THE AYITOBNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

June 12, 1939 

Honorable E. H.. Thronton, Jr. 

Charimsn Appropriations Committee 

House of Representatives 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-941 

Re: Authority of Legislature 

to m*e appropriation to 

rdbuild a school buiding destroyed by a storm. 

We are in receipt of your letter of June.7, 1939, 

wherein you advise ,that the school building belonging to 

the Clyde Independent School District was destroyed Fna~ 

storm which visited that cbs@unbt$p:;&mecmonth ,g. ago.>'- You 

request our opinion as to whether or not the egislature 

has the authority to make an appropriation out of the 

general revenue fund of this State to erect a school 

building in lieu of the one thus destroyed, and to equip 

the sam&. 

Article 3, Section 56, of the State Constitution 

provides that "the Legislature shall not, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, pass any local or 

special law, authorizing. . .the building or repairing 

of school houses, 

poses." 

and the raising~of money for such purArticle 3, Section 51, Constitution of Texas provides that "The Legislature shall have no power to make 

any grant or authorize the making of any grant of, public 

money to sng individual, association of individuals, municipal or other corporations whatsoever,, . .; provided that 

the hegislature may reduce the tax rate herein levied, and 

provided further that the provisions of this section shall 

not be construed so as to prevent the grant of aid in cases 

of public calamity." 
Honorable E. PI. Thornton, Jr., June 12, 1939 Page 2 o-941 

For the purposes of this opinion it may be conceded that Section 56 of Article 3 of the Constitution 

would ordinarily prevent the Legislature from making sn 

appropriation for the purposeof building a school house. 

Said Section 56 expressly provides for exceptions otherwise provided in the Constitution and in our opinion a 

case of public calamity wit'nin the terms of Section 51 

would constitute such sn exception. 

As construed by our courts Section 51 does not 

prevent the Legislature from making a grant of public 

money to a municipal corporation where the grant is for 

the purpose of discharging a state obligation. city of 

Arsnsas Pass v. Reeling, 247 9. W. 818; Bexar County v. 

Linden, 220 9. $'. 761; Road District No. 4 Shelby County 

v. Allred, 68 S W. (2) 164. That construction has not 

been made to depend upon the happening of a public calamity. If a public calamity should be of such proportions 

as to affect the State as a whole, the granting of relief 

from the same would be a State purpose and we would have 

no need to call upon the exception contained in said Sec. 

51. To give meaning to such exception, therefore, we are 

ccnstrained to hold that a grant of public money may be 

made in a case of public calamity although such calamity 

may not be of such proportions as to have a direct effect 

upon the State as a whole. 

In our opinion, the Legislature has the authority to make the appropriation under consideration, if the 

storm was of such severity as to impair taxable values in 

the,cornmunity and the ability of the tax-payers to pay 

their taxes, and the %gislature finds that it constitutes 

a public calamity. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

BY Glenn R. Lewis 

Assistant 

GRL-MR/pam 

APPROVED 

GERALD C. MANN 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE 

BY BWB, CHAIRMAN