Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Bon. be0. B. sheDP=‘& Comptrollel,of F'iblio-Aooounts Austin, Texas Dear sir: opinion go. o-1672-A iie:Authorit? oi Llmltation of Payments Board to authorize expend.ituressupplementing a apeolfic‘Uiemof:appro- priation. ~..,'..~ .\\ .I On IPovember17,.1939,-&&irering your let&* of ZTovember10, 1939, this depmtment rendered Opinion ipo. o-1672, vhereln it vss held-:th8tthe Board of Limitationof Paymanta set up by the provlslon~of'3euate Bill 427, Acts of tha 46th fsgialature,uaa Mthout the jurladiotlonor authority to permlt t+uae of a-~.aurplua in a special fund for purposes for vhieh a apeoifio“appropristlon has been made by the Legfaleture..inauah mannerthat tha amount.available for that ~peoifloFyp~osp'~s definite&yasoertsiaable.. \ Since &m&ring t&t opinion, this department has, upon its ovn Initiative,undertakm a re-exmalnatlonof the question inv5lved thweln, and &a, after careful study aud oonaldkr+lon ot the pk~blsm,,,.Feaohed the oomluafon that yein aiul~erroneou . A /The geieral rider appended to Senate Bill 427, Aota of thb 46th Laglslatulw,provides in part as Sollovar \ l~ncb)The's&opriations herein provided are to be o&tmied as the msximum sums to be appropriated to and fc&.the several purposes nazed herein, and the smounta are intended to cover and shall cover the entire coat of the respective items, and the ssme ahsll not be supplementadfrom 8ny other source; and, except AS othervise provided, no other e~endltwoa ah&l be m&de, nor shall any other obligatlon~be incurred by any department of this State, ... Hon. Geo. H- Sheppard, Page 2 "Llnitatlouof Payments. Except as othervia provided,whenever, by virtue of the provisions of this Act, Item are to be paid out of fees, rwceipta, special funds or out of other fuuda available for use by a depsrtaumt,it is the Intention of the Legislature to lisit expendituresout of said fees, reoaipta, special funds or other available ~funds to the purposes and in the amotmts itemized herein, and it is aa provided. If, however, the amount of the feea, receipts, special or other avallable funds herein rafarred to are pore thau sufficient to pay the itema herein designated to be paid there- frost,the depsrtment to vhich the said fees, re- ceipts, special fuuda or other available Fonda am? sppropvlatednag, If neceaaaryltoadequately perforu the functloua of said department, use any portiou of ,aaidsurplus fees, receipts, special funds or other available funds; provided, hovever, thst before doing so, the hasd of.auoh department ahall under oath make.applicationjointly to the Governor, the Attorney Geneal and the State Treasurer aetttig forth in detsll the necessity for using such sur- plus fees, receipts, special fuuda or other avsilable Punds and lteatlalnj~the purposes for vhich the aaue 'we .tabe used ... OUP reconsiderationof th+a matter has convinoed us that the interpretstlonheretofore placed upon these tvo pro- visions by.the opinion referred to Is not such as is calculated to oury out the design and intent of the Legislaturein emoting the paragraph styled '%imitstionof Payments." Ye believe thst in enrctiug the limitation of payments clause, the lagislsturehad lnntl~~~thstif there ahouldbe anactusl surplus on hand In a special fund, and If the department to which the special fund is appropriated la able to demmatrate to the Limitation of Payments Board that the functions of said departaamt could not be adequately parfommd vlthout using a portion or all of said surplus f&d, that the Llmltatlon of Payaants Bosrd might have authority, upon proper application, to authorize the use of a portion or all of aaid fund for itemized purposes, even though the Legislaturehadpmvid8d a definitelyasaertainableamount of money by itemizationfor that specific purpose. In other vorda, we are of the opinion that the Leglalstureintended to conPer upon the Limitation of Payments Bosrd the authority to authorize addltlonal eqmU.l.- turea by way of supplementing an item for vhloh specific p-b- vision had been lEade by the Legislature , out of au actual surplus, upon the showing oP the neceaslty, the Legislature apparently realizing that situationsnight conceivablyarise vhereln its Hon. Oeo. B. Sheppard, Page 3 estimate of the amount necessary for a particular purpose In order to oercg out adequately the funotiona of a department might be wholly lnsdequate for that purpose. It is therefore the opinion of this department that the Llmitatlonof Payments Board has authority and jurlsdlctlonto authorire expendituresout 0s au aatual surplus upon a showing 0s neo8aalt~ therefor,even though such expendituresmay Operate to supplementan item for vhich a speelflo and definitelyaaeer- talnable amount was provided by the Leg.lslature,and, therefore, our opinion Ho. 0-1672 la hereby overruledand withdrawn, and thla opinion la rendered in lieu thereoP. Ye are not to be understood,however, as holding herein that the Limitation of'PaymentsBoard has the authmftg to authorire the use of all or a portion of a surlpus in a special fund for aupplmentlng a traveling expense item. Travellug expenses, being governed by a peculiar and special provlalon of the general rider appended to Senate Bill 427, Acts of the 46th Leglslstum, may not be supplementedin a&event, as held in our Conference Opinion BO. 3089. Yours very truly AT!l'OR~OglllBRALOPTEXM B. W. Falrotklld Assistant .mp- !:TTORITEY GENERAL OF TEXAS