OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GEMERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

Honorable V. C. Parshall, Chairman 

Texas Sol1 Consarvatlon poard 

P. 0. Box 191 

Temple, Texas 

Dear ~Slr: 

we are In mot31 

1939, in which you rs 

upon the followillg qu 

r OXPO~SO t3000unt 

ttempt to answer these questions in 

hey are asked. 

The appropriation ror the use of.the State Soil 

Conservation Eoard In the administration of the Texas Soil 

Conservation Law Is provided therein. The Caneral Dapartmental Appropriation Bill oi the Forty-sixth Legislature, 

S. B. No. 427, does not lnolude the State Soil Consetivatlon 

Board among the state departments and agencies it covers. 
Honorable V. C. ?farsh@ll, Page 2 

38 Tex. Jur. 844: 

"The appropriatlon.need not, however, 

be made In the General Appropriation Bill, 

nor Is any partlculsr form of words requlred." 

Seotlons 14 and 1413, of House Bill lvo. 20, otherwise the Texas Soil Conservation Law, are the pertinent 

parts 0r the Act. Seotlon 14 calls for the appropriation 

or a sum or ~lO,OOO.OO for the purpose or creating and malntalnlng the State Soil Conservation Board until August 31, 

1939. Be purposevror whloh thls sum may be expended are 

not Itemized. 

Seotlon 14a provrdee for the appropriation or 

several 8ums for the two year period beginning Septembe 

1939, and ending August 91, 1941. ,A speoifio sum is de i Og1, 

nated ln each lnstanoe along with the purpose or purposes 

for whloh It may be emended. Under the heading WAdmlnlstratlve Expense- a sum oi $S,OOO.OO for tlie year'ending 

August 31, 1940, and the sum of #2,5OO.g0 ror tp8 year ending August 51, 1941, are earmarked ror "Light,. Heat, Water, 

and Contingent*. (Underecor$ag ours. ) 

Fe presume, sin08 this is the only oontingent 

fund set up ror the admlnlstration or the aot, that your 

question pertafas to It. 

It Is, or oourse, elf3mentary law that money appropriated by the Legislature cannot be used for any other 

purpose than that speolfled In the app&cprlcitlon bill wlthout oonstltutlng a mis-application of pub110 funds. 

Conferenoe oplnlon, Attorney Ceneral*s Department, 

August 18, 192l, by Honorable X. F. Smith: 

"It Is the law bf the State t&at no part 

of the mon'6y appropriated by the Legislature 

oan be used for any purpose other than the speoliio 

purpose named In the appropriationbill. An efpendltze ror a purpose otherthan'the one for 

which-the money was apprpprlat 

$ 

d would be a mlsapplication of public funds. he Comptroller 

would not be authorized to draw his warrant~on 

any fund for any purpose'exoept the purpose named 

In the Aot, and the Treasurer would be without 
Honorable V. C. Yarshall, Page 3 

authority to honor a warrant 

purpose except that ntnned In 

bill. ” 

on any fund ror any 

the appropriation 

The above opinion quotes rrom 4 Corpus Jurls, p. 

1480, as r0ii0ws: 

*in appropriation or runds Is an ‘authority rrom the Legislature, given at the prqper 

time, and In legal form, to the proper offIcera, 

to apply sums or money, out or that whloh may 

be In the treasury In a given year, to speoliled 

objeots or demands against the State; the act 

or the Legislature In sattlng appt or assigning 

to a’partlcular use a certain SUB of money to be 

used in the payment or debts or dues from the 

State to its oredltprs; a setting apart from the 

publio revedue or a.aertain sum of money ror a 

8peOlrled objeot, in suoh manner that the exeoutlve ofrloers of the government are authorized 

to use that money.and no more ior that object, 

and Zor no other.” [Underscoring ours. ) 

See also opinion of the Attorney G&eral@k Department.to Honorable George B. Simpson, State Auditor, by Honoral&¶ Joe J. Alsup, Assistant Attorney General, dated April 

20, 1935, and. many other opinions in the riles or the Attorney General’s Department. 

This principle applies to all the several sums of 

money ‘eet forth in Section 14a and their respective wpurposes”. In other words, money appropriated for offloe’rental cannot be used to purohase offloe equipment and ‘rurniture, 

even if there happens to be a surplus In the rormer and a 

shortage In the latter fund. 

As for the roontlngentn fund set out under No. 9, 

Administrative Expense, the question ai-lses as to what purpose It shall serve; 

In Vol. 2, Words and Phrases (First Series), p. 

1502, It Is said: 

*The -adjeotlve foontlngentt as used In 

appropriation bills to quality the word **I& 

penses * has g technkal, -and well-understood 
Honorable V. C. karshall, Page 4 

meaning. It Is usual for Congress to enumerate the principal olasses of expenditures which 

they authorize, such as clerk hire, fuel, Light, 

postage, telegrams, etc., and then to make a F 

small appropriation ror the minor disbursements 

Incidental to any great business, w 

be 

oh oannot 

well be foreseen,. and which It would ‘be useless 

to SpeOiry more accurately. For suoh dlsbursemerits, a round sum Is appropriated under.the head 

or toontlngent expenses’. Bunwoody vs. United 

States.(U.S.) 22 Ct. Cl. 269, 28O.s 

The moneys of a contingent fund are’ to be used 

for purposes the Legislature oould not roresee or anticipate. 

No part of it can be used ror supplementing the funds appropriated ror SpeOiriC items, ror example, salaries, orrice 

rental, stationery and printing, etc. Where derlnlte sums 

are appropriated r0r SpSOiriO purposes, moneys In a oontlngent fund are not available ror expenditure In oonneotlon 

with these speolilc purposes. A Woontlngent* fund in itself Implies unpredlotable Items of ooet and expense. where 

the Legislature hssroreseen various expenses and provided 

for them derinitely, It is not Its Intention that moneys In 

a contingent fund be used for expenses other than those the 

Legislature failed. to foresee. A oontingent fund Is not 

amllable for enumeraaed expenditures. 

Angwering y&r rirst question, It Is our opinion 

that in the event any of the funds set’rorth In Section 14a 

ror speclrlo purposes are exhausted, the State soil Conservation Board is without power or authority to spend oontlngent funds on said Items, the contingent moneys going not 

ror enumerated items or purposes, 

oontemplated by the Legislature. 

but for oontlngencies;not 

Your attention is called to an opinion of this de- 

*artment by Honorable Edward Clark, dated May 29, 1933, ~to 

;,r’ 

Honorable George H. Sheppard, Comptroller of Public Aooounts, 

.,’ and also Opinion NO. O-184 by Honorable Morris E. Hodges to 

1 . I.. .* Honorable George H. Sheppard, Comptroller of Publlo Acoounts. 

Your seoond inquiry is: 

Wnsre may public hearings be held?v 
Honorable p. C. Yarbhall, Page 5 

swered in 

It appears $0 us that this question-ls.fully anParagraph E, Section 4, where the A@ reads: 

"The State F!oard shall keep a complete --. _ _ . _ and accurate record or all its orx1cla.L actlone, 

hold such public hearings at such times and 

laces wlthin the State as may be determined 

y the Board, and shall promulgate such rules 

and regulatfons as may be necessary ror the 

p@formanoe of the fUnotlon8 or Said board 

under the provisions of this AOt. . ." (Underscoring ours.) 

In Sectlon5, headed Wreatlon of Soil Conservation Distriot~, It Is provided ror a "hearing" upon the 

question of the deslrablllty and neoesslty of the creation 

of a soil conservation dletrlot where the necessary petltlon has been filed with the Board. It Is not required in 

the Act that suoh hearing be held wlthln the confines of 

the proposed distriot, but slnoe *all owners of land within 

the limits or the territory desoribed in the petition, and 

or lands within any territory qonsldered ror addltlon to 

suoh desorlbed territory, and all other Interested parties, 

shall have the right to attend swh hearings and to be 

heard", it is apparent that in giving the board a ride dlsoretlon In the matter of holding hearings the Legislature 

oontemplated that the board would consider the oonvenlenoe 

of the Interested Individuals or group. 

Seotlon 13 or the Act pJXWlde8 that the board may 

oonduot publlo meetings and publlo hearings upon petition 

for dlsoontlnuanoe of a dlstrlot. where again-the presumption is that the board would oall the meeting, or hearing, 

within the dlstrlot for the convenience or the land owners. 

and Interested parties therein. 

Section 8.oi the Aot authorlzes.%he supervisors 

of any dlstrlot" to hold public meetings and public hearings whenever neoessary and the district Board O? Adjustment Is given a similar power with respeot to the petitions 

ot land owners seeking an adj,ustment under Section 10. Of 

oourse, hearings of the dlstrlot supervisors and Board of 

\djustment would be held In t&e particular district they 

represented. 
Honorable V. C. Ifarshall, Page d 

Answering your question speoirioally, It Is our 

opinion that the board ,I8 authorized to hold Its necessary 

public hearings at such times and plaoed )rlthin the State 

as It may determine suitable and convenient. 

The third question in your request reads as follows: 

Tvlll certification ok expense'aooo& 

of delegates to district conventions be required?= 

Section 4 provides as roiiows: 

W&?embers of a county soil conservation 

advisory committee shall receive no oompensatlon ror their services except the delegate to 

the dlstriot convention who shall receive the 

amount Incurred as necessary expenses and $4.00 

per day not to exceed two days to be paid by 

Ee State Soil C,onservatlon Eoard created here- 

." 

Itrls our opinion that this. question is answerable In the affirmative. Authority ror certifloatlon is 

found in Artlcle'435Q, Texas civil: Statutes, as amended, 

Aots, 1931, the pertinent portion or which read8 as.rollows: 

"No warranbs shall be prepared (by the 

.Comptroller) exoept on presentation 

1 

the 

warrant Aerk oi a properly audited o,alms, 

verified by.arfidavlt to Its oorreotness, the 

proper auditing of whloh olalms shall be evldenoed by the Initials .written therein by,,the 

person auditing the seme;.and suoh Olaim8 so 

verified and audited shell be sufriolent and 

the only authority ror the preparation of a 

warrant or warrants. . . n 

Under the above statute ~the Comptroller wotid'be 

prohibited rrom preparing a tiarrant to cover a delegate's 

expense to a dlstrlot convention unless the expense account 

was properly itemized and ,oertlf'~ad. 

Finally, you ask If members of the'state Soil Conservation hoard oome under wSocial.Securlty~. 
Honorable V. C. Marshall, Page 7 

By "Social Security" we assume you mean the Texas 

Unemployment Compensation Act, which Is the only state legislation commonly deslgpated social security requiring the 

filing of reports and payments Or taxes. 

Section 19(G) (5) of the Texas Unemployment Compensation Aot, of the Texas Civil Statutes, a8 ,amended by the 

Forty-sixth Legislature, reads as follows: 

"The term *employment' shall not lndlude: 

the S%A ' 

ervlce perfOInXIe6 In the employ or 

or of any political subdivision 

thereof 0; of any Instrumentality of the State 

or Its political subdivlslons.w 

The same exemption 18 acoorded under the pertinent 

prOviSiOn Or the Federal Social Security Act. U; S. C. A., 

Title 42, Seotlon 410,(B) (Federal Old Age Renefit),.and Sectjon 1011 (7) (taxes with respect to employment). 

The State Soil Conservation Board Is undoubtedly 

an Instrumentality of' the State, a oreature of the Legislature, 

an agency of the people. 

Section 3 (4) states that "Eoard" or "State Soil 

Conservation Board = means the agenoy created In Seotlon 4 of 

the A,,t. 

Section 3 (9) reads: 

"'Agency of the State' Includes the government of the state and any subdivision, agenoy, 

or Instrumentality, corporate or *srwlse, 0r 

the government of the state." 

Consequently, you are advised thaifsembers of the 

St&e Soil Conservation bard do not come within the coverage Or State and Federal Social Security Acts. 

Trusting we have answered your inquiries satisraotorl$y, we are 

Yours very truly 

~ATTORNEYGFXERAL OF TEXAS 

DS:FG BY ( 

APPROVED JUL. '19, 1939 

(Signed) W. F. Moore 

RNEY GENERAL 

'ITEE BY T.D.R. 

Signed) Dick stout 

Dick Stout 

AsSiStant