HARRY HUGHES, Governor

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doctrine protects from usurpation of another
branch."

Letter of May 26, 1979 from Attorney General Sachs to Governor
Hughes concerning House Bill 1589. As the selection of an
organization to perform a study mandated by statute could
reasonably be regarded as an exercise of executive power, it was
concluded that a statutory requirement that a legislative
committee concur in the selection was an usurpation of executive
power in violation of the separation of powers clause. Likewise,
we conclude that the certification, in accordance with certain
criteria, of State projects for which private donations may be
solicited is the implementation of policy and is thus an
exercise of an essential executive function which may not be
usurped by the legislative branch.

It is, of course, an exercise in legislative power for the
General Assembly to specify criteria for selecting State projects
for which private donations could be solicited. If the
Legislature delegated the development of such criteria to the
Executive, this office has indicated that it is not clearly
unconstitutional for the Legislature to reserve a veto over the
exercise of this delegated legislative power. See letter to the
Honorable Catherine I. Riley and the Honorable John Arnick, dated
February 9, 1984. However, it can not exercise an essential
executive function of making the selection. Although the bill
also raises issues of whether the legislators would be holding
more than one office and whether the private donation would be
subject to the appropriation process, we find it unnecessary to
address these matters in view of the separation of powers
objection.

Very truly yours,
Stephen H. Sachs
Attorney General

House Bill No. 952

AN ACT concerning

State Donations Oversight Committee

FOR the purpose of establishing a State Donations Oversight
Committee; providing for the membership of the committee;
establishing procedures for the implementation of the
committee; establishing procedures to receive and disburse
donations; designating under certain conditions certain
projects that may receive donations during the first year of
the program; providing for the termination of this Act; and
generally relating to the establishment of a State Donations
Oversight Committee.