OFFICE OF THE A‘ITORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

Hon. Julian xontgom~ry 

State RI&may Engineer 

Austin, Tax68 

oan Aaooolatlon 

eed of repronietratioa and 

he States and 

The Aasooiatlon 

Road; Admin5stration 

IParking preeorlbed ior 6uOh roadr. All or the l-elatlona of thlr Department with the Pub110 Roads 

Admlnlstratlon am vitally arreotsd by the polioisr 

formulated by the A!3aOOiation and rhould thie Department be deprived ot Its mtmberahip In auoh 
Hon. Julian 2ontgomery, Eage 2 

k33oolatIon, it would hare no roloe In the prepratlon, approval., dlsap:roval, adoption or nonadoptlon of ruoh poliolee and pro.ordures submitted 

to the Fubllc Road8 AdministratIon for adoption 

as requirements and standards to be imposed upon 

all State Highway Departmenta. Ror would this Department hare a roloe in determining rtloh highway6 

of thlr Stat4 should be lnoludcd ln the Onlted States 

road8 sy8tem, or in the aarking or method a? narking of auoh roada. It In our opinion that the80 

things arc neossaary and vital to the proper conrtruotlon and malntenanos or a oorrolated syetem 

OS state hlghwayr and, es cuoh, make the annual 

membership fees eligible for payment out of the 

3tate ~lghway Pund.w 

Our examination of the material oubmltted to ua 

indicates that ths paragraph above quotod ooncisaly stats8 

the purpose3 and operation 0r the Amerloan Assoofatlon 0r 

state Blghway orrio1als. The deslrablllty of maintaining 

membership in this association is obvious. In this oonneotlon, we quote the tollowlng exoerpt tron that portion of 

the apysoprlation bill for 1940 whloh applies to the Highway Department: 

*Provided further, that all funds or balanose 

of funds on hand Septe&er 1, 1939, and all fund6 

ocalng into the State Highway Fund, and derlred 

rrom registration fees or from other aouroe8, arter 

deduotlng the total of the rpeulflo appropriation8 hsrein 

aado, are hereby appropriated to the state Rlghway Deputment for the establishment OS a ayatem of Stat? 

hlghwap and the oonetruotlon and maintenance thereof, aa contemplated and ret forth in aald chapter 1, 

Tltl6 ll6, and chapter 188, m6ralLava o? the 

Re@.ar Seaaion OS the 39th Leglrl~ture, and amendnents theseto...” 

Artlo 6673 of Chapter 1, Title 116, Vernon*s 

Annotated Clvll Statutes of Texas, provibes that the Eighway Commission 1s .to have control and 13 to maintain State 

Elghways in Texas. 

Artlole 6074 provides that the Legislature shall 

make appropriation8 for~the maintenanqe and rut@ng expenses 

or the D6pahE6nt, shall fix the oompenratlon and number 

of employees, and the oompeneatlon of the Commlsslon, and 

states that *all money’hercln authorized to b6 appropriated 
469 

Hon. Julian Aiontgonery, Page 3 

for the operation of the Department and the purchase of equlpmeat shall be paid fros the State Ri&hway Lund, and the remalnder of said fund shall be expended by the Comzls3lon for 

the furtherance of public road construction and the establishment of a system OS State highways as herein PTOVlded~" 

Artiole 6074q-4 reads as follows: 

*All f'urther lmprorcnont of said State Ilfghway System shall be made under the eroluuaive and 

dlreot oontrol of the State !Tlghway Department and 

with appoprlations made by the Legislature out 

OS the State Tlghrray Fund. Surveys, plan3 and 

speclfioations and estinates for all further construction and Improvensnt of said System shall be 

made, prepared and paid for by the stata Highway 

Department. :?o further lmprorcmcnt of said System 

shall be made with the aid of or with any moneys 

furnished by the oousltios except the acquisition 

of rights of way rhloh may be furnished by the oounties, thel.? subdIvision or defined road districts. 

Rut this shall in no wise aftect the aarrying out 

of any binding oontracts now existing between the 

State El&way Department aad the Codssionera 

court OS any county, fw suoh county, or for kny 

detlned road dlstrlot. 

system ot State Highways 

fn the developaaent of-the 

and the ma&te~aance thereor, the state Hlghivay Com~&s1on shall, from funds 

arallable to the Stats Highway Depart!zcnt, provide8 

. . 

?(a) Bar tde 'etfloient malntenaaoe of all hlghways oomprisiag’the -State 3ystem. 

m(b) for the~construotlon. ln.oooDeratlon with 

the Federal Government to the extent of Federal 

Aid to the St&e. of hiahways of dtUab1.S type ot 

the Rreatest mblla necerrslt~. 

m(o) Tar the oon~truotion of highways, perfecting and sxtending a oorrelated spstem of 

State~Eighways, independently froa State Funds.* 

In Oplnlon no. O-1318, to the J?onorable Roy Loventhal, 

Chairman of the Llvostock 3enltary Conmission of Texas, this 

department held that the Livestock 3anltary Co&sslon could 

not pay memborshlp dues in the United~States Livestock sanltarp Aesooiatlon from the funds allotted this Com4l3sl~n by 

the Legi31aturer since the TLe@slature had made no authorlsation for any suah expenditure. 'Xe do not feel, however, that 
47c 

Hon. Julian Ilontgomery, Fags 4 

the same sltaatlon Is presented by your opinion request. It 

Is evident Srom the above-quoted language of the departmental 

ap~opriatlon bill that the State Highra~r Departzzent has at 

its ooamand all funds ooming Into the State Highway Fund 

after the deduotson of speoific approprIatIons for use In 

oonstruction and maintenance of State highways, as provided 

by Chapter 1, TItlc ll6, Vernon.8 Annotated Civil Statute3 

0s Texas. The Artlolcs quoted from this Chapter and Title 

atate oonolsely and olearly the intention of the Legislature 

to place under the oontrol of the Highway Department the 

oontrol, maintenance and turthcrenoc of the syaten of State 

highways In Texas. 

ArtIole 6674q-4, 3upra, unequlrooally state3 that 

the State Highway Codselon shall provide for the aonetruction of highways of durable type In cooperation with the 

Federal Government to the extant of Federal Aid to the State. 

hthcr, Sootlon 11 r Art1 1 ES7 

Code of Texas, autho%tcs 

V 1 An t t d Fenal 

~ee~lgh%y ~~%&!ntn~aao~acsIry, 

designate and mark Intrastate aad lntorstate highways, and 

to pxovIde a systacl for marking end placing algns upon suoh 

highways, uhloh oorrolates with the signing and marking of 

highways ln other States. 

Bearing In mind,that the funds for the operations 

above discussed are made available to the State Highway Department by the departaental approprIatIon bill In the provision 

rhloh we have quoted and.p~crlously referred to, It necessarily follows that the ?iIghway ~.Dcpartment Is authorized to 

make aa expenditure. whtoh- $8~ In furtheranoe of the purpoecs 

and alas reflected by.the statutes contained In Chapter 1 of 

Title lU, Vernon*8 Annotated Civil Statutes. 

It is the opinion of'thls deparfmcnt that mcmbershlp In the Amcrlcan Aesooiation of State Highway OffloIals 

is In oomplianae with the spirit and letter of these statut,cs. 

The quoted portion of your letter at January SBth states a 

complete and logical basis for oon3IderIng membership of the 

Texas SIghway Department In this Aa3ooIatIon highly desIrablei 

it not neocssary. The objcotand aim3 of the association are 

in complete aocord with the IntentIon cxpreased by the LegIslature . 

We therefore adrlac you that It 1s the opinion ot 

this department that the Texas Elghway Department ma7 maintain 

Its membership in the American Asaooiatlon of state Rlghway 

OrrIoIals, and that mcmbcrahIp fees arc proper17 payable 
Hon. Julian Koontgomery, Fag:e 5 

from the State Iiighway Fund appropriated by the Lsglelaturs 

in the De~rtmental Appropriation Bill. 

RC:pbp 

473 

Yours very truly