Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-578 Page: 3 of 4
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The Honorable Frank Madla - Page 3
If Rider 20 in fact stated that an appropriation for the Historic Courthouse Preservation
Program could be used to restore and preserve a cathedral, it would be unconstitutional and void
under Texas Constitution article III, section 35, the "Unity-in-Subject" clause. See Strake v. Ct.
App., 704 S.W.2d 746, 748 (Tex. 1986). Article III, section 35 states in part:
(a) No bill, (except general appropriation bills, which may embrace
the various subjects and accounts, for and on account of which
moneys are appropriated) shall contain more than one subject.
TEX. CONST. art. I, 35(a).
An appropriations bill is limited to a single subject, the appropriation of funds from the
treasury, but it may include multiple "items of appropriation," each of which sets aside or dedicates
a sum of money for a stated purpose. Jessen, 531 S.W.2d at 598. An "item of appropriation," such
as Strategy A.1.5 which appropriates funds for courthouse preservation, sets aside or dedicates
funds for a specified purpose. See id. at 599. A rider may detail, limit or restrict the use of funds
appropriated elsewhere in the act or may otherwise insure that money is spent for the purpose
for which it is appropriated. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. V-1254 (1951) at 17. Because an
appropriations act is limited to the single subject of appropriating funds, a general law may not be
enacted, amended, or repealed in such act. See Moore v. Sheppard, 192 S.W.2d 559, 561 (Tex.
1946), Linden v. Finley, 49 S.W. 578, 579 (Tex. 1899), Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. V-1254 (1951) at
7; see also Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. Nos. DM-81 (1992) at 3, MW-51 (1979) at 5 (rider may not impose
affirmative requirement on state officer or employee). A rider to an appropriations act must relate
to the appropriation of funds, and if a rider attempts to alter existing substantive law, it is a general
law that may not be included in the appropriations act. See Strake, 704 S.W.2d at 748.
As we have already noted, general law designates a separate account in the general revenue
fund to use for historic courthouse preservation and provides that money in the account may be used
to provide a grant or loan "to a county that owns a historic courthouse for a historic courthouse
project." TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. 442.0083(a), (b) (Vernon Supp. 2002). Thus, if Rider 20
purports to authorize the grant or loan of funds designated for the Historic Courthouse Preservation
Program to an entity other than a county or for a purpose other than a historic courthouse project, it
would unconstitutionally attempt to amend these general law provisions in violation of article III,
section 35.
Rider 20 as enacted does attempt to amend general law. It purports to allow funds designated
for the Historic Courthouse Preservation Program to be used for buildings that do not qualify for
funding under that program. Rider 20 states that funds appropriated to the Historic Courthouse
Preservation Program may be used "for a courthouse or a historic structure previously designated
by municipal ordinance as the legal center of a county and that is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places." General Appropriations Act, 77th Leg., R.S., ch. 1515, art. I, 2001 Tex. Gen.
Laws 5411, 5488. While this description may include historic courthouses that qualify for funding
under general law, it also includes buildings that are not historic courthouses within the
definition applicable to the Historic Courthouse Preservation Program. See TEX. GOV'T CODE(JC-0578)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-578, text, November 19, 2002; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274888/m1/3/?rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.