OFFICE OF THE All-ORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable Gee. H. Sheppard
cmptroller of Pub110 Accounts
Auua
tin, Texas
Dear Sir:
Your letter of F
and also for telegraph, tele-
nger aemloe. We, therefore,
owing questions and reepectlve-
'1. Is the Prison officlale authorized to
incur claims for telegraph, telephone and rem-
sager service and per for suoh clelms out of
the $10,000 appropriation made for contingent
eXpen0et
-orable Gee. H. Sheppard, Page 2
“2. Is the Prison offloials author%.ted
td Inour olains for motor vehicle supplles and
pay for same out of the Industrisl Revolving
Fund created by the Forty-fourth Legislature,
First Called Session, Page 1600, Chapter 403,
of 1935, as the same Is appropristed In a spe-
oial rider folloving the ltemlsatIo.nsin the
Current Appropriation Bill?
Vou will note from the trdwtriel Revolv-
ing Fund oreated by the above mentioned Aot of
1935, that it required that the State Treasurer
of Tums shall deposit sufflolent amount of
noneys reoslved by him from the Qeaorali(msger
of the Texas Prison 8 stem out 0r money emned
byaIldbe1ongsngt0 tiT
e State Prlron System In
bank et Runtsvllle, Texas, for the purpose of
lstablIshIug the Industrial Revolving Fund,
vhioh fund lm to be wed by raid Prison System
in th0 p~emlng 0f SUP~~IOS r0r th0 trri0~
lndwtrles or the Texas Prison System."
As stated In hour letter, the Oenenrl Approprirtion
Bill of the Regular Session of the Forty-eighth Leglalature
(LB. 332) ukem iteaised appropriations of kZC,COC per year
for motor supplies and 42,500 per year ror telegraph, tele-
phone and messenger servloe for the Texas Prison System.
This sot also makes an ltemlsed appropriation of $10,000 per
year for 'Contingent Expenses.* Section 15(b) of the Ceneral
Pkovlslons of this act provides:
"The opproprlations herein provided are to
be oonstruedas themaxlmum sums to be appro-
priated to end for the several purposes named
herein, and the amounts are Intended to oover,
and shall cover the entire oost of the respeo-
tlve items imd the same shall not be supple-
mented from any other ~ouroes~end, exoeptas
otherwise provided, no other expenditures shall
be made, nor shall any other obligations be in-
ourred by any depar$ment of thle State, pro-
vided, hovever, that nothing herein shall pre-
vent any department head from paytng less than
the maxlsnns amount set forth hereIn for any
salaried posltlon.R
4t;o
Honorable Gee. Ii.Sheppard, Page 3
In ouz Opinion No. O-1332 ve said vlth respect to
&e:effeot of a provision ldentlosl with thls upon an appro-
$riatlon for contingent expenses$
"Having due regard to the context ln which
ve find the vord (contingent), and the speolflc
aUthOris8tiOn for the us8 of such funds for such
purposes, ve are impelled to the oonoluslon that
the Lsglsl8ture has said substantially this:
'We h.sveettempted, so far as po&ble, to
antlolpate every item of expenses, vhlch msy neo-
eaaarlly be Incurred in the operation of your de-
partment, but ve resllse th8t our judgment 88 to
suoh aLatter may be lnexaot, from the very nature
of things, and ve therefore sppropriste to,your
departmeuata sum of money generally avallabZe for
operating expenses of your departpent, except as
othervise herein speclfloally limited, to tske
care of those employments apd othei'exuenses not
herein speolfloelly provided f but hlh
ne@esssrlly be required to ena% your"de&rg&t
properly to tiotlon.l" (Emphasis and parenthe-
tiOs1 VOrd added)
Since expenditures for telegreph, telephone and,mes-
senger service have been 8pe~lflO8lly provided for in th&gppro-
prlatlon bill, ve feel that the appropristion for such servloe
say not be supplemented by expenditures from the sppropriat,lon
for contingent expenses. Consequently your first question 1s
snsvered in the negative.
In our Opinion No. O-2990 ve considered the Indud-'
trial Revolving Fund of the Texas Prison System and its bl-
ennial "appropriation" in the Genelgl Appropriation Bills.
In this connection ve said:
"Au adding up of the amounts of the various
specific Items of appropriation for the prPson
system shows th8t the amounts of the revolviog
funds are not included ln the tot818 , . . This
fact, together with the requirement that the ln-
dustrlal revolving fund be kept at its maximum
at all times, espeoially when considered ln the
461
-orable Gee. H. 8heppard,Page 4
light 0r section3 or the sot orl.glallyoreat-
~lng the revolvlagfund, oleerlyshow thst it
vas not intendedby the Leglsbture that auoh
revolrlngfund shouldbe a supplementalor ad-
ditionalappropriation to those ltemlted else-
vhem. It wss not Intendedby the Ieglrlsture
to do more, in creating th8 lndumtrirlrevolv-
ing f'uud,than to amble oertaiapurahasesto
be ndo by the syrta ror ouh. Wo awvor your
lOWd q W8tiOArlXWt
t by Ur b g & St vh4 r &0III+
Ohu.8 are mado rrom the 3aduBtPlalrevolvlag
Sund, they shouldbe ohsrgedsgalnrtsppropria-
tioru mid41r0r the rupport 0nd rintonu~i or
the rlson rysta, and ruoh nvolving fund rJmuld
not & oonrldend am a rupplaenta~rpproprla-
tlon to the regular uouats approprlatml ror the
malntenuloo 0r the ryHmI."
fn 0iw 0r thi8 opiait ti tbs rw thd th0 itu-
hod sppropristlonr0r motor ruppliorir nov uhmut0q, VO.*;"~‘
.
feol~tbatJOW raoondqwrtlon mwt rho bo aarve~~dla fiho
n4gatlve.
Trusting that ths r0r0going fully aasvexm youa- in-
quirler, ve are
Your8 very truly
I ATTORUBY GBRBRAL OF TXAS
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