PRICEDANIEL A~ISTINaa.TXXAS
ATTORNEY
GENERA,.
September 27, 1948
Hon. Gee. H. Sheppard Opinion’ .fto. V-692
Comptroller of Pub&lo Aoo@uuts
Austin, Texns ,Re: Chiriae of Board
of h?ustees of Riploj-
eeb Ret&emeat System
to Coq&rol$er to eq-
able ttensfer of funds
,bJ Stite to the, Rm-
Dear Sir:
Your recent requert ror an opinion by this De-
pertaent concmm the Mcrntion that must be contained
in the eertifioate o$ t&0 Wal4 of Trrulteee of the $a-
ployees Retirahent Spetem te the -#l&m to enable
the transfer of fun& ae kW oe~tributla?4 the Stats
to the Employees Retirsmnt Fund, Your 16 tf ,er contaI4ed’
the following:
“The question has ari@bg in this DsprPt-
sent as to whether the St&to Board of Trustees
shall certify to the CemptreUer the total
amount of the oompensation paid such members
of the Retlreaent Syatrm, or whether the Comp-
troller ie authorized to aooept the certificate
of the State Board Of Trustbb8 lfW6h CePt iies
the amount of emp1oJQoI ii** pbr ,oent (5$ re-
tirement deductions repente&t?~tbb Retlreae;t
Srsten for the payroll Or uj ivwi month.
shall therefore thanlcyou .to a atVire~thtll ds-
partme@ in the. oorreet pq6bduPb in the pre-
misesa
Sect$on 62(a), ktioto 16 OS t&Texas Const’l-
tution, provtdes,’ In papt, a8 ?a~%ws:
“The Legislature shall har~.~tlwrl ht
to levy taxes to provide'a &tiF@!Wmt, 8is- 1
ability and Death-Compensation Pimd for the
appointive officers and ompl6feer of'the
estate; provided that the vlbuted
Han rn (fee. H, Sheppard, page ~2 (V-692)
undred aftd Eighty Dollars
for any such person. (hphasis added through-
out)
Article 62284 of Vernonqs Civil Statutes was
passed pursuant to the power @ahed in Seotlon 62, Apt-
lcle 16 of the Constitution, papt of which iti quoted
above o Peptinent p~oviaions of Article 6228a ape%
each member to th
‘1. The ~plojoes Saving Fund. - The
Employees Saving Fund shall be a fund in
which shall be accumulated regulrr five pep
cent (5$) contributions from the comepnsa-
tlon members, lnoludlng ourrent intepeat
earnings O ContPibutiona to and payment
from the Employees Saving FIlnd shall be
made as follows:
“a. Begimiry on the date of the es-
tablishment of the membership and full opera-
tion of ‘the ftetirement gJ6tQm rein oreat-
ed, which data should br tVe (2“t to thme (3)
months subsequent to the enactmerit of the
Retirement Law, eaoh DQpartment of the State
shall came to be deduoted from the 8alaPJ
of each member on each and every payroll of
such department of the State for ba
every pa~oll period, Sj.ve per cent ? 5sdoS
HOR.Gee. II. Sheppard, Page 3 (V-692 1
his earnable compensation, provided that the
sum of the deductions made for a member shall
not exceed Cne Hundred and Eighty Bollars
($180) during any one (1) year. In deter-
mining the amount earnable by a member in a
payroll period, the State bard of Trushes
may consider the rate of annual compensa-
tion payable to such member on the first
day of the payroll period as continuing
throughout suoh payrell period, and it may
omit deduot2onm from compensation for any
period less than a full payroll period if
an employee was not a member on the first
day of the payroll period, OD
The Department head of the
Statebihili Gertsfy ts the State Board of
Trustees on each and every payroll, or in
such other manner aa said Board may pre-
scribe, the amounts @a be deducted; and each
or said amounls ahall be deduoted; ani when
ddducted ~&all be paid into said lbrpleyees
Saving Fund, e O e
Y.ec, 8 11. Collectior or Contrlbutiens.
“1. The collectlen es members0 oentri-
butions shall be aa SellewsS
“b. !i’he treasurer or bpopmr diebum-
ing officer or each State &eprtmemt on
authority from the department herd shall
make deductions Srom aala&zis 0s the ela-
ployees as ppovlded In this Act, and shall
transmit monthly, OPat such time as the
State Board of Trustees shall deoignate
a certified copy of the paJl‘ol1 and the
amount specified to be dbduoted Shall bs
paid tb the Employees Sivlngs Fund OS the
Employees Retirement System, aStar which
the’ Executive Secretary of the Board ef
TrrtN6 shall m&Pea rEN#d as all re-
ceipts and turn payments over to the Treae-
urer of the State of Texas and by him be
credited to the Employees Saving Fad, o o o
'2, ‘The collection of the State’s
contributions shall be made as Sollews:
Hon. Gee. H, Sheppard, paue 4 (V-692)
“a* From and after the date of the
establishment ef the membership and full
operation of the Retirement System creat-
ed by this Act takes effect, there is here-
by allocated and rpproprieted’tothe Rm-
plogees Retirement System of Texas, in ac-
cordance with this Act, from the several
funds from which the employeea benefited
by this Act; receive their reepectiv sal-
aries, a mm equal to five per cent %55)
of the total oompmsatien paid to the said
respective emplo ees who are members of
said Retirement 13ystem and whese compenea-
“d. For the purpose of computing
the total amount of the compensation of
From the provisions of the Constitution above
set out, it Is apparent that a matching of contributions’
by the State of those made by,empleyees to the Employees
Retirement System was intended. Bo one will doubt t&t
the intention or the Legislature In the enacting of Arti-
cle6228a, Vernonqs Civil Statutes, was that of carry-
ing into effect the provisions, and the intent manifest-
ed therein, of Section 16a, Article 16 of the Censtltu-
tion. Any system under which the State would contribute
a different amount from that aontrlbuted by the employees
would not be In accordance with the general scheme of
the law. But a system under which the State contributes
the same amount as the employees would definitely be with-
Ron. (too. H. Sheppard, page 5 (V-690)
in the intent manifested In the aenstltutional and leg-
islative provisions. The proper amount to be transfer-
red by the Comptroller to the Retirement Fund as the
contributions of the State would be an aaount equal to
the contributions of member employees, ao long as the
contributions of member employees do not exceed five per
cent (5%) of the compensation paid by the State to the
Individual employees and shall in no one ear exceed the
sum of One Hundred and Eighty Dollars ($I&) for any men-
ber . There are instances where a literal compliance with
the provisions made in aragraph a, Subsection 2 of Sec-
tion 8B, of Artlale 622 8a would result in the violation
of the constitutional provisions made in Seatlon 16a,
Article 16 of our Constitution. For example, members
of the Retirement System who are 70 years of age or
older ana who have~been State employees for ten or more
years do net contribute to the Retlrenmt Fund, Their
pay, however, would be included in a ~ertlficate of the
total amount of compensation paid to Retirement System
members. Under the prorlsl#n3 of the paragraph of the
Act above mentioned, th) Comptroller weold transfer an
amount equal to 5s of such pay Into the Retirement Fund,
the result be%blg a transfer of State mmey into the fund
whea MI dontrlbution had been made by members of the Re-
tirement System.
A certificate of the State Boar e Trustees
ef the amount of employees’ five peroent t5s f retire-
ment deductions reported to the ReOirement System fW
the payrell of any given month Is in eubetantlal aeqll-
anob with the Act, and is more ef an sceurrte oertifloate
or ract upon whlah the Comptroller aa11 rltieatthe trans-
rer of State fads ceneonant with the legirlatlve in-
tent than a certiriaate 0r the total amount of aonpen-
satlen paid to Retirement System mdbe~rs. Suah a aon-
struction Is a modifiaation or the literal meaning of
the language used in paragraph a, Subeectlon’2 of SSC-
tlon 8b of the Retirement Aat, ‘In order to carry out the
intent of the Legielat@re &n a more logical manner. we
are, therefore, ef the opinion that the Comptroller aan
acaeBt the certificates of the Board of Trustees of the
RetLrement System which aePtffy the ameuut ef employees1
fiti4 per cent (5s) deduotlene reported to the RotirBment
System. Such certificates lay be rrrd a0 the baees rup
makl.nE the aontributione of tha St8te to the Employeee
Retirement Fund.
Hon. Ooo. H. Sheppard, page 6 (V-692)
The State Comptrsller Is authorized
to accept the certificate of the Board of
Trustees of the Employees Retirement Sys-
tem which certifies the amount of the five
per oent (5%) deductions from the. aompensa-
tion of aembcr employees reported to the
Retirement System. The Comptroller may use
suah E certificate as the basis for making
the contribution of the State to the Re-
tirement Fund.
Yours very truly,
AmQluap ~BmRMa OF TEXAS
cBK:Eli
.