AGO 90-3.

• Case Date: February 26, 1990
• Court: Colorado

Colorado Attorney General Opinions 1990. AGO 90-3. STATE OF COLORADO OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FORMAL OPINION OF DUANE WOODARD Attorney General Opinion No. 90-3 AG Alpha No. TR AD AGARL February 26, 1990Gail Schoettler State Treasurer State of Colorado 140 State Capitol Denver, CO 80203 RE: Public Buildings Trust FundDear Ms. Schoettler: This opinion letter is written in response to your inquiry about the manner in which moneys in the Public Buildings Trust Fund (hereinafter "the Fund") may be used and obtained for such use. According to the information you have provided me, there is approximately $480,000 currently in the Fund; and, the Fund has not been utilized since 1935. QUESTIONS PRESENTED AND CONCLUSIONS For what purposes may moneys in the Fund may be used? To erect, or to keep erected, public buildings used by the legislature or judiciary. How are moneys obtained from the fund? Through the usual legislative appropriation process. ANALYSIS On March 3, 1875, the United States Congress authorized the territory of Colorado to form a state. Colorado Enabling Act (hereafter, "the Act"), Ch. 139, 18 Stat. 475 (1875). Within the Act were certain conditional grants of unappropriated public lands to the State of Colorado to be used for various purposes, including land for a penitentiary, for the use and support of a state university, and for erecting certain types of public buildings. Sections 7-10 of the Act, Ch. 139, 18 Stat. at 475 (1875). It is this last category of public land grant with which we are concerned here. In section 8 of the Act, Congress granted public land to the state "for the purpose of erecting public buildings at the capital of said state, for legislative and judicial purposes, and in such manner as the legislature shall prescribe." Ch. 139, 18 Stat. at 475 (1875). In its constitution, the State of Colorado accepted that land and allocated the responsibility for managing it to the the State Board of Land Commissioners (hereafter "the Board") under such reasonable regulations as may be enacted by the General Assembly. Colo. Const. art. IX, Sections 9-10 (1876 & amp; 1910). The Board is to hold the public lands in trust, securing the maximum proceeds from such lands, with such proceeds to benefit the purposes specified in the Act. Colo. Const. art. IX, Section 9 (1876). The proceeds from the sale or...