THIGATT~~EY GENERAL
OFTEXA~
September 27, 1957
Honorable Raymond W. Vowel1 Opinion No. WW-208
Acting Executive Director
Board for Texas State Hos- Re: Validity of appropria-
pitals and Special Schools tions for the payment
Box S, Capitol Station of salary to the Dusi-
Austin, Texas ness Manager of the
Legion Tuberculosis
Dear Mr. Vowell: Hospital.
You have requested an opinion on the validity of
appropriations for the payment of salary to the Business
Manager of the Legion Tuberculosis Hospital.
Senate Bill 11, Acts of the 53rd Legislature, Regu-
lar Session, 1953, ch. 29, p. 36, created the Harlingen State
Tuberculosis Hospital and the San Antonio State Tuberculosis
Hospital. House Bill 68, Acts of the 53rd Legislature, Regu-
lar Session, 1953, ch. 30, p. 38, authorized the Board for
Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools to transfer tuber-
culosis patients from the Weaver Raker Sanitorium to the San
Antonio State Tuberculosis Hospital and the Legion Sanatorium.
House Bill 409, Acts of the 54th Legislature, Regu-
lar Session, 1955, ch. 429, p. 1142, provides:
"Section 1. The name of 'Legion State San-
atorium', created by House Bill No. 68, Chapter
30, Acts of the Fifty-third Legislature, Regular
Session, 1953, is hereby changed to Legion Branch
of the San Antonio State Tuberculosis Hospital.
"Sec. 2. All laws heretofore or hereafter
enacted by the Legislature applicable or relating
to 'Legion State Sanatorinml shall hereafter be
applicable and relate to Legion Branch of the San
Antonio State Tuberculosis Hospital.
"Sec. 3. Ali appropriations heretofore made
and now effective or appropriations hereafter made
by the Legislature for the use and benefit of
'Legion State Sanatorium' shall be available for
the use and benefit of Legion Branch of the San
Antonio State Tuberculosis Hospital.
Honorable Raymond W. Vowell, page 2. @w-208,!
“Sec. 4. All contracts heretofore entered
into in behalf of 'Legion State Sanatorium' are
hereby ratified, confirmed, and validated for
and in behalf of Legion Branch of the San
Antonio State Tuberculosis Hospital.
“Sec. 5. The fact that the present name
of this Institution does not properly desig-
nate and describe such institution creates an
emergency and an imperative public necessity
that the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to
be read on three several days in each House be
suspended, and said Rule is hereby suspended,
and that this Act shall take effect and be in
force from and after its passage, and it is so
enacted."
Subsequent to the enactment of House Bill 409, Acts
of the 54th Legislature, the Legislature, in appropriating
money for the maintenance and operation of the Legion Tuber-
culosis Hospital, has treated it as a branch of the San An-
tonio~State Tuberculosis Hospital rather than an independent
institution. The Legion Branch of the San Antonio State
Tuberculosis Hospital does not have a Superintendent nor is
there any money appropriated to pay such a salary. However,
the Legislature has provided the Legion Branch with a busl-
ness manager and has continuously appropriated money for the
payment of his salary.
The Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special
Schools is authorized to employ such personnel as is neces-
sary to carry out the operations of the Texas State Hospitals
and Special Schools. Attorney General's Opinion WW-252 (1957).
In this opinion it was stated:
"From the foregoing it is evident that the
legislation which made the Austin State School
Farm Colony an institution in that group of in-
stitutions which comprise the Texas State Hos-
pitals and Special Schools, has been uniformly
construed by the Legislature which enacted it
and by each Legislature which has convened since
that time as authorizing the employment and payment
of a superintendent and a business manager for said
Austin State School Farm Colony."
The~same reasoning is equally applicable to the appro-
priation for the payment of salary to the business manager of
the Legion Branch of the San Antonio State Tuberculosis Hos-
pital and you are advised that the salary of a business manager
-- .._
Honorable Raymond W. Vowell, page 3. (~~-208)
for the Legion Branch may be legally paid from the funds appro-
priated for that purpose by the provisions of House Bill 133,
Acts 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, Chapter 385, page
898.
SUMMARY
The salary of a business manager
for the Legion Branch of the San
Antonio State Tuberculosis Hospital
may legally be paid from the funds
appropriated by House Bill 133, Acts
55th Legislature, Regular Session,
1957, Chapter 385, page 898.
Yours very truly,
WILL WILSON
Attorney General of Texas
JR:&
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman
J. C. Davis, Jr.
W. V. Geppert
E. M. DeGeurin
REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY:
James N. Ludlum