Acsomutic:s Conml.sa3.on

is authorixcd to loan or grant funds for the.purpose of conatruct$on, repalr or tiproveDear sir:. : ment of alrporta, on .li?ased Jand;.~:'

.

., Y& ?mve.

r~ested.aa op%QzLon:conce&'wh&& the Texas Aerotiutics Couir@ssknmay loan or grant Zunds for the purpose of constructloi?, repair or tiprovcsent of aIrport on leased land, and If so, under what cinditions,

If any. ~QU potit out that the Texas lidroaautlcs

Co~sslon baa ipz6.n 'authoriried

-under II-B... 12 .snd .H.&.'43of.the 59th:~~is'a~~..to,Iq~~~~.-~~~: mcaey-to lbas. ~eommunltle* c for %:ij:coasl+i+orx,~~r.epaAr .or -improvement

of airports';

'~':. ii. 43 (Acts 54th Leg, 19G5, 'Ch. 196; $.'3;7) mends Article 466-6, Vernon% Texas' Clvll Statutes, by add%ng a new subditisiotitoread as follows:

"Subd%vlsl& i01 When Lnthe'discretior~ of the Comission the public Interest will best be served; and the governmental funCtlOn of the State or its political subdivisions relattive

Tao ae~onautica'kll best be discha+!d, it, may grant or leap fucds, appropriated.to ..it for that purpose by the Legislature, to any incorporatedcity, town or village in.thls State for the establishment,coiwttictlon,: reconstmc~tion, enla*gemqt or repairof airports; airstripa or air navigational facilities;

-24&Lkg. Tne eneral appropr:.ation b5li (1I.a.

12, Acts 59th lge5 .appropriated Sunds for such purposes. -7 ObviouslyrSubdl,vlsion.lO contempltites

that The l&M. ~: upon whlch~these"tistsllations are to be made.8hal.l be:,~:., owned. by the munlcipaUtg,&.le~ed by :ltSo?? ~a mInImum_:;:.:: oS.twentyyears: .' .: .' .,. .,.. . I .. ,' :'. The basic questionwhich'must be answered in
. . .' connection

with these~statutesis nhether the'.use of public Sunds for the improveine@t of:pr%vatelyowned 'land (which is'merely leased'tc? .the.mmI.c%pa~~) :_,. . . .constitutes

a grant oS~.pub&ic> 'funds.& Wed%~~%vMilxi~the'~ ,' iaeanbg.of

’Sect~ons’50; .5X or 52 or Ax+%cle III or T -'.' '. Section

-6 of Article XVX of the..Constltutlon of Texas. : The pertinentportions.oSthese.constitutional~provlsions 8re as Sollows:

"Sec..50. The L&gislature shall.haveno power to give or lend, 'orto authorise~the giving qr lendin& of the credit OS the State in.aid OS, or to any tierson, associationor corporation,.,whether municipal tir:other, or' to p,ledge

.the credit of the State in any manner whatsoever;for the payment of the liabilities,

present,orprospective,of any indivIdua1,

associationof indivtduals,-

. municipal or other corporation.whatsoever."

"SeC. 51. The Le&slature shell have no -power

to make any.grant or authorize the m&Ing of any grant of public moneys to any

-2409-,- ,,.

ljonorable

James N. L&l~:m, pkge 3 (C-5l.!L )

"Sec. 52. The Le$ciaturi sbz~13. have XI power to a~?.lhn:?be any county, city, tox;~ or other political oorporat%o.n or cubd:lvi::ion of the State to Lend l'ts cr;:G:;if; or to grant p?blic money or thing of value in asd of, or to 2ny inAlvlduzsh as!3o!dr;tir.o3 or co?'poratlo;l whatsoever,.
. . . "Sec. 6. No appropr$.atzioz for private‘or lndP.%dual purposes shal3 be m&de.
. . .(I The questionwhether Sectlo& 50.and 51 OS Article XII absolutelyprohibit the gtianting.oS State Sunds to'munl-:-;: clpal corporationsgives.us no trouble because ithas:be,en '. settled that said.provislbn$:,do.no~.bar the'grantingo,S'~:i. estateSunds.to municipal corporations for use in overn-, ~~$%%!&@4). l+urthe-rk A +- Shelby County v ‘Alf;~WilS?t!Pe$~-, i 'VernonlsCivil Statutes, a part of'the knicipal A&port's act, states.

in, part:. "Tne.acqul$ition:oZ;'~~~~ land:or,interest thereinpursuant to thls ;rct,, ths ~. ; : c.onstruc-: tion
. ~;,

i .maintenance ;.-.. and policing of.~~.': alrports":k

.~; are 'hereby~

declared to~be.publlc 'and governmental Sun&ions,
. . ..;" and in Attorne August 11, 196

1 Qeneral!.s

Opinion ko.,C-202, dated ti this-office held that'sectlon 51.LOS .Article

III of the Constitution of Texas wouid not be: violatedbye

the proposed amendment.to Article 46c-6, : Vernon's Civil Statutes;, so as to authorize thegrant OS funds to fncoroorated cities Sorthe constructionof airPorts and navigational Saciiitlea. This opin&k was based .tipon City of Corsicana vi Wren, 159 Tex. 202, 317 S .W.2d, ,516, 520.(1958) which sustained the constitutionality of Article 46d-i5, quoted in ,past above, and.held that
. the'ovMership'~and

operation of an airport is a governmental function. However% the above mentioned opinion and court decisionsdo not involve the. question presented by your request; that Is, the use of public funds for the lmprove- ..ment of privately owned'land, It is.clear that Ji.B.43

'. '. -2klO-Ronorable 3ames N. Lundlum,~ page 4 (C-,fXl

~)
quoted above contemplatesthe possibleuse of pub!.ic funds to improve land belonging to %ndividua!.s, i?:x:GcSati@~;.~ or corpo-,-

v,.;+-lons

other than niunicipai CorRorations. At the C.??Ld Of t.hc tW2ili’y- :J<?G? ’ :crase tt,,: ~qxyQ>.!~~~~)j~~ 0:: the land will become the property of the ~o?:lier of t?!e feeI In our opilnion,

the tc-:i;m

of the Ic~se has nothing to do with the questlon'ofthe authority of t:hn State or municlpal5.ty

to use I>ublic

funds to improve the larld. The statutoryprovisionnow requiring a twenty-yearlease may be emended at any time to rcqwire a one->:ear o:*' a two-year leas'. 2.X1 :in:l CVei!t, t1a-x

qgest;t~n

1:; I;l:e sa:::c:. The clear and unambiguous lr:ngu?ze in the above quoted constitutional provi:3.ons,

In our'opini~n,rend-ers .'invalld.the

above.quotedstatutory provIsIonsto thc.extent that they authorize the expe~diture.of.8tate.o~. mur&cipal funds t6construk.t imp-rovements -onprlvat~ly.ow~ed,'lar,d, ' .and,therefore,

:t,he' Commission.is.notautho.r$z,ed,, .to Toan

-(&.J-!;li;-.< : ~:, : ~ I , ‘

... .~: :: i ;., .., ,. : :.. 1 :

.. If.-&

-icQw$lity owns ~thefee tftle.to%he .1&d, as distinguish& from the mere leasehold interest in it, the prohibitions ~ofthe above quoted.constitutionaX provisions

would not apply.

.“

. .~Y.

.‘~ ~2.. ~K~;E$ .43’ (Act+59th I&., 1$&5, $h:~:$;-'~; pi 397) and H.R. 12 The General Appropriation Bill-Acts 59th Leg. I are unconstitutional to hat they provide for the grant of ~' -___-, .~_ _- __ the extent.

tl public money~and tom the extent.that they ap-.~. .propriate.

Ijubl$c'money

to Improve leased land, -and; therefore,the Texas' AeronauticsCom- : mission is not authorized to loan or grant ~~ funds for the purpose.of,.tionstrutiti.on, repair or improvem.ent

of airports on~leased land.

.Yo&s very .truly~, . . . : WAGGONER CARR ,.

. Attorney Gen,eral of Texas

. -241.1-:.... -.?,
.,’ .

‘, , j..,