe Legislature which sought toreimburse a contractor for his LOSS due tothe discount he was required totake on State warrants. We quote from the opinion of Judge Gaines inthat case at page 302:

“The payment ofthis claim is prohibited by section 44 of article 3ofthe Constitution, which provides that the LegislatureHonorable Henry G. Lehman, Page 4, O-3371

shall not ‘grant by appropriation or otherwise any money out of the treasury of the State toany individual on aclaim, real or pretended, when the same shall not have been provided for by the pre-existing law’

.” In 1934, the Commission ofAppeals inAustin National Bank v. Sheppard, 71 S. W. (2d) 242, at page 245, speaking through Judge Critz, in construing the same provision ofArticle 3, Section 44, said:

“By its expre,ss words the constitutional provision under consideration inno uncertain terms prohibits the Legislature from appropriatmg state money to ‘any individual’ unless such appropriation shall have been provided for by a ‘pre-existing law.’ We interpret this to mean that the Legis,lature cannot appropriate state money to ‘any individual’ unless, at the very time the appropriation is made, there is already inforce some valid law constituting the cla,im the appropriation is made to pay alegal and valid obligation ofthe state. By legal obligation is meant such an obligation as would form the basis of.a judgment against the state ina court of competent jurisdiction intheevent itshould permit itself to be sued. Nichols v. State, 11 Tex. Civ. App. 327, 32S. W. 452 (writ ref.); State v. Haldeman (Tex. Civ. Ape.), 163 S. W. 1020 (writ ref.); State v. Wilson, 71 Tex. 291, 9s. w. 155.

“In connection with the above, the case of Kilpatrick v. Compensation Claim Board that amere moral obligation will authorize an appropriation by the Legislature. Nowrit was applied for inthat case, and it never received the sanction of this court. The Kilpatrick Case cites Weaver ,v. Scurry County (Tex. Civ. Ape.). 28S. W. 836; Chambers v. Gilbe,rt, 17Tex.. Civ. App. 106, 42S. W. 630; and State v. Elliott (Tex. Civ. App.) 212 S. W. 695. We have carefully examtired these authorities, and in our opinion none ofthem supportthe holding that a mere moral obligation will support an appropriation of state money to an individual,” Under the foregoing authorities it seems apparent that an appropriation to reimburse the Bank for its loss onthe purchase ofthese invalid Confederate Pension Warrants is forbidden by,Article 3, Section 44 ofthe Constitution of Texas.Honorable Henry G. Lehman, Page 5, 0-3371

We are returning toyou herewith the files relating to the five pensioners which you submitted to us.
Yours very truly ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

Walter R. Koch Assistant PROVED MAY

FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL WRK:RS APPROVED OPINION

Chairman