TIJIEAT~-!P~D~Y GENE~L
OP TEXAS
HonorableOeo. II.Sheppard
Cciaptroller
of PublicAacounts
Awtln, Texax
Dearlllrr #IO.o-4365
<)plnlon
R&t commuotiim of allocatlonn.to
and appropriation8
out of the
old AgeAurl&tnccINnd
Yourletterof June 11threqueatlng our opinionon
to fhe
two qucrtionerelating Old Age Aaolstanct Fundread8
aa followEr
YJID AOE XSSxsTAwcEFUNDFxpmDITuREs
"senate Bill490 (Artialc 70&a). Forty-seventh
LeglO-
laturt,nmendlng Stctlon 2, ArticleXX, HouxeBlll8 Of
the RegularSessionot -th$. Foey-seventh Ltg~l.+re
ccemwnly knowna8 the tiibw Tax Bill,ha6 to do ulth
the allocation of the revenue6derived frcmCertainocaupa-
tlcmand grossrecelptetaxes,and reference is particularly
made to the iollcmlng portionof SenateBillNo. 4901
"#(4)Afterthe above allocation8 and mnta have
beenmadefromsuchClearatweFund,thereahallbepald
there!'raa intothe Old-AgeAarlatanoa Fundon the flrot
OS eachRonth,muchlu, whloh,takenrlthother sumapaid
IntoruchOld-AgeAmal8tenee Fundby virtue ot other law
8tlllin force,will equala total of b xflllonSeven
HundredFlrt~Thowazxl ($1,750,000.00) Dollare,andmueh
mm la hereby appropriatedfor the wo provide6by law
for muchOld-AgeAmlstanoeFund. Shouldruchpayment8into
the Old-Age A8(118tuktt Rud by virtueof otherlaw8exaeed
One lUllionSevenRundredFifty Thowancl ($1,7~,COO.o0)
Dollar8,in any one wnth, then not more than Cne eJilllon
Seven lfundrecl Hfty Thousand (~1,750,000.09) Dollarsor
8uche&allbe expendedfor old-ageasrletence in Fueh
monthEM the rtmalnder in exceeathenot shsl).-be with-
helduntilthe succwdiagmonthor months and be taken
lntacnnelderatla in allocating fund8Fiatthe Clearance
Fund to the Old-Age dsslstanae Puti, ud the amountpaid
in fromthe Clearanue Fund intothe Old-Age'Amlstance
Fundrhallb ereduced lCcordingly to the end that a sta-
tonorablo
Qeo.li.S&Oplrrd,
p4ze2
~~~~~&ttup~~~l~~~krerred to above
it has been the practice of thim dejnwtamt to sake a
transferonthe flrstdsJofeach monthfrcathe Qmlbau
clearanaehnd to the Old-AgeA8slrtance Fundor an
amountuhlch,when added to the cash balUrCe then in the
Old-AgeA8alatanee nun3 togetherulthreceipts to the trnd
by virtue of other law willequal$1,750,000.03. In other
word, on the tlMt d of each aucceedlng monththe balance
Is nlred back to the7 l,~O,OOO.~.
%e balancelxithe Old-Af$e hdmlnlatation find,uhlch
fimdis tonaldared a part o? the Old-AgeAmalatance Fund,
although tarried in a separate account, 16 alsocCnraldtmd
.lnarrldng at the agountto be &ansferredwhenbrlnglne
the balance In the Old-AgeRsslstencc Ptmdup to the
$1,730,600.00. Thl$Old-Age 4dItlnlatratlon PccountI8
raintatned by tra8ferringsuns f’rom the Old-Age&aalatanot
Fund In amount6aa 8nd when requested by the PublicYtlfare
Depzkrtment.. The law dots not preacrlbe thlaseparate ac-
count, but the fast thatthe leglslatweappropriates out
of the Old-AgeAealetence Fxmdotrtaln amountafor admlnis-
tratlanand the law ?urtherlimitsthe admlnlstratlvt coat
to 3% o? asalatance paid makesit ntoeaaary to reparatt
the accounta in wder to onntrolthe expenditures.
“Durlngeachaonththenare a nunibero~werrfinta
aaualng
cancelled, a c-it t.othe fundaccountand thereby
ralalngthe balance. Practically
all of the cancellations
are ofuarraaitawhlehuere l8auedln some previousmmth
Md again& that gn*iOUS IMAth. allOtIaMIt Or DOatf. Tht
l8 thatthe
meet CQ~OD reamonfor thesecancellation8
penslonerdlcs before reoelvlngbl8 uarant. The warranta
are returned,cancalled and eredltedback to tbc fund In
looe rubaequent
month,wMBg that aonth’etotalcredits
to lxccsd the grtatlonary
8um' of (1,750.ooO.00
vnt11 recentlythe totalwrMnt8 lamed against
tk8e fundsin a 8lnglemonthhave not amounted to the
$1,753,000.00, therebyleavinga balancean greatas or
greaterthan the amountof cancellatlowito be takeninto
conaldtratlon In allocating
the fund8for the folloulog
monthuhenbrlnglngthe balanceup to the rtqu@‘ed $1,75a,
003.00.
-lJou
thlt the OM-Qe Asalatanoc grantsand the cost
of adainlatratlon
togetherhave reachedand tight exceed
the ~1~750,000.00la a givenmonth,the questionarises
u to the use of the or&its eaueed by the oancellatlon
of url tame uarranta. I thtnrorc requestyour answer
to the ro~loulng qut8tloM:
.
HonorableOeo.H.3)uppard, page 3,
IR the Captroller 8co~llahlng the PurW8e
of t~l&-wlslon of the Aat quoted ln ~ollouing
the
prsctlceof c~nslderlngshe 888hb8lanccat the clo8e
of one mnth la srklvlng at the maount to k transferred
ao the lint of eachmmth, eventhigh thrrcrightbe
an mdekrmkbed uaountof s6mlnlatratlwlXpen8eaccounts
0utatudlng8ndunp8idutthctlme?
"Inwutrlng thl.8 queatlon@ease bear lm alnU that
the&irealmkya8omeunpaidsccounta while cutthe other
handthererue currentexpenditures
for 8upplle8which
are to be used throughoutthe futuremnth8. Also, that
One 8tatute(theknlbus Tax Bill)productsthe none7
8Nle anotherauthorirethe cxpendlturea.
*
-2. 18 the Comptroller authorlred to l8autdurlk:
any one monthrsrrsntafor the psymentof old-sgeaaalst-
anct and adminlatratlon coaablned totallng more than
$1,750,003.00if the amant ln excess of ~1,750,000.09
la not greeterthsnthe amount of cancelled utrranta
creditdescribed abwe?
-1 8hall be glad to hew you confervlth rtpr484ntt-
tiwa of thisdepartment 8nd the PublfcYelfsre Depsrtment
if you wlah furtherdetailedlnfoznatlon:b,bout the operation
Of ule aCCoWit6befor lpaklngJOUrIVPU.
You q&c at the beglnnlng0r pur letter that portlar
of Senate Bill490,Acts47th Legislature,upon th8 CaeMructlon
or rNch depends the 6naWerato yourquestions.
UhlleSenateBill 490 8mendasection2 of ArticleXX
of AbuseBill8 (Wnlbw Tax Bill) of the same resalon,that
portiaaof SenateBill 490 uhlohyou quote,repeatsunahsnged
the asme provlslons88 eaatalned In House Bill8. The leglslt-
fiveIntent88 to saidprwl~lon, fber8fore, m6y be ng8rded
t8 unchang48 fraa Iioust~ZUll.iS, so thtt wtanaot lookto other
portlow of R. B. 490 for help in tsctrtslnlng the legtslatlw
intentembodiedln the provlslrans under consldemtlon.
& now constituted, paymentsintothe 0ld"AgeAaalat-
anteFud art padsfraa two sources: .
(1)The clcsrsnce fundand (2)'ctrtaln tsxe6'tihichare
paid dlrecttyintothe Old Age A8alat8nce ?und. Theseletter.
of th4 rtwnuts collected
ar4 three-fourths trap tareson (a)
calm-operatedmachlnts,(b) Bw1acIDcnt8,(c)ulna,b44rand
liquorstamp taxes and (d) 811 the revenuesfrcuwine,beer
ud liquorpermits.
-TherevenuesIYaa theset8x sourc~a,
partlCUl8rl;t
as
A ;z ice; wlae sn&llquor permltr,vsryCOn8iderabl.y
frommonth
. In the quotedstatute, theseMwnuea are d48crlb4d
.- _
Xonorable
Oao.8. Sheppard.
page 4
aa 'othersumspaid Intotha Old-AgeA&slstanca Fund by vlrtua
of ot!wrlawaat111In farce.' The utdoubtad Purbweeof tha
quotedprovlrlon was to asaurathattharaba availablea
8tatIonarysum of $1,750,000.00 per month',1rrcSptctIvtof
fluctuatIonain tht monthlyraoe:ptsfromt!aa taxa8whichhave
baan spaclflcally allocatadta the old hgc haslrtanca Fuacl.
This purport is acaampllshadby the firatStnttnCt Of raidaub-
mtctlon (4), which read81
'iftarthe abwe allocations and paymanta have been
made frcmsuchClearance
Fund,there rhsll.ba pald thare-
srom fnto the old-Agt4sslstanctFund on tht rmt or
eachaonth, muchsum,uhlch,taktn u:th other8UmS paid
into suchold-4gaABslstance Rurdby virtue of other laws
etlll.lnforce,willaqua1a totalof One HlllIonSwan
Hundred?lftyThousand(~1,75O,OD9.03) Dollars,and such
mum la her+byapproprlatad use provldadby law
for the*
for such 9ld-Pgi?AssistanceFund.
This aantanct a86urto that $1,75O,OQO.~ will be
~~-d&ntotht Old Agt Assistance F'und
on the first of each
It dots not U&It the mrpandltura8 from the fund to
suchkount eachmonth. Ror dots it providethatunexpendad
balancasfmm preceding monthsin the Ol&.$gt Assistanct purd
rhallba conaldarad In dettr&nJ.ng fha amountuhichahallbe
. paid ln fromtht clearancefund. Tht $1,75O,COO.O0 paid lnto
the Old &a Asdhmct Ru%d.cach monthconsists on- of the
totalrtvtnuedarlvadfromtha "otherlaws'duringtht pracad-
lng month,pluswhatever addltloml am may ba naceiwwy from
tht clearancefundto m&a a total of ~1,~,000.00 And euch
mm ti to bt p8Id intotha Old A@ A8816tmt Fund on tha r'irrt
ofeverymonth,irraspactivt o~unaxpandadblanea8frompravIouS
mcmrtharemainlngin the fund.
Tha secondr&tenet of tht quotedprwl8Ion doe8not
lmprposa
a gtntrallimitation upon the amountwhiahmay ba expcadad
eachmonthfromtha fund. A careiLllreadl~wIll lM.thattha
entIrartnteaca appliesonly In thosemonth8%n uhlchthe rwtnutt
from ‘other laws*txcead ~l,~~,OOO.QDt :
Should suchpaymantninto the Old-Age Aaslstpnca
Fiendby vlrtuaot other laws 8xcttd clne
XllllonSavta
lkmdrtdFiftyThousand($1,750,000.00) Dolleu's,Jnany
one month,thannot more than Out RilllonSevenXundrad
Fifty hou6and ($1,750,ooO.00) Dollar8of luch shallba
expandadfor old-ageasslatace In luch month;and tht
mnaitxlar in cxceem tbtreof shall be rlth!beld
until tht
sacceedngmonthor month8and ba takenintoconsldaratlm
in allocatingfun& fromthe CleuwncaPUnd to tha Old-Age
Aulmtaacc Fund, aad the amount p81diln frcm the Claarance
nmd lntdtht Old-Ag8Aesirtance lhniil
8hallbe reduead
accordinglytotha end that* rtrtlolry rumof olt RIl-
lia!+men -red Fll't~ Thowand (&750,000.00)0011~~
y~,y$h bt awM@al f'rmSkk fund8ior old-w
Actually,the revenuetror *otherlw8" hiw never
axcatd, nor even approached
~l,~,OiW.OO ln any one month,
a0 that thlr pro~l~lon haa never becoll~OptMtlW. ~MQ ii
It rhould baacueoperative, it uould1Imltthe expenditure out
of the Old Agt X8slrt@nca Fund in that mouth to $l,75O,WO.O0
only a8 to 'Isuch* money a8 uaa pal&ln thatmonth. It would
not forbid l sd:ngIn addltlonto 'Luch*$1,750,009.00, other
modes which might be In the Old &e A88fst8nCe?und by virtue
of unexptnded balances left wtr fran prlor‘month8.
Tha finalcourseI *totht and thata stationary8um bf
One Wlllon Seven HundredFifty Thousand ($1,750,000.00) hllar8
per aonth be ava:lablc",la to be conatruad, we bellew, not to
prescrfbe the amountwhich may be expanded, butktheemount whlah
18 to be al1oCateUto the 0ld Age Aslrlstanct Fund each month.
Thus construed,the entire provlrlonundtr consldcrat:on l8 an
allocationof monlae into the Old Ago Assiatanca Fund, rather
thansn appropriation thereof.Ut find the appropriation of
these funds in the DepartmentalApproprktlon Bill, S. D. 423,
nets 47th Leg., In t?a fol:&:ng language:
-'Ml fnconnca allocatedor Qtansferrcdto the Old Age
AssistanceFad by R. B. Wo. 3, Acts of the 47th Le&lole-
ture, AagularSesaslon, or other revenue lawa, for t&e
purpbuc of provldlng and admlnlstarlng old-age asslatanca,
la hereby appropriatedfor each of the fiscalyear8 ending
Augunt 31, 1942, and Ru~uat 31, 1943,to the StateEepnrt-
mfnt of FublleWelfare&or oldage eB8IBtnncopaymcnt~
and for oalarlas,equipment, bupplla8,travel,lanntenance
en4 cont*ant expenses nectmrary’In the axtanslon of 6ald
old-age a88Istance. 9
This clearlyconetituter, an approprlatlon
for
"eachof the fiscalyearns,and cannot be construtd a8 bclng
"eachof the fiscalyteruE), and cannot be conzstruedam balng
an approprlatlon on a-monthlybfdn. H. B. 8 and 5. 8. 499
prwldt for the allocationto the Old Age ii88iatanoe ?und
of $1,~0,O0O.O0 each month, and the abow provl8ion of
S. IS..
423, aporopriat&s:all the aonIes 80 allocatedfor
each of .tht two flacelyeara.
It follousfrom the foregoinganal&s that there
may be expendedfrom the Old hgt AssIat+%nCe
Rxnd iwant
month not only the $1,75O,OOO.O0ellocatedto 8ald fund on
t?keflwt of said month, but In addltlonthereto,suoh.'
uncxpendtdbalnnaeas there may bt in tht fund by virtue
of expendlttwes&ur?ngpreceding monthsof the flaoalyear
having been belo%%$1,750,0OO.00.
Turningnw to e comlderatinn of your tro questIon8.
i&r first question Is ansueredIn tht negatlveti. a., we
believethat you shWJl6not aonslder the cash balance at the
the unexpended
closeof one month (that.Ia, portlenof tht .
atthc 8mounttobetransferredtrortJaealeaawm
first of eachmonth. T&t amountto be tran8rerred rrw the
ClaaXWoe fundon the tint of the month IO the dlfftrenca
Hon. oeorge II. sheppma, pcy 5
between $l,~O,OOO.OOsnclthe amountwhich has been psld into
the old age aaslstanct rclndfma %tkcc laan- aurlng the! wc-
cedin& ma&h pluwany balancecarriedover becauseof an
cxcee8 wer 41,75O,O#.OG,which may have been pa!d lnto the
fund by virtut of other laws in prior ronths.
Ut ahmrtr your second questionIn the af?irmatlvt;
i. t., you say Issue during any one uonth warrantcfor the
payawntof old a@ ao8lsranceand ebninlstratlon combined
totaling180x-tthan $l,?~,O~.OG, If there ls an uncxpcrulcd
balanct in the fund f%xu prior months to cover ruch excts8.
The canctllcdwarrantcredit ta uhlch you refer may be one
of the sources oi such uncxpcndedbalanceof f’undaprtvlou~ly
allocatrd.
Yours very truly
BY
Walter 3. Koch
.48Siatant.
bWCrmm:ba
- hPFRWl?D JCL 3, 1042
Oerald C. ti
-’
2