WILL wIL.soN
ATTONNEYOENERAE
September 21, 1961
Honorable Robert S. Calvert
Comptroller of Public Accounts
Capitol Station
Austin 11, Texas
Opinion No. ww-1152
Re: Construction of riders in
the General Appropriation
Bill providing for longev-
ity pay to hourly employees
Dear Mr. Calvert: of the Highway Department.
Your request for an opinion reads in part as follows:
"Senate Bill No. 1, Acts of the 57th
Legislature, First Called Session, Article
III provides for longevity pay to hourly
employees of the Highway Department. This
provision is found on page III-95 of the
above Act which is the biennium appropria-
tion bill.
"Due to the above provisions the follow-
ing questions have arisen:
"1. Is there pre-existing law for this
appropriation?
"2. Would payment of this longevity
violate any provision of the Texas Consti-
tution?"
The rider referred to in your request provides as
follows :
"It is expressly provided that out of
item 11 above the State Highway Department
may pay longevity to hourly employees of the
Department whose service to the Department
has not been interrupted by periods of more
than six months. The amounts which may be
paid to each individual employee shall be
-a .
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 2. (WW-1152)
based on the total length of service within
the Department, according to the following
schedule:
"5 years $ 5 per month
10 years 10 per month
15 years 15 per month
20 years 20 per month"
Section 4.3of Article III of the Constitution of
Texas provides as follows:
"The Legislature shall provide by law for
the comp'Jnsationof all officers, servants,
agents and public contractors, not provided
for in this Constitution, but shall not grant
extra compensation to any officer, agent, ser-
vant, or pub1.i.c
contractors, after such public
service shall have been performed or contract
entered into, for the performance of the same;
nor grant, by appropriation or otherwise, any
amount of money out of the Treasury of the
State, to any individual, on a claim, real or
pretended, when the same shall not have been
provided for by pre-existing law; nor employ
anyone in the name of the Sf;ate,unless auth-
orized by pre-existing law.
The applicable provision of Section 51, Article III,
Constitution of Texas, p:rovidesas follows:
"The Legislature shall have no power to
make any grant or authorize the making of any
grant of public moneys to any individual, asso-
ciation of individuals, municipal or other
corporations whatsoever; . . .'
Section 6 of Article XVI of the Constitution of the
State of Texaa provides as follows:
"No appropriation for private or indivi-
dual purposes shall be made. A regular state-
ment, under oath, and an account of the receipts
and expenditures of all public money shall be
published annually, in such manner a3 shall be
prescribed by law."
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 3. (WW-1152)
In the rider to the General Appropriation Bill the Legis-
lature has prescribed four classifications of employees compen-
sated on an hourly basis rather than calling for additional compen-
sation for services already performed. In other words it is our
opinion that the Legislature has chosen to determine the classi-
fication in which such employees should be placed shall be on the
basis of prior experience. You are, therefore, advised, in answer
to your first question, that Chapter 1, Title 1.16of the Revised
Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, as amended, creating the Highway
Department, constitutes the pre-existing law for the above quoted
rider.
In answer to question No. 2, ou are advised that this
rider is not in violation of Section 4t or Section 51 of Article
III of the Constitution of Texas nor Section 6 of Article XVI of
the Constitution of Texas nor any other provision of the Consti-
tution of Texas for the reason that it is an appropriation for
the payment of compensation for services currently rendered the
State of Texas by employees of the State.
SUMMARY
A rider in the General Appropriation Bill
prescribing a schedule of increased compen-
sation based on years experience is consti-
tutional since the Legislature has the
authority to use this method of classifying
employees.
Yours very truly,
WILL WILSON
Attorney General of Texas
JR:ds:zt
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
W. V. Geppert, Chairman
Henry Braswell
Joe McMaster
H. Grady Chandler
W.R. Scruggs
REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: Houghton Brownlee, Jr.