Texas Attorney General Opinion: V-268 Page: 3 of 5
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Hon. W. O. Reed - Page 3
the certificates which are required before they shall be consid-
ered as passed. On the contrary, they have certificates that each
of the appropriations exceeds the estimated available funds. Undey
the above constitutional provision, such a certificate amounts to a
practical "veto" of a Bill. Upon making such a certificate, the
Comptroller is required to retrn a Bill to the House in which it
originated and to inform both Houses. Thereupon, the Constitution
provides that "the necessary steps shall be taken to bring such ap-
propriation to within the revenue, either by providing additional
revenues or reducing the appropriation." As held in our Opinion
Number V-Z08. the Legislature has another alternative -- the pas-
sage of the Bill with an emergenCy provision by a four-fifths vote
of the total membership of each House after it is returned with the
adverse certificate from the Comptroller. This amounts to an
"override" of the practical "constitutional veto' required of the
Comptroller. None of these actions were taken by either the House
or Senate. In fact, according to your letter, the late final passage
of these Bills taused their return from the Comptroller to be too
late for further action.
Accordingly, in their present status with "no funds" cer-
tificates from the Compteeller, these Bills are dead. In the words
of the Constitution, they are not "considered as passed."
All of these Bills include very meritorious projects
which would be highly desirable for the State at large and the par-
ticular communities affected thereby. This office has received
numerous requests from interested citizens that we find a legal
way to hold these Bills valid and subject to consideration by the
Governor. In accordance with a fundamental rule of statutory con-
struction, we have examined and studied these Bills and the consti-
tutional provisions with the purpose of resolving any and all doubt
in favor of the validity of the Bills. However, in view of the Comp-
troller's certificate now affixed to each of the Bills, the plain and
simple words quoted above from the Constitution leave no doubt to
be resolved in favor of their validity.
It has been suggested that the Comptroller may have the
legal authority to revise his estimate and recall his certificate be-
fore the twenty days expire for consideration of Bills by the Gover-
nor after adjournment of the Legislature. Others have suggested
that you may have the legal authority to re~ittl the Bills to the.
Comptroller for a new certificate in ease he finds additional reve-
nue available before the expired twenW days after adjournment of
the Legislature. These suggestions are followed by the argument
that the Bills could be "considered as passed " if the Comptroller
finds additional money and makes new certificates to such effect.
Others contend that when the Comptroller once returns the Bills
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: V-268, text, June 25, 1947; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth265089/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.