war& 1, 1959 

Xonorabla 19. Lee O%anlel 

Covernor of the Btste of Texaa 

Austin, Terai 

Deer Coremar OQmlelr oplnlon Roe. O-?uil 

Ret H.B. Ho. Z?O9 held invalid 

beoauso 0r 

its eaptloa 

lnsurflolenoy or 

This III in tmwef to your letter of Pebnmry 14, lQs9, 

wbloh reada as lollorrs: 

"I am ~rezwig to you LB. Ilo* 69, relatbq to oommon 8ohool dlatrlota, and desire 

to ask the r0ii0hg q\aetlone: 

*sn the 0tipti0fi 0r tu8 mu ita prodaion8 are restriotti to Oertain mhool di8triots 

rgiletb Bill lt0d.r 8emmre general ana, 

it appeara to me, *y apply to all sohool bi8- 

trlote. 

*mill you pleaae kdvl80 so whather or not 

the oaptlon lr tp.erioim to 1-t the pmmi8- 

iOM or tbb Biu"'to tb 8pOOiriO 8OhOOi di8- 

trlotr therein de80ribed.w 

Yo&attaohed to this letter a aopy ot R.B. Ro. 809. 

That; psrt of the caption OS the Bill in whlah we are lntere&eb 

read8 as r0iim8: 

*AR J&T to vulldate, ratltf, approve, OOLF 

firm and deolare enioroeable all levle8 and as8essmenta OS ad oalorem tares heretorore made by 

oounty line independent eohool dietriots, partly situated io three or mare Oountfes, the supervision of bald sot1001 balnn looatsd in oountlelr 

having a population not l&i than 17,ooO nor more 

than 17,500,+ * l " 
Oovernor ll. Loo OfDaniel, lhroh 1, 1939, me 8 

Eoimter, the boaJ or the Bill applier to 

l oh001 dlstrlots in o0untles baring a~popalatlon of Y 

laeepeadent 

ccm 17,000 to 

17,500, and does not lmt its applloation to aouaty line lmlependent who01 distrlot8 a8 detined in the oeptlon. That part or the 

body of the Bill with whioh m are oonoerned ?Md8 a8 tollore: 

"Thatallle*iieandarrel8~nt8at edvaloremtaxea beretoioremadebythe goternlaq 

body oi any independent sohool dlsitrlot, la this 

State, in oountles hiariag a population 0r not 

less than 8eventeen thouaaad (17,OOO) aad not 

mor% than 8%VOllt8Oll thousand rive hundred 

(17,5OO), aooordlllg to the last preoedlng Federal &meu8, L7t in exoe88 of the ilait now provided by law, whloh dre mid or uhenioroeable 

beaauee 8uoh levies mx-e made and adopted by 

resolut%on, m&ion or other inrolrsl aotlon, 

lmtead of lx~viag been made by order as requlrd 

by the Stntnted of thi8 8tate; * * +&e eaoh and 

ail hereby validated, ratltied4 gpqrovod, oonfirmed, and deoiared enforceable,, * 

‘whether or not th.ls oaptlon 1s ml’flolant 18 governed by 

Artiole III, Seotlon 35, 0r the oonstltution of rsxaa, whloh reads 

as iollor8: 

Vo bill, (emept gumral approptiatl0a 

bflls, tdxhioh may embraae t& varione subjeotr 

and aooounts, ror aad on aooouat of whioh aoney8 areapproprlated) &all oontalnmorethan 

on% subjeot. whioh shall be apre88ed io ittr 

title. But if any subjeot u&l1 be aabraoed 

In an not, whloh shall not be expressed in the 

title, swh aot shall be void only a8 to 80 auoh 

thereof, a8 8hall rrot be 80 oxpre88e6." 

The attitude 0r the oourts of thlr Stat4 in resgard t0 

Bills providing for mre than 1s e~lmmmd in the Caption 18 well 

stated lo tha oa3e of Rx parts Iieartdill (Ter. Or& App.) 3S S.W. 

(24) 003, as roiiaprs: 

"AU laus passed by the Loglslatme Of 

this state otlanate in blils, upon each of 

which mat appear a oaption or title, and 

aeotton 35, art. 3, 0r our Constitution forbids that any bill, with oertain %XoeptiOM, 

shall oontaln pars than one subjeot, which 

shall be expreesed in ita title. It ha8 been 

held by the oourts that &en the express VWbiage o? auoh title iklts and raetricte the 
Gomraar U. Lee O*Danlel, Maroh 1, 19SOI Pago S 

purpose oith8 blll,any attenpttolegl8lat.e 

otherwbeln azoh bllltarlant rmm the purpose presorlbed, 18 in exoes* 0r the leglslatlte parer, and that a law subjeot to this 

ooaplalnt 1s unOorurtltutlonal.m 

The purpose of thI8 oonstltutlonal provlslon 18 erpre8se6 

in 39 Tex. fur. 77, as rOmYNI8: 

"It Is intended to secure notlce to the 

legislators and the people, through suoh publioation of leglslatlve prooeedlngs as 18 

usually amdo, of the subjeot, nature or oontents or each partloular bill, thus avoiding 

deoeptlon, misapprehension and surprise in 

legislation and giving those u%o are latereated in a subjeot under oonsideratloa an op- 

~a.xunlty tom be heard thereon, ii they so de- 

.- 

The Bill we have under oon8IderatIoa applies to all school 

distriotr ai this size, but the oaptlon 1Imtte the bill to county 

line dietriots. me oaptlon wuld not, at the tlm the bill was 

pending la tha I,++elature, have given not100 "to the le.egislators 

and the people 0r the l * * oonteat8a or the Bill, or g iten 

those who were interested *an opportualty to be heard thteorP, beoause those rho lived la sahool diPrt&ots that ware nat on oountf 

lIne8 oould not tell by read- the oaptioa that the Bill applied 

to their distrlots. 

III the -808 Of GiddlDg8 V8. 8an AntOnib, 47 %X. 528; 

Adams vs. San Aageio Uater lbbrke Go., 86 Tex. 485, 25 S.U. 605; and 

uohey ~8. state, lZS Tex. Grim. hpp. 458, 59 S.U. (Ed) 406, a6 well 

as in some other oases, the oaption OS the aot Iarolted was not suitloient to oover the entire body of the bill, and the 00~1% held 

that the bill uas ~vold only as to that part not aabraoeU In the 

osptlon; but In t&me oases the part nat embraoed In the oaptlon 

vas in eoparate seotlons and paragraphs, and, as said in the Arohey 

ease, it wx~s *easily separable rrcm the other matters and things 

naned in the title", ard when it was 8ttiOken out the bill was 

still oomplete and lntelllgIble. 

In the bill we hsve under oonslderation, the part not 

covered by the oaption is not "easily separable from the other nratters and th%ngs named in the title*. In fact, it mould be ImpossIble to strike out that part OS the bill apply14 to distriota not 

on couutJ lines and leave a bill that only applied to county line 

dlstriOt8. Therefore, the entire aot wIl1 have to be held mid 

for the reasons stated ln 25 R.C.L. 64C, as follOaa: 
Qovernar W. Lee O*Danlol, Maroh 1, 1.939. Page 4 

*Xf M act ir broader than it8 title and 

the sub eot or obJeots not oovered by the title 

are so 1 ntlmtely ootubeoted with the one lndioat& by the title tbert the portion of the aot 

relating to thaa oahmt be rejeoted and leave a 

ocaplete and senslblo enaotmmt tiloh is oapable of beiw +8xzo2ted, the ontlre aot wmt be 

held lmalld; 

The bill that we hsve limier oonslderntion Is airallar to 

the one th?t was oonsldered In the case of Sutherlmd va. Board of 

Trustees (Ter. Ct. Clv. App.) 261 S.T. 488. In that case the body 

oi the bill oreated a now sohool distriot, includlnx parts of the 

Agua Duloe dlstriot and the Rtxnber 4 district, but &e oaptlon of 

the bill, whluh attempted to describe the telrltary covered by the 

new d&&riot, did not lnolnde the aSua Dulos and H-P 4 parts, 

and the court refused to ~1l.m the rest oi the district to stand, 

and sald: 

-Be conclude that tested by this rule ho 

part of the aot la enforooable tor any prpose, 

&tar the provlsioha lnoorporatlng yctrts of 

iqpm buloe and ho. 4 dletrtots Into the propossd 

diatriots are sroluded, es they must be.* 

In the 08138 of Texas-lacllslana Power Co. vs. City of Farppersvllle (Tex. Carw. &pp.) 67 S.rC..(Zd) 2?i5, In an'opinion by Judge 

Sharp, it was held that an aot ahioh lnoreased the nrnaber of oltler 

with the right to regulate utility ratea, and also ohaaged the aoale 

OS rates that oonld be okrged, ~98 Irnnlfd in its entirety beoanse 

tlm oaptfon did not refer to ths ohi-inged soale oi rates, and the 

oaurt held that the provisions of thr aot wore so intercpovon that 

It oauld not let tie other psrts of the sot stand; and in this eonneotion lt said: 

'*rho establlahed rule a?pUoablo horc 38 

rerlsoted by the deoisiona of the various oourts 

la oorreotlg s&ted ln JAwia* Suthsrlmd, Statutory Construotlon (2d Ed.) ~51. 1, sea. 306, as 

f3llows: ‘xi, by etriki~ out a void exoeption, 

proviso or other restrictive olause tk;s ratvainder, by reason of its generality, w~llh~lve a 

broader mops as to sub cot or terrltorp, its operation is not la aooor d tii=h the legislative inteat, am3 the whole would be affected and made 

void by the Invalidity of zuoh pqrt**. 

Our an8wer to your qgestl0Cs is t!l3t it iS Out 0plniOll 

tbst beoause of the insuffioieaoy of it& caption this Bill you heve 
Oovemtor U. Ime O'Ikmlel, Maroh 1, 1939, Faga S 

referred to 08, H.B. Ho. eO0, la entirely vold and invalid. 

Yours very truly 

5CR:M