Show CONSTRUING A VAGUE NfW lAW AS TO TAT N mI OV ED BILBOAD LAS A Enactment of the Late Legislature Legisla-ture Questoned But the Attorney General Say Te e Is No Chg The meaning of the frt enactment of the late legislative session to be called into question is senate bill No 54 elating to the power and duties of the state board of equaizat9n in the aessing of property owed by rlroad companies The state boar of eualzaton was in a quandary to know whether the seton in the revised statutes authorizing county assessors t assess unimproved railroad lands was repealed by the recent legislative ent tment and the duty developed upon the state bQird and Attorney General Bishop was appealed to to construe con-strue the apparently ambiguous provisions In leply to the state bards query the torney general yesterday submitted submit-ted the following In your comma1caUon of recent date yoU ask to be advsed under thE law a amended by the last legisla tune whose duty it is to assess unimproved I unim-proved land belonging to railroads I The ant in question is amendatory of I certain sections of he revised statutes I i relating to taxation and defining the power and duties of the ltate board of equalization which a approved and took effect Match 9 1899 The effect of the bill is to substitute I amended sections ii place of those I amended Ter is no reference to the repeal of any provisions of the existing laws and therefore section 2 of said at which purports 10 repel all act and part of act in conflict therewith is broader than the title and under the weJetnblshed rule of construe ton it would have no force or effect I The result would be as if this section had not been enacted and therefore the only effect of the bB is to amend the sections referred to in the tte It must be assumed that the legislature lature in enacting these amendment had lull knoivieUe of s ctOn 251 of the revised statutes so that the provisions pro-visions of the mandatory act must be read in connection with the provisions of that section which expressly provides pro-vides tat All railroad lands in this state not actually used as a rOadbed or rightofway or far depot yard or other necessary railroad purposes shall be asses y the county assessor of the county in which the lands are situated The only amendment to section 2513 of the revised statutes is the striking out of the words operating in more wors opertng than one county and thus amended it takes the place of the old section of the revise statutes Ten follows see ton 251 and the two necessarily must b read together So too in sections 2559 and 2560 of the revised statutes tqe only substantial tal amendment relating tothi5subject Is the elimination of the words in more than one county All these sections must be read and construed together and when so read and construe and compare with the old law which is sought to be amended it is quite apparent that it was not the intention of the legIslature to repeal the provisions of section 2514 r a of opinion that under the law a amended it is the duty o the assessor as-sessor of the county to assess all lands belonging to railroad companies not ac I tually used as roadbed rjghtofway or for depot yard or other necessary railroad purposes and that in this particular par-ticular the Jaw as amended is not tcular aende different fro what i was prior to the I act in questionS |