Montana Attorney General Opinion 16-164

Opinion No. 164. Indians-Contracts With Federal Gov- ernment for Relief and Education of Indians-Governor-School Districts-Superintendent of Public Instruction-Board of Education. HELD: 1. There is no authority in the Governor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction or the Board of Education to contract on behalf of the state, under Act of Congress, with the Secretary of the Interior for the edu- cation and relief of Indians. 2. School Districts, however, have authority to enter into such contracts under the limitations and authoriza- tion of Sections 1008 and 1015. OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 167 September 3, 1935. Hon. Frank H. Cooney Governor of Montana The Capitol You have submitted to us a copy of a letter received by you from the Honorable William Zimmerman, Jr., Assistant United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in regard tei Senate Bill 2571 (Public-167-73d Congress) which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into contracts with any state having legal authority to do so for the education, medical at- tention, agriculture assistance and social welfare, including relief of dis- tress, of the Indians in such states through the qualifying agencies of the state and to expend under such con- tracts moneys appropriated by Con- gress for the above purposes. At Mr. Zimmerman's request, you have asked for our opinion as to whether or not the State of Montana has legal authority to join in a con- tract under the provisions of this bill for the education of the Indians, or for any of the other activities stated in the bill. Unless we have the definite terms of a proposed contract before us, we cannot, of course, render any final opinion concerning this matter. Generally speaking, we find the rule to be that "the Governor, and other executive officers of the state, have no general authority to contract on its behalf and can bind the state only within th~ power specially conferred upon them by law." (59 C. J. 171.) We have found no law of this state vest- ing such general authority upon either the Governor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or the State Board of Education. On the other hand, school districts are political subdivisions of the State of Montana (State ex reI. Fisher v. School District No.1, 97 Mont. 359, 34 Pac. (2d) 522), and the trustees thereof are given ample authority by Section 1008 and Section 1015, R. C. M. 1921, as amended by Chapter 122, Laws of Montana, 1931, to enter into the class of contracts which seems to have been contemplated by the Act of Congress. Indeed, we understand that several school districts in the past several years have been executing such contracts with the office of In- dian Affairs.