OFFICE OF THE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TRW
AUSTIN
f- .il
kworable wmree H. Sheppard
ConiptrolLer of Fublic maouats
jpstin, Texas
opinion MO. 043669
Authority of
peyzmnts Boar
automobile cud
out that in
, this department
ts Board .hs no. au- "
traveling ezpams.
CcuRptrollews De-
f a apeoifio appro-
rus meint ellame
properly ahargeable
eee of an autom6bfl.e In the
iatlon for the purohaae of
vellng expense approprfatlon?
grant of the Board e valid grant?
.
eon., George Ii. Sheppard, page 2.
81088s of $750.00, including the trade-in valua
of a used oar, and this limited prloe shall
aover a oar equipped with bumpers and extra rim
orwheel but not an extra oesing and tube.*
It Is olear that the Legislature thus regarded
the purohase of an automobile as en Item of “Traveling
$rpeIules’. Your first question is therefore answered in
the afflmatlve. In the absence oi euoh a provision in
the general rider, the question would be more dliflcult,
but even In that event, It is not olear that the purohaee
OS an automobile should not be regarded as an Item of
nmm3llng Iqpemesn, end we wuld therefore be lnolined
to adopt the aonatructlon plaoed by your department upon
the term NTrevellng Expenses * as used in the Departmental
Appropriation Bills over a long period o? ysara.
Sin00 the purchase ot automobiles is an expend-
iture for ‘Traveling JCxpsrmesn, under the Departmental
appropriation Bill and the oonetruotion given the term
Vrevelfng Expsnses* by your department over a number of
years, It Is ap erent that the timftatlon 02 payments
Board, in grant f:ng the Railroad Colrrmission authority to
expend surplus funds for the purohase of automobIlee,har
supplemented the Item appropriated to the Rellroad COB+
mission ior traveling expermes, end made available to the
Railroad Coam1ls8iona larger faun of money than ~6s apeoi-
fiaally provided for that purpoee by the Leglalature,
Sinoe, es we have held in the opinions oited above, the
Limitation of payments Roar6 has no authority to grant per-
mission to expend surplus funds ior traveling expenses, It
follows that the grant of the l,imitetlon of payments Board,
lnsofaz as It conferred authority upon the Railroad Com-
mimion to expend surplus funds ror the purohase of auto-
mobiles, is an exoess of the authority oonferred by the
Leglslature upon the Limitation ot Fayments Board, and Is
therefore invalid.