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.

Youhave requested the opinion of this office
onwhether the appropriations madein House Bill 39# Acts of the 53rd Legislature, are 'of such anature as to require the certificate of the Comptroller provided for in Section 49a of Article III of the State Constltution." .

House Bill 39amends the sections of the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Righvaaya (Art, 67016, V.C..S.) which deal with inspection of vehicles andwhich
are usually referred to as the Hotor Vehicle Inspection
Law. Although enacted as a general law, the bill contains twoappropriations which are effective for a period of twoyears if they are otherwise valid0 Your question relatea to their validity in the light of 

### Section49s 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, noappropriation in excess of the cash 

### andantfcipated revenue of the funds from which such appropriation is to be made

### ahallbe valid. Fromand after January 1, P945, 

### nobill Oontaining anappropriation shall be consideredlion, Robert S. Calvert, page 2 (s-64)

as passed or be sent ~tothe Governor for consideration untl.l’tind unl.ess the Comptrollkr of Pub11c 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 39must be considered from the standpoint of three separate appropr!ations., 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 39for supplementation of salaries of certain employees of the Department of Public Safety and employment of additional patrolmen.

(3) Theappropriation contained in Section 6 of House Bill 39for refunds onuniss’ued inspection certificates.
TheMotdf,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 Fundfor 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 %ndemployees to carry out the provisions of

‘,the section within the amounts madeavailable 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 111was passed onApril 14, 1953, wasduly certified by the Comptroller as wittiip the available revenues, and
wasapproved by the dove&k onApril 29, 1953. All of this occurred prior to the enactment of House Bill 39.

Immediately following the provision cresting the Motor Vehicle Inspecti.on Fundand 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 newproviafon:

I,e 00Provided, 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 maybe used by, and fs hereby appropriated to, the Texas Department of iublfc Safety, to be used as Pollows: qD0
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.
WhPlenot ePf*ective as a contfnuing appropriation, thfs 1s anappropriation for twoyears. The section appropriates the balance over and above other a.mounts appropriated from the Motor Vehicle Inspection Fundo If nobalance exists, nothfng 1s appropriated; if abalance does exfst, that and nomore is appropriated* The only action which the Comptroller could possibly have taken ff House Bj,,ll 39hadbeen sent to himfor certification would have been to certify that the amount appropriated in this section wss withfn the anticipated
revenue D Wethink this appropriation falls Nith1.n the purview ,ofAttorney General’s Opinion O-G626 (1945), which held that anapproprfatfon of al3 the money coming into aspec?Y?.c fund, :f~l.%ho:.:tstatz,ng any specfrfc amount, did not have to be certif ”ied, since the amount appropriated could not possibly exceed the available revenue.

tfon 6

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

“Asmuch of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Fundas maybe necessary is hereby appropriated and set aside to pay refunds as provided by law0”
Under the Motor Veh%cle Inspection Lawprfor to amendmentby House Bill 39 (as ft exfsted at the time House Bfll 111was certified), the Department of Public Safety furnished blank fnspectfon certlffcates to the Inspection statfons, andupon 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- Anamendmentmadein HouseHon. Robert S. Calvert, page 4 (S-64)

Bill 39permits the Department of Public Safety to re+ quire each Inspection station to makean advance payment of 25cents on each certificate blank furnished to it, and the inspection station Is entitled to arefund
on all unissued certificate blanks which it later returns to the Department. The approprlat Ion In Section 6is 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 aprior payment Into the Motor Vehlcle’Inspection Fundwhich would not have been made under the old procedure. At the time House Bill 39was passed, there was nowayof estimating howmuchof the ~moneywhich maybe deposited in the Funda8advance 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 wasremitted after the certificate was issued. For each. refund there would have to be acorresponding prepayment. If House Bill 39had 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, weare 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,

. JOHNBEN

### SHEPPBRD Attorney CIeneral

APPROVED:
John BenShepperd Attorney General

.