July 9, 1953 

Hon. Robert S. Calvert Op:nion No. S-64 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

Capitol Station Re: Validity of the 

:2ust:n, Texas appropriations in 

House Bill 39, Acts 

53rd Legislature, 

1953, relating to 

motor vehicle inspection, in the 

absence of certiPi- 

: cation by the Comptroller under Sec. 

49a, Art. III, ConDear Sir: stitution of Texas. 

You have requested the opinion of this office 

on whether the appropriations made in House Bill 39# 

Acts of the 53rd Legislature, are 'of such a nature as 

to require the certificate of the Comptroller provided 

for in Section 49a of Article III of the State Constltution." 

. 

House Bill 39 amends the sections of the 

Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Righvaaya (Art, 67016, 

V.C..S.) which deal with inspection of vehicles and which 

are usually referred to as the Hotor Vehicle Inspection 

Law. Although enacted as a general law, the bill contains two appropriations which are effective for a period 

of two years if they are otherwise valid0 Your question 

relatea to their validity in the light of Section 49s 

of Article III of the Constitution, which reads in part 

a8 followes 

"Ram and after January 1,~1945, save 

in the case of emergency and Imperative pub1% necessity and with a four-Piithe vote of 

the total membership of each Rouse, no appropriation in excess of the cash and antfcipated revenue of the funds from which such 

appropriation is to be made ahall be valid. 

From and after January 1, P945, no bill Oontaining an appropriation shall be considered 
lion, Robert S. Calvert, page 2 (s-64) 

as passed or be sent ~to the Governor for 

consideration untl.l’tind unl.ess the Comptrollkr of Pub11 c Accounts endorses his certi.ficate thereon showing that the amount appropriated is within the amount estimated to be 

ava,ilable in the affected funds. 

The effect of the failure to obtain the Comptroller’s certification on’House Bill 39 must be considered from the standpoint of three separate appropr! at ions., namely: 

(1) The rppropr4at;f on conl;a:ined In House B~lll 

111, Acts 53rd Leg. (Gene:?,%1 .Appropri.at:i~on ?ct) for 

administration of the Mot’@ Vehicle Inspection Division 

of the Department of Public. Safety during the biennium 

beginning September 1, 1953. 

(2) The appropriation in Section 3 of House 

Bill 39 for supplementation of salaries of certain employees of the Department of Public Safety and employment of additional patrolmen. 

(3) The appropriation contained in Section 6 

of House Bill 39 for refunds on uniss’ued inspection 

certificates. 

The Motdf,Vehicle Inspection Law, as enacted 

by Chapter 141, Acts of the 52nd Legislature, 1951 (amending Sets. 140-142, Art. 67016, V.C,.S.) created the 

Motor Vehicle Inspection,Fund and allocated the moneys 

in the Fund for us,e in thk, administration of the law. 

Subdivision (a) of’Seetlon 141. Subdivlsion (g) of 

Section 140 authorized the appointment and compensation 

of officers %nd employees to carry out the provisions of 

‘,the section within the amounts made available by appropriation.” The amounts appropriated for this purpose for 

the biennium beginning September 1 1953, are fixed by 

the General Appropriation Act at $432 480 for the year 

ending August 31, 1954, and at $421,680 for the year 

ending August 31, 1955. H.B. 111, Act& 53rd Leg. House 

Bill 111 was passed on April 14, 1953, was duly certified 

by the Comptroller as wittiip the available revenues, and 

was approved by the dove&k on April 29, 1953. All of 

this occurred prior to the enactment of House Bill 39. 

Immediately following the provision cresting 

the Motor Vehicle Inspecti.on Fund and allocating it for 

administrative expenses, Subdivision (a) of Section 141, 

Article 6701d, as amended in Section 3 of House Bill 39, 
Han, Robert S, Celvert, page 3 (S-54) 

contains the following new proviafon: 

I, e 0 0 Provided, however, t!?at any 

balance remainfng fn such fund which is 

determined at any time by t?le Public Srf”ety 

Commfss:on to be in excess of the amount 

required for the admfnistratlon of thfs 

Act may be used by, and fs hereby appropriated to, the Texas Department of iublfc 

Safety, to be used as Pollows: q D 0 

The purposes tl!en set, out in the statute are 

(1) supplementation of salaries or certafn classes of 

employees and (2) employment of” additional highway 

patrolmen. 

WhPle not ePf*ective as a contfnuing appropriation, thfs 1s an appropriation for two years. The 

section appropriates the balance over and above other 

a.mounts appropriated from the Motor Vehicle Inspection 

Fund o If no balance exists, nothfng 1s appropriated; 

if a balance does exfst, that and no more is appropriated* 

The only action which the Comptroller could possibly have 

taken ff House Bj,,ll 39 had been sent to him for certification would have been to certify that the amount appropriated in this section wss withfn the anticipated 

revenue D We think this appropriation falls Nith1.n the 

purview ,of Attorney General’s Opinion O-G626 (1945), 

which held that an approprfatfon of al3 the money coming 

into a spec?Y?.c fund, :f~l.%ho:.:t statz,ng any specfrfc amount, 

did not have to be certif”ied, since the amount appropriated could not possibly exceed the available revenue. 

tfon 6 or 

Coming to the appropriatfon contafned fn SeeHouse Bill 39, this approprfation reads: 

“As much of the Motor Vehicle Inspection 

Fund as may be necessary is hereby appropriated 

and set aside to pay refunds as provided by law 0” 

Under the Motor Veh%cle Inspection Law prfor to 

amendment by House Bill 39 (as ft exfsted at the time 

House Bfll 111 was certified), the Department of Public 

Safety furnished blank fnspectfon certlffcates to the 

Inspection statfons, and upon Issuance the inspection 

station remftted to the Department of Public Safety for 

each certiffcate issued by it 25 cents of the $l,OO fee 

pafd by the vehicle owner- An amendment made in House 
Hon. Robert S. Calvert, page 4 (S-64) 

Bill 39 permits the Department of Public Safety to re+ 

quire each Inspection station to make an advance payment of 25 cents on each certificate blank furnished to 

it, and the inspection station Is entitled to a refund 

on all unissued certificate blanks which it later 

returns to the Department. The approprlat Ion In 

Section 6 is for paying these refinds. 

This change in procedure will not affect 

the ultimate amount of revenue derived under the Motor 

Vehicle Inspection Law. For every refund which is made, 

there must have been a prior payment Into the Motor 

Vehlcle’Inspection Fund which would not have been made 

under the old procedure. At the time House Bill 39 was 

passed, there was no way of estimating how much of the 

~money which may be deposited in the Fund a8 advance payments will be paid out in the form of refunds. However, 

the amount cannot be greater than the Increase In deposits over the amount which the State would receive If 

Its portion of the Inspection fee was remitted after 

the certificate was issued. For each. refund there would 

have to be a corresponding prepayment. If House Bill 

39 had been submitted to the Comptroller for certifi.- 

cation, the only action he could have taken would have. . 

been to certify that funds for paying this appropriation 

would be available. In keeping with the 

holding In Opinion, O-6626, we are of the 

certification ls not necessary under these 

SUUUAHY 

Section 49a of Article III, Conetitutlon of Texas, does not require submission of anappropriation bill to the 

Comptroller for certification If the 

nature of the appropriation Is such that 

the only action the Comptroller could take 

would be,to certify that the amount appropriated Is within the amount estimated to 

be available In t!le affected funds. The 

appropriations in House Bill 39, Acts 53rd 

Legislature (Uotor Vehicle Inspection Law) 

for additional salary payments out of the 

balance remaining in the Motor Vehicle 

Inspection Fund and for payment of refunds 

on rlnlssued Inspection certificates are of 

. . 

,~, /‘?. 

_, ,..” y:, a *... 
. - 

Hon. Robert S. Calvert, page 5 (s-64) 

this nature. 

Yours very truly, 

. 

JOHN BEN SHEPPBRD 

Attorney CIeneral 

APPROVED: 

John Ben Shepperd 

Attorney General 

.