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 Chief Appraiser, the Executive Secretary 

of the Veterans' Land Board 

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' Land Board and an 

attorney, all employees of the General Land Office, to attend 

the Southwest Appraisal Conference to be held in Austin. You 

state that the ffeneral Land Office has had numerous and varied 

problems arising out of condemnation proceedings, 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 owned by-the Veterans' Land Board in connection with 

condemnation proceedings. 

Section 51 of Article III of the Constitution of 

Texas reads In part asfollows: 

"The Legislature shall have no? power to make 

any grant of public moneys to any Individual, association of Individuals; funicipal or other corporations whatsoever; . . . 

Numerous opinions have been written by this office 

on whether comparable expenses may be paid for State employees 

to attend meetings, 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). 

";,i 1;: z;+arent that the above Article pro- 

!l.Lbits the Legislature from granting 0.r appropriati:;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 

County v. 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 Pass v. 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 Pharmaceutical Assoclat;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 Opinion w-83 (1957) discusses 

p,-1or Attorney General's Opinion on this question and concludes: 

"It 1~:: to be noted that in determining whether 

tr,--,v@2 isincluded Pursuant to the general approprlai;:nn i.ill 1s i'or 'state business' the question to be 

de&&d ic whether the result Is the accomplishment 

:>I? a governmental function and that the means and 

ii:<:thod.s t,?c ,;teti 1 is reasonably necessary. Since the 

traini.;iti, :iescr*ibe? in your letter will 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 'state business' 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 In your 

t~.-q"cst .i:: author:zed. " 
Honorable Bill Allcorn, Page 3 (W-505). 

-, , 

Applying these principles 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 yippraising land values would be necessary to the 

perl'ormance of a government&l function entrusted to him and 

would be of substantial and direct benefit to the General Land 

.Office. The training and information received at such conference would have, therefore, a sufficient relationship to 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 responsibility over the operations of the 

Veterans' Land Board, has a primary concern for the proper and 

adequate appraisal of lands involved in the Board's activities 

cu,fficlent to establish that his attendance at such conference 

would be for the primary benefit of the State. !Ihe General 

Land Office may 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 Office may 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 attorney 
Scjr ';he,General Iand Oft'ice 

may :11so be pald. 

Sinc.erely, 

WILL WITSSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

Tom I. IrloFarling 

Assistant U 

T:fM : c i : ,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