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-- THE,ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
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me--
R mmr a b le Ch a r les
@ t& JJa l Dlstr lo t
swlz1lu,
!rems
Dear Sir:
559
lnmoneyaIlannualsallqlntuel~(lz)equal
lnstal&nents ornotie~than the total ma8
earnedaa caapensation by Mm in hia offida
capacityfor the flsaal yeerr1935, and not more
than the raoxlnRml8lwmnt
tIllwedsuoh offmtr
Under laws e.x.lStwon Atqtrs’t
24, lQZ.5:. . .
"(b) The oompeasationof a or& &is-
Jmsthf3yemo?19S3beartothetotal?ees
eolleetedby suah o??lclaldmIng suoh year."
s6OiiOA (b) Of miOb3 3899, Bedsed Cim 8fattm8
lW8dSl.IbpartM?OllO-t
.
z
of offfce,make an ItepDizeil
and mmrn report
of c.lla?provedcxpenms inourredbyhlmand
chEir6;ed to hia county, aaooinponying suah re-
port with invoicesaovarlq such purahaseaand
requisitions issued by him ln supportof suah
resort. If such expensesbe inaurredin aon-
neatlonwith any partiaulm case,such report
shall namc such casa. Such report,lmolaes
and rowlsltlons shall be eubjeatto the audit
of the'County mditor, if any, othemlso by the
Co~~Mssloners*Court, and if it appearsthat
any lttm was not lnourrecl by such offloor, or
that such ltma #OS not a neaessary or legal et-
ponse of suoh of?lce,or ihsee tlpon proper
rowlsition, such items E 1 be byeaid County
,'iudftor or court reJected,in w2dch eat% the
paymentof suah item nraybe adjudleatedin any
aourt of conpotentjur&Uletlon. LI.3. suoh ap-
provcd claimsand aoaotmt.e.shall be paid ?ro?a
the Mfloers* SalaryFund tmleea otherwIsepro-
vided hsrelu. ...*
Uu%er xrtlolo199, RevisedCltil Statutes,FalJ8
County is the only countyaompoelngtha S&d jtidlalal~dlu-
trlct.
Se awlnforscd by the Comptroller*e Oftloethet
Falls Countybad a population of 38,771acaorain&to the
last Federaluoneus.
Artlale3260,,
RovfsedCivilStetutacl,
reads in
part a8 follows:
"In tbotieaountlo6 of this state having
a populritlonof not less than thirty-three
thousan~flve humlrml (33,500)andmt~ro
than seventy-fivethoumuM (75,000)inhabit-
ants and not aontaf a ~oltyo? more than
end o.aahsuaaeedfagFederalaensusthere&r,
and in whiab oountleathere are one or.mcm
jucliclaldistrlatsand in whlohthe aounty or-
form3 the duty of aotmtyattorneyawl distrPot
attorney aad in whlah there 1s not sow a Uls-
trlat atiorney,the o??Iae of arimiaaldirrtriot
attorneyIs hereby amated, axl shall adst
from andafter ThorpaESta@ this 8Ot. %&J
Of
offlaeshall be known ae CrZmlnalDletrlatAt-
torneyof euah caunty. em.
Hon. CharUs E. Re5#35n,
Fqe 4
?I
The CrInimil DiatrIct Attorney
shall ~e*a&owd to retain out of the fees
earned and colleotodby hImtbo mm of Five
Thousand Five Hundred ($5,500)Dollars psr
annum, as his compensation. titer dsduotlng
Fire Hundred (@5,800)DO~-
the Five !l'housaxd
lam the remIn& mount is to be apglled
rirst to the pqmmt OS salaries of his assist-
ant or assistants 19 those comtles whemo sala
assistant or assistantsare now hem paid frim
the feed of t&o o?PIoe of oounty attorney,'and
second,the aotual and noaessaryoxpeuse Inaurmd
by him end his assIstant In the conduatof hU
said office as authorized by Artlab 5899 of t&e
RevisedX3iIlStatutesof 1925, as anaend8d,
and
auyotherexpo118eallomdbylaw. ...
'The CriminalMstrlot Attorneyshall at
the aloso of each plonthof the tenure of said
'o??lcendm the report Pequlredof OountyO??l-
08x% bgArtIo10 3899 of the RwI8ed CIvll Sta-
tutes OrlQes, as am?aded,and shall f&80, at
the c&Se or eaOh fiscal year raalcothe annual
reportrequired02 acrtanty offioer8 by lcrtlole
3897 of the RevisedCivil Statutesof 1925, as
amended.
*Xiiis not the intentionof this act t0
areateeny offloeof DistrIatMAorney nor auy
otbsr oonatitutional o??ioaand the office a?
CrW Mstrlet~Attorneyis herebydeclared
tc be a separatedistinctatfloefrom the aonstl-
tut&&ialo??ioeof distriotattorzley and IL0Orlzal-
aal d5StrlOtattorneyshall draw or be peX%%tted
to any salarywhatsoever from the State of TeUr6.
*lkls aot la not Intendedandshalln~t be
con5i&ireil or c0ustruedas repealin&any la.wnow
on the &statute book5 exceptthose in couf%IOt
horeaith,which shall be aumlatlve therso?**
Seation (0) of isrtlol83899, supa, 8 Eigs
pro-d&m cdrainal dietriOt attOrneysIn %lr
that
in thisstate comingwIthina crertain popuX.atIon*aetit
shall be ved end petitted to inaur reasonable and
necesssryoxpeumeo? Immst5gatfaSorfmeandacouBmrlatfns
evldanaeInariMnaloasers; aad~hal.lbeallowetlChretrQ~ta
(sp) a ml10 for each mile travelledbjrhiraIn autmdl.le
Hon. Charles'& Regan, Page 5
furnished by him In the dlsoharge0r 0fri0id busFnsss
whloh sumshall oovarall expansesof malntenenoe,
__- L.. depre-
olatlon, end operationof suoh amomobila. aon expenses
shall be reportedto the C~mmlssloners* Court of each
oounty affeotedby this aot as othsr expansesreportedand
8hall be paid by said CommlselonerslCourt as suoh other
exp@neerrare paid.
Seotlon 18 of Art1010 3918e, supra,prorldee‘ln
OrrOOt that saoh CrlmlnalDlstrlotAttorneyIn this state
Se-kg a dlstriotoomprislngtwoor more oouutlsethe popu-
lation of whloh dlstrlotexoeeds 150,000Inhabitantsaooord-
ing to the last praoedlngFedoraloensus shallbe allowsda
llumnot to exoeed $500.00per annum'iOrth6 neoessaryexpnns
Or 8UOh OirlOS, eaid 8\rmtO be paid Only Upon the It&?&d
sworn statamantor. such 0rri00 showingthe nsoeseitythersior
and approvedby the State Auditor.
It 1s obvious that the Loglslaturedid not intend
to allow any expaneeIn investigatingorima and aooumulatlng
~~idsn~e in orblnal oases by the general pro~islom of Art-
1010 9899, supra, boaausa in Seotlon5, of thl8 Artlole,the
CrirminalDietriotAttorney In all oountleeIn this state oom-
ing wlthln,aoertaln populationbracket are eqowered and
pe&tted to lnour reasonableand naoasaaryexpanssoin in-
Yestigatingorlma and aooumulatlngevldanoein oriminaloasa8,
and aa ?alln County does not oame rithln the populationbrqo-
ket authorisingsuoh expensesthis proritdonor tha ntatute
doea not apply to ~a3.U county.
You are respeotfullyadvired that it Ia the opinion
Of this departmentthat the CrlmlnalDfstrlotAttorneyof Tall6
County oannot lnaur reasonableand neaessary expense in inres-
tigatlngorlme and aooumulatlng oridonoain criminaloasaa.
TrufMng that ths roreg.oing answsrsyour inquiry,we
remain
Yourn very truly
ATTORHECOEWHRALOF TEXAS