THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

Honorable D.~W. Stakes 

General Manager' 

Texas.Prlson System 

Huntsville, Texas 

Dear Mr. Stakes: Opinion No. O-6794 

Re: Payment of taxes due~countg 

and school districts, by Texas 

Prison System, In absence of 

the specific appropiration. 

We have your request for an opinion set out in the 

following question: 

"In the absence of a specific appropriation 

providing for payment of taxes due counties and 

school districts, can the Texas Prison System 

pay such taxes from prison income?" 

Section 6 of Article 8 of the Texas Constitution reads 

as follows: 

"No money shall be drawn from the Treasury 

but Fn pursuance of suecific appropriationsbv law; nor shall ang appropriation of money be 

made for a longer term than two gears, except by 

the first Legislature to assemble under this Constitution, which may make the necessary appropriations to carry on the government until the assemblage of the sixteenth Legislature. 

Article 7150, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, as amended by act of the Regular Session of the 49th Legislature, 1945, 

Chapter 298, page 470, (H. B. 289) reads as follows: 

"Article 7150. (7507) (5065). Exemption from 

taxation. 

"The following property shall be exempt from 

taxation; to-wit: 

* o . . . . . 

"Subsection 4. All property, whether real 
Honorable T. W. Stakes, page 2 o -6794 

or personal, belonging exclusively to this State, 

or any political subdivision thereof, or the 

United States, except that in each county in this 

State, where the State of Texas has or may acquire 

and own land for the purpose of establishing thereon State farms and employing thereon convict labor 

on State account, ,the penitentiary board or board 

of penitentiary commissioners, or other officers 

of the penitentiary having the management of the 

same, shall render said land for taxes to the tax 

assessor of said county and to the tax assessor of 

each independent school district in which'sald 

property, or any part thereof, is located; and the 

taxes on same shall be assessed and collected in 

the manner required by law for the assessment and 

collection of other taxes; provided, that said 

taxes shall be assessed and collected for county 

and independent school district purposes only; and 

said county and independent school district taxes, 

including all current taxes and all delinquent taxes, 

shall be paid annually out of the General Revenue 

Fund of the State. In arriving at the amount to be 

paid in taxes to the counties the value of the land 

only shall be considered and not the value of the 

buildings and other improvements owned by the State 

and situated on said land." . . . D . 

We have examined Chapter 378, Acts of the Regular Session of the 49th Legislature, being Senate Bill 317, providing 

for "Appropriations--State Executive and Administrative Departments and Agencies". An appropriation Is made in that bill 

for the Texas Prison System, but there is no specific appropriation for payment of taxes to be paid to counties and school 

districts on state owned land. The bill contains the following at the conclusion of specific sums appropriated, to-wit: 

'For the purpose of efficiency and economically 

purchasing supplies and materials necessary for the 

operation and maintenance of the Prison System's 

shoe shop , print shop, garment factory, textile mill, 

sugar mill, canning plant, agricultural and livestock program, license plate plant, brick plant, 

tannery, and any other industry of the Prison System, and forthe processing, packaging and distributing the goods produced by the Prison Industries 

there is hereby reappropriated foreach year of the 

biennium beginning September 1, 1945, the Prison 

Industrial.Revolving Fund of Fifty Thousand 

Dollars created by Chapter 403 (R.B. 

the First Called Session of the 44th 
Honorable T. W. Stakes, page 3 o-6794 

Legislature and deposited in equal amounts in the 

First Rational Bank and the Huntsville National 

Bank in Huntsville, Texas, subject to and with 

the benefits contemplated in the provisions of 

said Act. The Prison Industrial Revolving Fund 

in the State Treasury and all deposits thereto 

during the biennium beginning September 1, 1945, 

are appropriated for each year of the biennium and 

all withdrawals from the Prison Industrial Revolving Fund in the State Treasury made in carrying 

out said Chapter 403, shall be made on Vouchers of 

the Prison System signed by the General Manager and 

Auditor of the Prison System and approved by the 

State Board of Control and the State Comptroller. 

The Comptroller shall issue his warrants in payment 

of said vouchers, when properly signed and approved, 

out of any money in said Treasury Account. 

"Revolving expense fund Twenty-five Thousand 

($25,OOO.OO) Dollars is continued and reappropriated 

until September 1, 1947, to be deposited equally in 

the First National Bank of Huntsville and the Huntsville Rational Bank, and each of said banks shall 

deposit with the General Manager of the Prison System 

bonds of seourlty to be approved by the Prison Board 

and the Attorney General of the State of Texas to 

secure said deposits. 

11 . . . . . 

"Provided, however, that funds which may be 

deposited in the State Treasur 

nium beglnnlng September 1, % 

during the bien19 5, from the sale of 

goods or products produaed or processed by the Prison System, in excess of the amounts necessary to 

reimburse all Prison ReQOlQing Funds carried in the 

Huntsville banks, are hereby appropriated for the 

constructlon, during the biennium, of Cell-~Blocks, 

Buildings, and Engineering and Architectural Fees, 

any such construction work so undertaken to be first 

approved by a majority of the members of the Texas 

Prison-Board, provided suoh'amount shall not exceed 

$150,000.00, and provided further that any balance 

in the'State Treasury in the-'Prison Industrial ReQolvlng~Fund~at the end of said biennium in excess 

of $50,000.00 shall be transferred to the General 

Revenue Fund; and that any balance in the State 

Treasury in the Texas Prison Fundat,the end of 

said biennium in excess of $50,000.00 shall be 

transferred to the ffeneral Revenue Fund." 
. . 

Honorable T. W. Stakes, page 4 o-6794 

It will be noted from the above that funds from the 

sale of goods and products produced and processed by the Prison System, in excess of the amounts necessary to reimburse 

all Prison Revolving Funds are appropriated-'for construction 

of Cell Blocks, Buildings;~and~~gineeriiig and Architectural 

Fees; not to'exceed $150,000.00 and any~balande in the State 

Treasury in the .Prison Industrial Revolving Fund, at the end 

of said bienniumin excess of'$50,000.00 shall be turned back 

to the General Revenue Fund, and any balance in the State 

Treasury in the TexasPrison Fund at the end of'said bienni-, 

urn in excess of $50,000.00 shall likewise be transferred to 

the General Revenue Fund. 

. . 

We do not find any appropriation for the purpose of 

paying taxes and it will be seen that the Legislature provided ' 

the methods of assessing the taxes and the manner of arriving 

at the amount, as well as providing that payments shall,be 

made out of the General Revenue Fund but failed~to make an 

appropriation of the money with which to pay such taxes. 

In the case of Rational Biscuit Co. v. 'the State, 135 

S. W. (26) 687, the Supreme Court of Texas said the following: 

"As ,'ust stated, ,..i -' one of the provisions of . 

Section of Article 8 of our Constitution requires all appropriations of money out of the 

State's Treasury' to be specific. It is settled 

that no particular form of words is required to 

render an appropriation specific within the meaning of the constitutional provision under discussion. It is sufficient if the-Legislature 

authorizes the expenditure by law, and specifies 

the purpose for which the ap ropriation is made. 

. . . . (Underscoring ours P 

"In spite of the above rules of law, we think 

that this attempted appropriation falls short of 

meeting the constitutional requirements that it 

be specific . . , . . It is indefinite as to amount, or even as to a maximum amount, leaving 

that matter, not to the Legislature, but to another 

branch of the Government, the courts to determine. 

We do not believe that such an appropriation of 

money out of~the State Treasury meets the constitutional requirements that it shall be specific. 

It is the opinion of this department that in the absence 

of a specific appropriation providing for payment of taxes due 

counties and school districts, the Texas Prison System cannot 

pay taxes from Prison income. 
Honorable T. W, Stakes, page 5 o-6794 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/Jos. V. Frnka 

Jos. V. Friika 

Assistant 

JVF:ddt:ac 

APPROVES SEP 4, 1945 

s/carlos C. Ashley 

FIRST ASSISTANT 

ATTORNEY GENERAL