Honorable W. 0. Reed, chairman 

Appropriations Committee 

House of Representatives 

Austin, Texas 

Dear 3ir: Opinion No. O-3450 

Re: Payment of taxes by the State to 

school distrlcts in Cherokee 

County, Texas; on Texas State 

Railroad lands. 

Your letter of April 24, 1941, submits the following 

question for the opinionof this department: 

as, 

"At the request of the members of the Appropriations Committee, please inform me whether 

or not the Legislature Is obligated to pay taxes 

to the school districts in Cherokee County, 

where the old Texas State Railroad is located, 

by authority of Article 2784-B, Revised Civil 

Statutes." 

Article 2784b, Vernon's Revised Civil Statutes of Texreads as follows: 

"Sec. 1. That from,and after the passage 

of this Act, all land in Cherokee County, Texas, 

owned by the State of Texas and Prison Commission of Texas, except the land heretofore set 

aside for the Rusk State Hospital, but including the land heretofore set aside to the Agricultural & Mechanical i;ollege for re-forestation 

purposes, shall be subject to taxation for school 

purposes where any such land is embraced within 

the metes and bounds of any independent or common school district. 

"Sec. 2. Where any such land is embraced 

within the metes and bounds of any independ,ent 

or common school district, the Trustees of the 

Independent School District, of the Commlssionem ' Court for a Common School District, are 

hereby authorized to levy and cause to be assessed and collected taxes for school purposes 
Honorable W. 0. Reed, Chairman, page 2 g-3450 

for the amount and in the manner prescribed by 

the General Laws for the levy of school taxes. 

“Sec. 3. The taxes herein provided for 

shall be assessed and collected in the manner 

now orescribed br General Laws for the assessment-and collection of school taxes." 

Article 1, Section 

vides: 

3, of the Texas Constltutlon, pro- 

"All free men, . . 

no man, or set of men, 

. have equal rights, and 

Is entitled to exclusive ._ 

separate public emoluments, or privileges, . . .ll 

Article III, Section 51, provides: 

"The Legislature shall have no power to 

make any grant or authorize the making of any 

grant of public money to any indlvldual, assocFatlon of Individuals, myicipal 02;: other corporations whatsoever, . . Except grant of 

aid in cases of public calamity. .~, 

Article III, Section 56, proh,ibFts the passing of loc'al 

or special laws: 

"Regulating the affairs of . . . . school 

districtsj". . . . 

,, 

. . . Prescribing the powers and duties of 

officers in . . . school districts." 

"Regulating the management of public schools, 

the building and repairing of school ho$ses, and 

the raising of money for such purposes. 

"Exempting property from taxation." 

Article VIII, Section 2, authorizes the exemption of 

public property used f;r public purposes from taxation, but 

only 'by general laws. 

There is nothing ln our Constitution prohibiting the 

Legislature from conferring the power to tax State propertyupon school districts. This power, however, in our opinion, 

cannot be conferred upon some school districts and withheld 

from others, without violating the above constitutional provisions -- at least, in the absence of a statute classifying 

school districts for the purpose of conferring such authority, 
. . 

Honorable W. 0. Reed, Chairman, page 3 O-3450 

on the basis of characteristics which, considering the object 

and purpose of the law, affords a reasonable basis for extending the right to those possessing the characteristics ati' 

denglng it to those who do not. 

Article 2784b confers the power to assess and collect 

taxes on State owned lands from the State only upon school 

districts situated in Cherokee County; Texas. No classiflcation of school districts Is attempted, only designation according to geographical location of the districts andlands 

involved. It is obvious that mere geographical location bears 

no reasonable relation to the objects and purposes of the law, 

so as to authorize this power and privilege to be conferred 

upon Cherokee County School Districts and withheld from other 

school districts in other counties wherein State owned lands 

may be located. Miller v. El Paso County, by the Texas Supreme Court, not yet officially reported. 

Subjecting State lands to taxation by certain school 

districts necessarily involves the idea that State funds shall 

be appropriated to the payment of such taxes. Our Constitution does not contemplate that the inhabitants of particular 

school districts (in the absence of public calamity) shall 

receive the benefit of the application of State funds to the 

purposes of the districts, when Inhabitants of other school 

districts, similarly situated, are denied the benefits thus 

accorded. The constitutional guaranty of equal rights to all 

is violated as effectively by extending privileges to local 

go-vernmental units in one area of the State which are denied 

to similar local governmental units similarly situated, in 

other sections, as by conferring special privileges and benefits upon the inhabitants directly. Our constitutional provisions are designed to prevent unreasonable discrimination 

between units of local self government, An appropriation of 

State moneys to certain school districts, when no similar appropriation is made to school districts similarly situated, 

operates to confer a special benefit upon and unduly favor 

the citizens and taxpayers of those districts, to the prejudice of the citizens and taxpayers of the school districts 

not thus favored by the State. 

68 S. W. (26) 943. 

Hill v. Snodgrass, (Tenn.) 

We therefore advise that, in OUP opinion, Article 

2784b is unconstitutional. 

Next we turn to the question whether taxes may be due 

by the State upon the State Railroad land,s to the school districts involved, under the provlslons of general laws applicable alike to all school districts in the State. 
, . 

Honorable W. 0. Reed, Chairman, page 4 O-3450 

Article 7150, Revised Civil Statutes, provides In 

Sections 17 and 18 thereof as follows: 

"17. State prLson property; school bona 

taxes.-- Provided that any~terrltory that has 

been acquired or may hereafter be acquired, by 

the State of Texas, as a part of any state Prison Farm nor property, shall not hereafter be exempt from the payment of its pro rata. part of any 

bond tax of a public school district of which 

the said territory was a part at the time bonds 

of the said-district which are now outstanding 

were issued, or whkh Is a part of said district 

at the time of the Issuance of bonds which may 

hereafter be voted; and the pro rata part of 

said tax that shall be paid by said territory 

shall be the proportionate part that the assessed 

valuation of such territory for county purposes 

is of the total assessed valuation of the school 

district for the year in which taxes are assessed. 

Provided, also, that the said bond tax shall be 

paid by the governing board of management of the 

State Prison System out of any funds appropriated 

therefor by the Legislature. It is hereby specifically provided that the said bona tax shall 

be paid for each year that has elapsed since any 

such territory of a school district was acquired by the State for and as a part of said prison 

system if any bonds were then outstanding; Acts 

1927, 60th Leg,, 1st C. S., p. 224, ch:81, 1 1; 

Acts 1930, 41st Leg., 5th C. S., p. 191, ch. 49, 

x 1. 

"18. State prison property; school maintenance tax. -- Provided that any territory that 

has been acquired or may hereafter be acquited, 

by the State of Texas, as a part of any State 

Prison Farm or property, shall not hereafter be 

exempt from the payment of its pro rats part of 

any maintenance tax of a public school district 

of which the said territory WRY a part at the 

time said maintenance tax of the said district 

which are now outstanding was voted, or which 

is a part of said district at the time any malntenance tax may hereafter be voted by said district; and the pro rata part of said tax that 

shall be paid by said territory shall be the 

proportionate part that the assessed valuation 

of such territory for county purposes is of the 

total assessed valuation of the school district 
Honorable W. 0. Reed, Chairman, page 5 O-3450 

for the year in which such taxes are assessed. 

Provided, also, that the said malntenance'tax 

shall be pald by the governing Board of Management of the State Prison System out of any funds 

appropriated thereby by the Legislature. It is 

hereby speciffcally provided that the safd maintenance tax shall be paid for each year that 

has elapsed since any such territory of a school 

district was acquired by the State for and as 

a part of said-prison system. 

Leg., 5th C.S., p. 190, ch. 47, 

Acts 1930, 41st 

1 1." 

The property of the State here subjected to taxation 

is "State Prison Farms or property". The property Involved, 

the lands of the State Railroad, is.no longer "State PrLson 

property". 

Legislature, 

Senate Bill 267, Ch. 26, Acts Regular Sesslon, 37th 

took this property from the jurfsdiction of the 

Board of Prison Commissioners and placed it in the hands of a 

Board of Managers appointed by the Lieutenant Governor to be 

sold or leased. This property is now under twenty-year lease 

to the T. & N. 0. Railroad Company. 

You are therefore advised that, in our opinion, the 

Legislature 1s not obligated for the payment of taxes upon 

this property under the provisions of Article 7150, Sections 

17 and 18. 

Attention is directed to the factthat under the provisions of Article 7173, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, this 

property, belonging to the State and being leased for more 

than three years, is taxable to the lessee to the extent of 

the value of the leasehold interest. Daugherty v. Thompson, 

71 Tex. 192; State v. Taylor, 72 Tex. 297. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

RWF:LM:wc 

APPROVED MAY 16, 1941 

s/Grover Sellers 

FIRST ASSISTANT 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By s/R. W. Fairchild 

R. W. Falrchild 

Assistant 

Approved Opinion Committee By s/REK Chairman