THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

Gerald C. Harm Awmrx~. - 

-0- 

Hr.~ 0, A. Eight 

Chief A.ocountant 

Board of County and Dfrtrlct Road Indebtedness 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Sir: 

Open lumber O-1293 

: Constrnotlon ef cortaln 

protirions of Howe Bill j&M, 

ssed by the Fortr-sixth 

r 

Le i 

rlaturo, Bogular gerrion,~~l Fi 39 

Uo kare your letter of Augupt 16, 1939, in rrhlsh you 

ask our oplnlon of soteral questions vdxlch have arisen oat 

of the above captioned bill which outlines the proordure of 

the bard in the administration of that Act. 

Under dato ef.Juue 9, ~1939, in our 0 

we deterrlned the constitutionalit E 

Inion lo. O-908 

I 

efthlr bi 1. It uas our 

opinion that.the purpose d this b 11 as not violative of 

Art&lo 8, Section 7, or Article 3, Section 51 of our Cod- 

.titution, but insofar a. thd bill before u8 at that time 

attempted, rlor to the hill 

ready eligi le for 

g E" payment of all obligations alrticipat on, to devote the swplus 

accumulated in the ounty and Road District Highwaytund 

to the aymqnt 

ticipet 9 

of Obligation. made ell 

en for the fir8t tim by' such % 

lblr for such par 

ill and to other 

purposes, was unconstitutlonel and would constitute a dirersion of a 8 ecial fund in violation of the Constitution. 

House Bill #b 8 as finally pasrod by the Legislature and 

signed by the dovernor in our opinion has satisfactorily 

removed the provision &o which we sxce~ted. 

We shall take u 

they are presented, your P 

your question8 in the order in tiich 

lrst question being -- 
Mr. G. AL. Hight, page #2 

wSection 5 of the bill, after allocating 

one-fourth of the occupation or exaire tax on 

gasoll8r to the oredit of the available free 

school fund, provides that one-fourth shall 

go to and be placed to the credit of the fund 

to be known as *County and goad Mstrlct Highway Fund’ 8ubject to the 

$” 

visions 8nd llmltations of Section 3 of t is Act. Will you 

please advise u8 what the limitations referred 

to are and what effect such limitations 'if 

any, would be upon the use to be made 08 the 

County and goad Distriat Hi 

operations of the Board of 

hway 

E 

Fund and the 

ounty and Dlstriat 

Road Indek&ednessPm 

By reference to Section 3 we find that It expres$ly 

deals with the duties df the Highway Department and directs 

developent of highways and the maintenance thereof “from. 

funds available to the State Highway Department.” Section 

5 divides the proaeeds of the occupation tax on the business 

of selling gasoline as follows: One-fourth to the Available 

School F’und, one-fourth to the County and Road District kilghway Fund subject to the 

tion 3 08 this Act, and 

revisions and limitations of Seet g 

Department. 

e remainder to the State Highway 

A careful reading of Section 3 of the Act rereals no limitations, whatever upon the one-fourth alloaated to the County 8nd Road Dkriot Highway Fund. Under 

the rules of etatutory constrB?tlon it has been decided. 

that a statute or a provision::thereof should not be given 

a construction rendering it meaningless, if the langtmge aan 

otherwise be construed. See City of Hopston Y.’ Allred 

S. W. (261 2510 Galveston H & Ii. Bi 00; t.Anderson, 249 

71' 

S. W. 998; Stoipe v. Karren, 191 S. W. 600; Texas k Pacific 

Ry. Co. v. Taplo+, 118 S. W . 1097. It is. obvious from the 

reading of Section 3 that there are no limitations at all 

relative to the one-fourth of the oocupation or excise tax 

that is ‘allocated to the Board of County and District goad 

Indebtedness under Section 5 of the Act, and it is therefore our conclusion that the llmitatlon imposed in Section 

5 u n the funds allocated to the County end Road Metrict 

Hig r way Fund Is meaningless. To 8o hold does not in anywise 

Impair the provision of the Act. 
Mr. G. A. Right, page #3 

Tour second question is as follows: 

“Should this Board now include In the credit 

allowed to each oouuty the total amount aid by 

such county for the years 1933 to 1937 !&clualve 

on their debt service, or should this bard limit 

the oredit to amounts paid by each county on 

issuer now outstanding and pay such credits to 

the counties over the life period of the outstanding bonds? In this oonnection you arc re- 

.ferredto Conference Opinion No. 3021 rendered 

by Honorable William IcCraw, Attorney General, on 

Au@& 11, 1938.” 

In re 

tention to the x 

ly to your second question we direct your atl claration of policy contained in House Bill 

6&3, Section 1, wherein It providear 

“By reason of the foregoing, a heavy and undue 

burden vms placed and still re8te upon the aounties 

and defined road district and their inhabitants, 

and both a legal and moral obligation rest upon 

the State to compensate and reimburse such counties 

and defined road distrfcts, which, as aforesaid, 

shave performed functions resting upon the State and 

have paid ex enses which were and are properly State 

expenses, al E for the use and benefft of the State, 

and to the extent provided herein that the State 

provide funds for the .further construction of roads 

;;;.esignated as a part of the State Highway SysThi. 

F 

ovision Is preceded by others which call attention to the act that the State recognires and declares 

that all highways now or heretofore constitutlag a part of 

the system of State highways and that all roads not conatltuting a 

p” 

rt of such system which have been constructed in 

whole or n part from the proceeds of bonds,,warrants or 

other evidence of indebtedness issued by counties and defined road district8 of the State of Texas under the laauthorislng the same, have been and are anh will continue 

to be beneficial to the State of Texas at large and have 
Mr. 0. A. Eight, page #4 

contributed to the general welfare, settlement and development of the entire State. hanifestly It was Intended that 

the counties or defined road dlstriatr should be corn ensated 

for money expended in the construction of roads whit % by the 

declaration of policy have oontrlbuted to the general welfare, 

settloment and development of the entire State. We, therefore, answer your question as follows: 

In our opinion this Board should Include in the aredit 

allowed to each county the total 8mount paid by such county 

for the years 1933 to 1937, Inclusive, on their debt service 

on issues now outstanding or issues which may have been outstanding at the time of the enactment of Chapter 13, Acts of 

the Third Called Session of the Forty-second Legislature of 

1932. Ye think that from the language of the bill ltsel! 

that Is, House Bill 688, as found In paragraph 2, subsection 

(h)< Section 6, which reads as follows: 

WAS soon as practicable after the passage of 

this Act and before the Lateral Read Account is 

allocated to the counties, the Board 8hall determine the amount each aount and each defined 

~~~~~~r~v~:o~i~is~~he 

Third Called Session of the Forty-Second Legislature, as amended, toward its debt serviae u 

bonds which at the time of payment were l ligi go la 

n 

to participate in the County and Road Mstrict 

gighway F’und.” 

it Is plain that the Intention of the Legislature is that the 

counties and defined road districts be full reimbursed for 

all aoney8expended on eligible issue8 for J ebt service durd 

ing the years 1933 to 1937, irrespective of whether or not 

there are issues now outstanding. We think the declaration 

of policy is clear on this point. 

The third question you have submitted reads as follow. : 

?In connection with the deductions of advancements~made by the State from the amount credited 

to the counties as provided, is it intended by 
Mr. G. A. Ught, page #S 

the Act that such deduction be made where possible 

overthe life perled of the bonds of each county 

affected, as we are now doing under authority of 

the above quoted l pinlon?a 

It mast be borne in mind that the express basic purof this law is to lift the burden of ad valorem taxes, 

the eit$9eps of the vprlous counties- and defined-read _ 

- - districts which may have Often uaed for the con8truCtlon of 

State higl&ys or fer the retirement of obligations incurred 

in the construction of highways. In our opinion there Is 

uple authorit under this law for the Board of County and 

Dldrlct Road L debtedna. to make .uch deduction over the 

life period of the bonds. And insofar as Opinion No. 3021, 

above mentioned, l uthorises and directs the payment of sums. 

due the various counties * the form of increased percentages. 

of rtieipation, ue readopt same and further state that any 

ret ga od thus designed to accomplish the ose for which this 

law was passed would in our opinion be 

pur 

wit ii in the authority. 

ef the Board. Under the Attorne 

aited, your Board undertook to a I 

General’s opinion above 

locate the .o-call~ed .ur lua 

by my of Increased percentage. of participation o n l ligi 1 le 

issue. and this, we think, was a proper a plicatloo and will 

effectively accomplish the pur 

fore, advised that in our opln E on the Board should continue the 

ose of the LW. You are theremethod adopted pursuant to the authorization canferred by law 

and as interpreted by Section 5 of 0 inion No. 3021, rendered 

by the Attorney General, August 11, E 938. 

The fourth question you submit is as follows: 

“1s it the duty of the Board to audit or otherwise verify the records of expenditures er obllgations of each county to determine the amount of 

bonds, warrants or other legal obligations issued 

prior to January 2, 1939, the proceeds of which 

were actually expended in acquiring rights-of-way 

for State designated highways?” 

To answer this question we rrfer to paragraph 2 under 

subsection (h) , Section 4 of the let, whiah reads, in part, as 

follow. : 
Mr. 0. A. Sight, page #6 

‘The moneys allocated to each county from the 

Lateral Road Account ebhell be used by aid county, 

r paying the~ar~~atere8t and rinkapart sufficient money to pay off and dlecharge 

8aid outstandin 

of-way acqulsit f 

obligations incurred for righton.” 

In this we find a doclaratlon of legislatlto Intent 

and to properly effectuate this Intention we arc of the 

opinion that It till be necessary for the Board to adopt the 

same method followed in the matter of recording itors of indebtedness incurred in the construatlon of highways which 

have been desi 

that zir, the r k? ght-ef-way obligation should be handlod In 

ated as a part of the State Highway Sydea, 

like manner as the presently “eli lble obllgatlona~. Therefore, it is .our opinion that it w ‘I 11 be the duty of tho 

Board to audit or otherwise verify the record of expenditures or obligations of each county to determine the amount 

of money aotually expended in acquiring rights-of-way ,fw 

State designated highway8 in order to carry out the mandate 

of this provision of the Act. 

follows: 

Ye quote here your fifth question, which reads as 

mt are the Board’s dutloa as tho refunding egent of each county.as provided in the 

second paragraph of subsection (I) of Section 

6 and *hat are the limitations on refunding l hgible and ineligible Indebtedness under this 

subeectiont~ 

meaning 

We think that in order to properly interpret the 

of this provlaion of the bw wherein the object or 
Mr. G. A. Hi&t, page #7 

1 

urpoae of the provision of the statute is not lain, it 

ecomes necessary to read the entire section. t nder thd 

rule of &atutory conetruction, all of the language used 

rrhould be taken Into consideration when l ndoavoring to. 

ascertain the object or 

it must be noted that 

urpose, and in this connection 

su 1 section (i) of Section 6 begins 

as follows: 

*The county ~ommi88ioner8~ court ef any county 

may exercise the authority now.conferred by law 

to issue refunding obligations for the purpose of' 

any defi.nea-%~~~~i~~% 

refunding an l li ible debt of the count 

ligation. when.validly issued shall be eligible 

obligations within the meaning of this Act, if 

mid Board of County and District I&ad Indebtedness shall approve the maturities of said refunding obligations and the rate of interest borne by 

them.,’ 

Then pas&g over to the last sentence of the seconds parae 

graph of the same section, we find: 

'All actual expenses inourred in the refunding of an elinible indebtedness including the 

cost of proceedings, printing fegal approval 

and interest adjustment, shali be chargeable 

against the moneys theretofore or thereafter 

collected from ad valorem taxes, or at the op 

tion of the commisslonerr~ conrt conduating such 

refunding, may be paid from \any other wne 

z 

under 

its control and available for the purpose. 

We have underscored the term neligible lndebtednossw 

for the purpose of strengthening our aonclueion,that this 

section refers to pnd contemplates only that mch items of 

Indebtedness shall be submitted to the Board for ap roval 

rior to a refunding thereof. 

R 

We refer you toSect E on 2 of 

ouse Bill 688, which contains the definition of term8 and 

expressions used throughout the Act, and find there -- "the 

expression teligible obligation' as used in this Act shall 

mean obligations the proceeds of which were actually exE 

ended on State highways." We think the expression "eli ile indebtedness" synonymous with the expression f "ellgib e 
Hr. 0. A. Eight, page #8 

obligationw and therefore comes within this definition. 

We are of the opinion that the Board’s dutioa’as to the 

refunding assignment 

subsection (I) of Soa e Ion 6 are limltod to the refunding 

rovided in the.second paragraph of 

of eligible obligations as defined .b 

such duties do not extend to and lnc 1 

this Act, and that 

ude any 8o-called 

ineligible indebtedness .whioh may or may not rticipate 

in the excess funds provided herein to be are % ited to the 

account to be known as the Lateral Road’ Account. 

Yhe last ragnph of subsection (L) makes the Board 

of County and Mstr r ct Road Indebtedness the refunding agent 

,of each count md as such agent is directed to cooperate 

with the come 1 rsloners’ court of each county in effecting the 

neaossary refunding of.each issue of bonds, and that the 

Board shall prepare the necessary refunding order for the 

commlrsion~rs~ court, prepare the proceedings and act In an 

advisory and su 

pense of refund 

rvisory capacit 

f& i 

to the sad that the u-, 

any lssuo of ends may be reduced to a 

iinirun. gaving determined in the preaedin 

the duties of the Board in the matter of m f f 

paragra h that 

unding o bonds 

extend only to weligible i88uesw, it necessarily follows 

that the duties 8Ileaated In this paragra h of 8ubsection 

(I) oxtend to only the l liglble issues. E t Is our conclusion 

that the language of this seation Is merely directory and. 

that the Board shall bo required to act in that capacity only 

as a means of reducing the expense of refunding any Issue of 

such bonds to a mlnimum. Inasmuch as this same paragraph 

requires that any item af expense incurred in connection with 

a refunding must have the affirmative approval of the Board 

before being Incurred, we think that in their advieory and - 

supervisory capacity, they could under this law, if deemed 

expedient, prepare the necessary refunding orders, roceedlngs and perform other duties incident to the camp P etion of 

a re i undiag of any issue of such bonds. 

You are therefore, advised that in our opinion your 

duties as euch re!unding agent with respect to the pre 

tion of proceeding8 and refunding order,‘would rest wit %in ““- 

the discretion of the Board and would not become mandatory 

except in the event the prospective aosts of such proceedings 

by other agencies appear excessive. 
Ur. 8, A. Hight, page #9 

Your sixth question reads as foollowe: 

‘1yill you lease further advise the Board 

to thorn or to w! at agency the expense of the 

Board for performing the rrervices to the counties in the refundi of the county issues as 

directed b the rov sions of this subsration 

shall be egargod!w ’ 

In o ur o inio n, 

E 

any l ense lnuorrod in the refunding of any subh ob lgation Is pr % arily an &nse of the 

county, dofined road dirtriot or political su division roposing such refundi 

The% 

8nd should, therefore, be charge 8 to 

such agencies.. et 

vides, in pa&., that : 

paragraph of sobsection, (i) pro- 

“All actual ex enses incurred In the refunding of an eligible E ndebtedaess including the 

cost of proceedings, printing, Algal a proval and 

Interest adjuetment, shall be chargeab E e against 

the monoys theretofore or thereafter collected 

frem ad valorem taxes, or at the option of tho 

commlrsloners~ court conducting 8ueh refunding, 

may be paid from 8ny other money nnder its control and available for the purpose.” 

We think this alearly indicates the Legislature’s 

intention that the county, defined road dletrict or political 

subdivision 8hall bear the upenee of any such refunding, and 

!io 

ou muld properly char e 

ard in aonnectlon wit t 

any such expense accruing to the 

.uch refunding to the county defined road district or political rubdivision instlga& such 

refunding progr8& 

We quote hero your seventh question: 

swan the several oounty commissloners~ courts 

employ on a salary or contract basis, subject to 

the oiflrmatlve approval of this Board, one or 

more persons to assist in the refunding of such 

indebtedness and pay for .uch service~~~,t$ 

manner provided in the Act for the 

re;st expenses of refunding eligib r l indebted- 
‘. 

Mr. 0. A. Bight, page #lO 

all actual 

It mwt be borne in mind that this law requires that 

cobts of refunding eligible indebtedness be mbBitted to the Board for l p roval before such cost8 are incurred. It then follows t L t the Board must pa88 upon all 

suoh items of expense and if In its opinion certain items * 

of expense sought to 6e incurred are considered unnecessary, 

it should disapprove. thei. The law states that only the 

actual l xpense of refunding, which includes cost of proceedi 

8hall Y 

8, printing, le al approval and Interest adjustnenta, 

e approved. Thfs itemiaation of expense is not a’ 

llmitatlon thereon but Is suggestive of that which under 

ordinary conditions should constitute actual expenses. The 

Legislature, of aourse, contemplated that certain othor 

costs right arise in connection with a refunding and could, 

be reasonably classified as necessary or actual refunding 

3 

ense. Consequently, it delegated to the Board the duty 

power of determlniag the necessity for such costs by 

re uirlng that a11antlalpated expense of refunding ellglble 

ln%ebtednerr be submitted to the Board for approval in ad-’ 

vunce of incurring same. ho appeal has been protided in 

the event the Board disapproves an item of expense; hence 

~~~8t conclude that the Board’s ruling thereon *ould be 

The Board is vested with the fnrther power to refund &h debt itself md charge the expense thereof to the 

oounty defined rpad dirtriot or political subdivl8lon instigatlng such refunding. ‘fhy+gg;~ :~d~~~~~~~Qefv 

to hold the cost of refunding 

midmum. 

Consistent with the foregoing conclusion the Board 

would be tequired to detsmine whether or not then anployment of a person or persons to “asside in a refunding 

would be a necessary or actual expense Incident thereto, 

asp contemplated by the Legislature. The word uassi8tw, 

appearing in your questions, has a very broad and indeterminate meaning, but as llsecj here it must 8ean “in ald 

of”, ‘being of service” or “he1 ing”. Such terms are llkewise indefinites hence it must P ie with the Board to determine the necessity for such em loyment and whether or 

not it is indispensable in accomp P ishing a refunding. The 

fasts of each 8uch refunding must ultimately define the 

course the hoard is to follow in approving or disapproving 

r 
nr. G. A. Uht, page Pl 

the costs of employing a person or 

E" 

rsons to assist a 

county defined road distrlot or po itical subdivision in 

refunding Its eligible indebtedness. 

We are unabli to flnd in the Ac t l n.y mention of the 

employment .of 

r 

rsons on a salary or contract basis for the 

purpose of ass rtlng in the refUnding of such indebtedness 

as may bo sought to be refunded, and we think that under the 

law a commissioners' court has the power and authority to 

contract for the servicer of export8 on questions of financlng and refinancing in the r8me manner as they now have authority to retain architects attorneys, auditor8 or enlnoers but we think that the compensation for such serviceo:: 

& this 'eonnoctlon must, under the law, be submitted to the 

Board for a proval 

the dimeret 

E 

on of t e Board it Is detewined .that such cost 

rior to incurring came. If then, In 

is not a neaersary or actuai aoet as contemplated by this 

law, we think the Board should properly disapprove such Item 

of expense* 

Very truly yours 

ATTORHEiYGW3RkLOF TEXAS 

APFBOVED OCT. 7, 1939 

By /s Clarence B. Crowe 

C rence E. Crowe 

Assistant 

/sf V. ?. 'Moore 

FIBST A&ISTAllT 

ATTOFNEY GElsERAL 

CRC-.