Honorable Bill Allcorn Opinion No. W- 

### 505

Commissioner General Land Office Re: Whether the,General Land Austin, Texas Office can pay registration fees for the ChiefAppraiser, the Executive Secretary of the Veterans' LandBoard and an attorney, to attend the Southwest Appraisal ConDear Mr. Allcorn: ference to be held In Austin.

You have requested our opinion on whether the General Land Office can pay,registration fees for the Chief Appriaser, the Executive Secretary of the Veterans' LandBoard and an attorney, all employees of the General Land Office, to attend the SouthwestAppraisal Conference to be held in Austin. You state that the ffeneral Land Officehas had numerous and varied problems arising out of condemnationproceedings,both from the legal standpoint and from the standpoint of placing an ap?ralsed value on land being condemned. Your appraisers appraise State-owned free public school land and the land presently ownedby-the Veterans' Land Board in connectionwith condemnationproceedings.

Section 

### 51of Article III of the Constitutionof Texas reads In part asfollows:

"The Legislature shallhave no? power to make any grant of public moneys to any Individual,association of Individuals;funicipal or other corporations whatsoever;

. . . Numerous opinionshave been written by this office on whether comparable expensesmay be paid for State employees to attendmeetings, conferences and schools. Attorney General's Opinion

### wW-433 (lg58),after citing the above constitutional provision, sums the applicable law a6 follows:y3~:0~'11,~jle Xl1 Allcorn, Page 2 (WW-505).

";,i1;:z;+arent that the above Articlepro- !l.Lbits the Legislature from granting 0.rappropriati:;g p\:bllc

money to any'indlvldual,association of lMiivir,jual:j,

municipal or other corporations. However, the Texas courts have Interpreted Section 51, Article III, as not preventing the Legislature from appropriating State funds to an individual, assoclation of individuals,municipal or other corporations if the use and purpose of the appropriation Is for the furtherance of the governmental duties of the' State. Ii'the appropriation is-for a use not related to State Eovernrnentai duties and functions. such 

### .._ apu*u- *-orlation is a gratuity and Invalid. Sexar Countyv. Linden, 110 Tex. 339, 220 S.W. T-920); I':oad 'X::tricr:

No. 4, Shelby Co.v. Allred, 68 S.W.2d TG -4 (sotmi.i.

QP., 1934) opinion adopted by the Sayme court; City of'Aransas Passv. Keeling 247 s. rf

. 218, 112 Tex. 339 (1923);Jones v. Alexander, 53 S.W.2d 1083 (Comm.App., 19331, opinion adopted by the Supreme Court; Texas PharmaceuticalAssoclat;on v. Dooley, 90 S.W.2d 328 (Tex. Civ. App., 

### 1936); Jei'ferSOn CO. V .Board of Co. & Dist. Road Indebted- =, lb;.:

S.W.2d 0 

### (1944). Attorney General's Opinionw-83 (1957)discusses p,-1orAttorney General's Opinion on this question and concludes:

"It 1~:: to be noted that in determiningwhether tr,--,v@2

is includedPursuant to the general approprlai;:nn i.ill1s i'or'statebusiness' the question to be de&&d icwhether the result Is the accomplishment :>I? a governmental function and that themeans and ii:<:thod.s

t,?c 1 ,;teti is reasonablynecessary. Since the traini.;iti,

:iescr*ibe?

in your letterwill be directly and :;~~i'i:~tant:1a:ily us<6 to facilitate the operation I:, i t.:;? TX.1 equipment to be used by the Roard of : YlS'lr'2tlC"

Commissioners,it is cur opinion that the pro~oncd travc!,is for 'statebusiness' since such !:rip will ruc;;tilt

In the accomplishment. of governmen- ~a1 fun:tLons entrusted to the employees anti will be ~1‘ a substaht1a.l

and direct benefit to the Board of Insurance Zommissloners. You are, therefore, advised that ttl?

proPosed travel expense as outlined Inyour t~.-q"cst

.i:: author:zed."Honorable Bill Allcorn, Page 

### 3 (W-505). -, ,

Applying theseprinciples to the instant case, in our opinion the (Chief Appraiser of the General Land Office has offl~cial

duties devolved upon hlm In relation to free public school land and land owned by the Veterans' Land Board of such a character that a high degree of professional competence io yippraisingland valueswould be necessary to the perl'ormanceof a government&l function entrusted tohim and would be of substantialand direct benefit to the General Land .Office. The training and information received at such conference would have, therefore, a sufficient relationshipto the performance of a governmental function as to allow such registration fee to be paid by the State.

The Executive Secretary of the Veterans' Land Board, having supervisory responsibilityover the operations of the Veterans' Land Board, has a primary concern for theproper and adequate appraisal of lands involved in the Board's activities cu,fficlentto establish that his attendance at such conference would be for the primary benefit of the State. !Ihe General Land Officemay pay his registration fee. Also, since the operations of the General Land Office and the Veterans' Land Board, including appraisals, are conducted in a context of specific legal requirements,we feel the General Land Office may also pay the registration fee for this attorney to attend the conf'erence.

SUMMARY

The General Land Officemay pay the registration fees for the Chief Appraiser to attend the Southwest Appraisal Conference, such training recej.ved

being reasonably, substantially and directly related to his duties, and the registration fees for the Executive Secretary of the Veterans' Land Board and an attorneyScjr';he,General Iand Oft'ice may :11so

be pald.Sinc.erely,

WILL WITSSON Attorney General of Texas

Tom I. IrloFarling Assistant 

# U

T:fM : ci:,j !. :\PPROTTD: OP:I~I!Xl

COMMITTET?:: Geo. 1".

Blackburn, Chairman Jack Goodman
L. ?. Loilar ? 0

.M!.l.torl

Richardson i-E:'1 :;!?:E!-I FOR '~i:I~i.E

P.?TTOiiNEY

GENERAL 'BY: Ii

.V. Goppert