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Mr. Xorrle Rolfiton
County Attorney; Tltua County
Mt. Pleymnt, Taxaa

                                I.
                          ~opinfoaHo, 046
                          Rex, f?ieot of sea. 13;&tM01r rrir
                               State @ea$ltutlon and WtldLe
                                  'Tsdsb R. C.-S.
          Toau 3ott.m of Januaa’yli, lSs9, cequest~~ an opinion
inm3~aard to.tb6 dre0t or #e*tion 15 ArtBole VIII of the
S$ata Constitutionand the val&dlty 9) Artlole 7S4Sb of the
Rerimed Clrll Statutea of.Texae, rma QyXy reoelved by this or-
floe.
           khl8 oonsMtu+&xd   mmndaei&, bsotlon lS, Artlole
vm,    18 mt 80m+tx0ti~.      It osrely hlreota the Leglalature
to put oewtaln la* ~au0:'erreih   'hettiimor not a oonrtitutlonal
amen&want 18-8el.f-+$au~    la qxpmsaed in 6 @allng Cam Law
87, ‘asiollowot :




         .LOonYt*tioua~prorlslons are aslf-etiout~
     rhea the   i8-q manlfs8t-intentionthat they should
     ga into lmad4eh.arreot, and no anolllary legls-
     latlon 18~naoau8arfto the enjoyment or a right giren,
     or the mnf~roeant oi a duty f5poaea.w

            In a9m.ZUrl8,         730, it 1s rurther salar
          wConstltutlonalprorlslons are not self-
     exeoutlng it they merely lndlosts a line of poli-
     cy or prlnolplemSwithout supplying the mearm by
     whloh auoh polloy or prlnalples are to be oarried
h<r.t:orrls Rblr.ton,Januury 11, 1939, Page 2



     into effect, or if the language of the oonstl-
     tutlon 1s dlreated to the legislature, or it ap-
     pears from the language used end the alraumetanaes
     of its adoption that subsequent legislation was
     contemplated to aarry it Into errsat."                ~.~.
                                                              _..,.
                                                                 ‘~
          Aa this aonstltutlonalamendment Is not self-exeautlng
it aould not by itself repeal or otherwise affeat previous le-
glalatlon. It only gives  the le~lslature pouer to do so In
aerteln Instances. This point of law 1s expressed in 12 Corpus
Jurls, 727, as follows:
          "~onstltutlonalprovlslonsare somstfmss
     so framed aa to be inoperativeuntil laws are
     passed putting them into etfeat, and in this aaae
     it Is a general-rulethat existing statutes in
     oonfllot with the prlnolple or suah pro~lslons re-
     main ln foroe mtil tha neoeasary leglalatlon 1s
     had."
          The writer has mot been able to find any Texas oasa
dlreatly on thl8 point, but this la no doubt the Texas law In
view of what was said In the oase of Collins Y. Traoy, 36 Tax.
647, as r0ii~at
          " .... state Uonstltutlonsare made with ref-
     eremae to existing lawe, whloh lawa are not ohauged
     by the Oonstltutlon,exooeptso rar as.they may be
     inconsistentwith lta proyiaions."
          Am rar a8 we oan rind the Le&8lature has Rot oom-
plied with the oomana ai this amendmsnt. In othsr words, it
has not set u$ a prooeaure by whloh land oan be sold ror taxes
tithout a 8llittint 'bolngriiebIn oourt. This rallure or the
Leglslaturq'topaaa'titioha lawmerely means that the anendmant
lo atlU.ln~~srat$yai,.ft ha8 happened in diatrar Oaae8 before.
fn thtioiaaeor WlederhnasraMY.Stats, 64 Tax. 133, a suit ha4
been’brought IA the Mstriot aourt to esoheat land,.and tha
only authority for it was the ooaatltutlonal-prmlslonwhloh
8ala that lthe lagl8latPre &all provide a nsthod for deter-
mining what,landa have been rorrelted, and for glylng etfeot to
esoheata." The Suprams Court held that as the legislaturehad
railed to provide a.!mthod or proasdure in eaohiats of this
kind that the oonstltutlonalprovisionwas inopemtlye, and
it aaid:
          qo  offloer or this state, howeyer, has the
     right to institute a proaeedlng to hare suah a for-
     relture aeolarea, nor has any aourt within the state
     the jurlsdlatlonto deolare auah a forfalture,until
     the state through the legislature haa dealared the
     nil1 of the state to snforae its right to have the
     forreiture dealared, and has provided the method by
     which this shall be done.
          "The constitution itself ooatemplotee that
     the 1eFlslcture shall act.,and shall put in motion
     and provide rules for the exsrolse of this rlpht..
          "It provides that 'the legislature shall pro-
     vide a method for determining what lands have been
     forfeited, and ror giving effect to eeaheots.'
          "The act under whlah this aotlon was lnstl-
     tuted neither declares the will or the state to
     enforce the rorfelture,nor provldee e nethoa by
    whlah it shall be done....
          "No method having yet been provided by the
     legislature, it presents a ease la whloh all
     jurtsta agree that the oourts xmst wait the lead
     or the polltloeI authorlty hefore they oan sot."
          In view of the above authorltler; It 1s alear that
the auentlmentIn question did not repeal any statutes, and
no leglslatlonhas been enacted ln pursuanoo to it that hes
the erreat of repeellng any statuten.
          Article 73&b, to whloh you refer, was passed by the
45th Legislature in 1957, .afterthe above mentioned amendment
was adopted; but as the amendment waa lnoperatlveArticle
7345b wns valid provided it would have been valid berore the
passage 0s this partloular amendmsnt.
          Article 7%Qb, whloh provides.r0r.a method to ooiieot
taxes by riling or suit and roreolosore or lion, 1s authorized
under Seatlons 1, S,.ll ana 18, Artlole VIII 0s the Oonstl-
tutlon. Seotlon 1, krtlole VIII provideat
         *Taxation 8haiI be equal and tarorb. All
    property In thlr State, whether owned by natural
    persons or aorporattons,other than mualolpal,
    shall be taxed in proportion to it8 felue, whloh
    shall be asoertalned as may be protldsb by law."
         Seotlon 3, Artlole VIII provide88
          -Taxes shall be levied and oolleotad by pen-
     era1 laws and for pub110 purposes only."
          Seatlon 11, Artlale VIII provides8
          *Ail property, whether owned by persons or
     aorporatlons shall be assessed for taxation, and
     the taxes paid In the aounty where sltuetad, but
     the Legislaturemay, by e two-thirds vote, authorize
     the payment of tares of non-residents or aounties
                                                                  i
Hr. Morris Rolston, Jununry 11, 1939, ?'c<~e
                                           4



     to be made at tho office of the Conptroller
     0r F'ubliokooounts. !md r.11lands rindother
     property not rendered for taxation by the owner
     thereof shall be assessed at Its ialr value by
     the proper officer."
          Ssotlon 16, Article VIII provides:
          "The annual assessment made upon landed pro-
     perty shall be a speolal lien thereon; and all
     property, both real and personal, belonging to
     any A4llnquenttaxpayer shall be liable to seizure
     and sale for the payment of all the taxes and
     p4nalt%es due by'suoh delinquent; and suoh prb-
     perty may be sold for the payment of ths tax48
     and p4naltIee due by suoh delinquent,under suoh
     regulationsas the Legislaturemay provide.*
              These last four quoted motions oi ~101s    VIII
of the Constitutionwere In efieot when the recent seotlon
13 of Article     VIII was adopted in 1932; and they are still
In eireot and they direotly authorIz4 the prooedur4 ior
oollectingtama       by suit prescribed In ArtIol4 V343b, whlah
was pasesd by the Legislature in 1937.
          You safer to Articles 7326 to 7330, lnolusIr4,whloh
also prorids a method of collectingtaxes by suit, whioh
artlolssware In effect when Article 7343b was paseed in 19371
but thos4 artIol4s do not interfere In the opsration OS Asti-
ole 7343b rhloh Is evident by the words of paragraph 13 of
Artlo 7343b, whloh says:
          “Th4 provisions of this Aot shall b4 oumu-
     l&Iv4 or and In addition to all oth4r rights and
     ramsdies to whioh any taxing unit may be antitled,
     but as to any proo44dlng brought under thi8 Aot,
     ii any part or portion of ,thIaAot be ln oonflIat
     with any part or portion of any law of the gtat4,
     the t4rms and provisions of this Aot shall got4171
     as to such prooekdlng.*
          Our tuwmr to your fIrat question 10 that the adoption
of the premsnt eeotion 13, Artl.oleVIII of the Constitutionai
Texas Aid not repeal an7 prior laws on the aollsotlonof d4-
linousnt taxes.
          Cur answer to your aaoond question 1~sthat Artiol.4
                                                            .
Wr. Korrls HoIston, January 11, 1839, r7eFe5




7345b of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas (Acta 1937,
45th Ler. p. 1494n, Ch.306) 1s volld end IS not In vlole-
tion of Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution, end
suite oan be brought under this article in the Xatrict
Court.

                      Your8 very truly
                   ATTORNEY CENLAL    OF TEXAS




                                     Assletont
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APPROVXD:




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