Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

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