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![handle is hein.sag/sagtx0030 and id is 1 raw text is: THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF TEXAS
January 7, 1987
JUx MATTOX
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Mr. Charles E. Walker, Jr. Opinion No. JM-615
General Counsel.
Board of Pardons and Paroles Re: Authority of the Board of
P. 0. Box 13401, Capitol Station Pardons and Paroles to con-
Austin, Texas 78711 tract with counties for having
prisoners incarcerated under
the authority of warrants
issued by the board
Dear Mr. Walker:
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles [hereinafter the Board] is
considering contracting with a county to provide for the incarceration
of prisoners arrested and held pursuant to board-issued warrants. You
ask primarily whether the Board holds the authority to enter into such
a contract. Your question involves two related issues: whether the
Board may pay the county to incarcerate the Board's prisoners and
whether the county may refuse to jail the Board's prisoners if the
Board refuses to pay for their maintenance.
No person or agency holds the authority to make a contract which
is binding on the state, except when authorized to do so by the Texas
Constitution or statutes. Tex. Const. art. III, §§44, 49; State v.
Ragland Clinic-Hospital, 159 S.W.2d 105, 106 (Tex. 1942). Thus, the
power of the Board to enter into the contemplated contract depends
upon the legislation which created and empowered the Board. See State
v. Ragland Clinic-Hospital, 159 S.W.2d at 106.
Article IV, section 11, of the Texas Constitution initially
created the Board of Pardons and Paroles. This provision grants the
governor the power, conditioned upon the Board's recommendation, to
grant reprieves and commutations of punishment and pardons. In 1983,
article IV, section 11, was amended by vote of the people to make the
Board of Pardons and Paroles a statutory rather than a constitutional
agency. To parallel the passage of this amendment, the legislature
amended sections 12(d) and 21(a) of article 42.12 of the Texas Code of
Criminal Procedure to give the board the sole authority to revoke
paroles and issue warrants for the return of a paroled prisoner. Acts
1983, 68th Leg., ch. 232, at 974. The Code of Criminal Procedure
emphasizes that the Board of Pardons and Paroles is the agency of
state with exclusive authority to grant paroles and gives the Board
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