T~E:ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF TEXAS
AUWTIN~I.%-EXAS
PRICEDANIEL
ATTORNEY GENERAL
March 6, 1952
Hon. Larry 0. cox
Executive Director
Board for Texas State
Hospitals and Special schools
Austin, Texas
opinion, Do. v-1416
Re: Legality of making pay-
ments after August 31,
1951, under architect
ma building contracts
0ii0cutea prior to sep-
Dear Mr. Cox: tember 1, 1949.
Your request for an opinion relates to the
,legallty of the issuance of four warrants to pay for
part of the construction costs of a building of the
Terre11 State Hospital* The State Comptroller has
taken the position that he is unable to issue the
warrants because of the prohibition contained in Ar-
ticle 4357, V.C.S., against the payment of claims
which are not presented within two years from the
close of the fiscal year for which the appropriation
was made.
The 50th Legislature appropriated to the
Terre11 State Hospital for the fiscal year 1947-1948,
the sum of ~1,500,000 go be used for replacing “wards
for wings of 0ia Main Building aa Hospltal,~~ ma re-
appropriated for the fiscal year 1948-1949 any unex-
pended balance of this suma The same appropriation
act authorized the acceptance of federal aid for build-
‘Xngs, improvements apd~repairs at the eleemosynary In-
sti.tutionse Acts 90th Leg. 1947, ch. 330 pb 566, at
PP. 585, a3. Pursuant to this authorization an agree-
ment was made whereby federal funds in the amount of
ig;riOt;ere granted for this project, payable in in-
Contracts fo,r the building were let prior
to Septemb& 1, 1949. Installments of the federal
grant have been received from time to time, and the
Comptroller has credited the amount of each installment,
as It Was received, to his Account ~0~ ~-1163 covering
this construction project.
T-!cn. Larr:: 0. Cox, page 2 (v-1416)
On Lugust 31, 1951, r.:hich marked the ex-
piration of two years from the close of the fiscal
year 19)t8-1949, the $1,500,000 appropriated from
the General Revenue Fund of the State and all but
a small balance of the federal funds which had been
received up to that time had been paid out on war-
ran%s of the Comptroller. At that time there re-
mained outstanding the claims of various contractors
for materials and services furnished in the construc-
tion of this building. These unpaid claims form the
basis of your opinion request. You state that the
claimants submitted purchase vouchers to the Board
for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools (which
has succeeded to the powers and duties of the Board
of Control in respect to the Terre11 State Hospital)
and that the business manager for the Board approved
the vouchers before August 31, 199. However, at
that time the last installment of federal money had
not been received and there was not sufficient money
on hand in the State Treasury for the payment of
these claims, and consequently the Board did not im-
mediately forward the vouchers to the Comptroller.
The final inst-llment of the federal grant was re-
ceived for deposit in the State Treasury on October
11, 1951. Thereupon, the Board forwarded these
claims to the Comptroller for payment, and the Comp-
troller declined to issue the warrants for the rea-
son stated above.
The pertinent provision of Article 4357
reads:
‘I . e 0 No claim shall be paid from
appropriations unless presented to the
Comptroller for payment within two (2)
years from the close of the fiscal year
for which such appropriations were made,
but any claim not presented for payment
within such period may be presented to the
Legislature as other claims for which no
appropriations are available-”
The appropriation acts In both 1949 and
1951, after authorizing the acceptance of federal
grants in substantially the same language as the 1947
act, contain a provision that “any funds received
. 0 . .?rom the United States Government are hereby
appropriated to the purposes for which the grant was
. -
Hon. Larry 0. Cox, page 3 N-1416)
mBa6.** Acts 51rt Leg., R.8, 1949 chb 553, pb 1070,
1083* mu 52na kegP S 1951 oh. 499 p ‘~
?t228: at p! 1297. Thi8 l&&& Is bkaa snouih io
include funds rrcrlve& under previously authorized
agreements , au we52 a8 mmdrr a@eements entered into
;;;;;nt to the authocb8ttor eontainsd in the act
. In this ease, inrtaIlrmts of the federal
grant have bran rocslrrd in suerreading blrnniums and
have bosn credited to the Comptroller’s Account ho.
~-11~63 as they were r~o%veQ.
The grorislon of Article 4357 here Involved
is a limitation rtatute, ad It must be construed In
the light of the object iCnr it6 rMotmedt. The pur-
pose of this provlrica was to lllnlmate a necessity
for the Cowtroller to cm*jr rtale appropriation ac-
counts on his books ia tk l&Nllhbod that there might
be outstanding claimi agatmt Maa. Xt was not de-
signed to affect the pa t of clal*s against ac-
counts which have b-n r fi orrrrmt by reappropriation
or by the receipt of ad<tomrl funds to be credited
to them. So $.sr as the, ComptrolPerCa acoy\untim$ pro-
cedure is .concexnrd, :thk aplNev&%atlon of the ortion
of’ this baildim aeegmmt, irprarente4 by fedora P grants
dates from ttiii” 3 ,W” of ‘
m&r norlpt for Ueposit In
the State Treasury; ,‘vrdem Mube facts, we are of the
opinion that fbe *f4.rcal.- oar llor which such appro-
priations were made” s he3 d be eenstrued to mean thb
fiscal fear durtig v&lob tko ap#xoPslatod funds became
available for disburwmwt~ DEW al1 the funds now’
.available in Account Ilo* L-11 %3 wore added to that ac-
count within the statutory pWi6d, it Is our opinion
that the c’omptrolleF may pro8sntly issue warrants
against the account 3s pay&at of the claims in ques-
tion.
Claim prem1YC06 to the C0mptrollor
wittcla two y6arr f?om tb closr of the
fiscal year In which, the funds for their
payment become availablr for disburrement
Hon. Larry 0. Cox, page 4 (v-1416)
are noLbarred by the limitation pro-
vision Ian Article 4357, V.C.S.
Yours very truly,
PRICE DANIEL
APPROVED: Attorney General
E. Jacobson
Reviewing Assistant
Charles D. Mathews -Mary K. wall
First Assistant Assistant
MKW:wb
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Combined Opinion