TEZE NEYGENERAL 

TEXAS 

,December 19, 1952 

Hon. R. C. hMillg, Chairman 

State.Board of Control 

Austin, Texas Opinion No. V-1557 

Re: Necessity for approval 

by the Board of Control 

on vouchers covering reimbursement of the grocery 

purchases of certain personnel of the Board for 

Texas State Hospitals and 

Dear Sir: Special Schools. 

Your request for our opinion reads in main as 

follows: 

+%Ve desire the opinion of your office 

as to the duty and responsibility of the 

Board of.Control to approve for payment 

vouchers cwering reimbursement to certain 

offfciels of,Institutions under the jurisdiction ,of the Roard for Texas State Hospitals and Specie1 Schoolsfor groceries 

Purchased for personal use. 

*OR November 12, 1952, the Board for 

Texas State Hospitals and Speoial Schools 

submitted to the Board of Control such a 

voucher in the alMlnt of $50.00 payable to 

John L. Dietrich, Business Manager of the 

Moody~Stete Sohool for Cerebral Palsied 

Children. The voucher covered reimbursement out of Appropriation No. R-719 to Mr. 

Dietrich for groceries he purahased for his 

own personal use during October, 1952. The 

voucher was forwarded without Board of Control 

approval to the Comptroller of Public Accounts 

for issuance of a State warrant. On November 

14, 1952, the voucher was returned to the 

Board of Control by the C~omptroller with this 

notation, 'Approval by the Board of Control.* 
Hon. R, C, Lanning, page 2 (V-1557) 

"The Board of Control feels that a 

transaction of this kind is not in any 

sense a purchase for a State Institution 

or Agency and thus our approval is not 

required on any resulting claim before a 

warrant can be issued by the Comptroller. 

"The authority and procedure for such 

a transaction is set up by rules adopted 

~-by the Board for Texas State Hospitals and 

Special Schools, a copy of which we are 

enclosing, and we are unable to see how 

the Board of Control is involved. 

"The State Comptroller feels that since 

we have approved all similar claims in the 

past, we should continue to do so before a 

State warrant is issued. We believe the 

practice is only a carry over from the time 

when the Board of Control operated the State 

Institutions and the auditing and spproval 

of such claims was a pert of the Hospital 

and School administrative function rather 

than a part of the purchase function.f' 

Ordinarily, the purchase of all kinds of 

supplies for the various state agencies and institutions is the function of the Boerd of Control 

under the provisions of Article 634. This article has been construed by a number of~Attorney 

General's Opinions, including V-677 (1948),0-3885 

(1941)* o-2612 (19401, and O-2595-A (1940). 

The Board for Texas State Hospitals and 

Special Schools was created in 1949 by the 51st 

legislature under the provisions of Article 3174b, 

V.C.S. * and all powers and duties heretofore vested 

in and exercised by the State Board of Control over 

our state eleemosynary institutions was transferred 

to the newly created Board. Att'y Gen. Op. V-905 

(194910 However, Section 2 of this act reads: 

"Provided, however, that the Board 

of Control shall continue to handle purchases for such Institutions in the same 

manner as they do for other State agencies." 

There is no authority provided in the above act for the purchase of groceries by individual 
Hon. R. C. Lanning, page 3 (v-1557) 

employees of said institutions and reimbursements 

to them by the State. For that authority it is 

necessary to turn to the provisions of the current 

biennial appropriation bill (R. B. 426, Acts 52nd 

Leg. ; R.S. 1951, ch. 499, p. 1228) which reads in 

part, at page 1292: 

"Sec. 5. Emoluments of Employees: (a) 

Under written direction of the Board and/or 

Council, subject to the approval of then 

Iagislative Budget Board, institutional 

employees may receive suoh emoluments as 

the Board and/or Council may by rule and 

regulation prescribe. Prior to granting or 

allowing such emoluments to any medical or 

supervisory personnel, which will require 

new or additional remodeling or construction, 

approval must be obtained in writing from 

the Legislative Budget Board. A cony of such 

approval, when obtained, shall be filed with 

the Comptroller of Public Accounts and no 

expenditure of any funds herein appropriated 

or any local or other available funds shall 

be made without prior approval. 

,"(b) To prevent inequalities in salaries 

to those employees not receiving any or all 

of such emoluments, it is provided that the 

Superintendent, upon written approval of the 

Board end/or Council shall pay such employees 

an amount not to exceed Fifty Dollars ($50) 

per month each aa an outside maintenanoe allowance. It is speoifically required, however, 

that no employee receiving an additional 

allowance as provided herein may receive any 

emoluments at any institution unless he reimburses said institution for such emoluments 

at rates prescribed by rules and regulations 

of the BoarU and/or Counaii, subject to the 

approval of the Legislative Budget Board. 

Any such reimbursements are hereby appropriated 

only to the food appropriation for each institution. It is further specifically required 

that the Board and/or Council shall specify 

those employees who shall receive full emoluments and those who shall receive the additional monetary allowance. 
Hon. R. C. Lanning, page 4 (V-1557) 

*(c) Emoluments may be granted to the 

Medioal Director and Assistant Medical Director of the Board but for no other employee of 

the Board's Central Office." 

It is our opinion that the transactions 

in question are notthose regulated by Article 634, 

V.C.S. They are not purchases by the State, but 

are individual purchases, the reimbursements for 

which are specifically authorized as emoluments under House Bill 426. There is no provision made for 

the Board of Control to approve or act in any way 

upon such allowances. Approval by the Board for 

Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools of vouchers covering reimbursement for grocery purchases by 

designated personnel is all that is necessary and 

required before the application is made to the 

Comptroller for issuance of a state warrant. We 

do notice, however, that the Hospital Board rules 

you enclosed are merely some committee recommendations and do not bear any certificate of adoption 

by the Hospital Board; but we have been advised 

that proper rules have been adopted. 

It is not necessary for the Board of 

Control to approve vouchers covering reimbursement of the grocery purchases by certain personnel of the Board for Texas State 

Hospitals and Special Schools. These purchases are emoluments under the provisions 

of the current biennial appropriation bill 

and approval by ths Hospital Board is sufficient. 

ABPROVED: 

Yours very truly, 

PRICE DAEIEL 

William S. Lott Attorney Generel 

State Affairs Division 

Mary K. Wall 

Reviewing Assistant 

Charles D. Mathews 

First Assistant 

By ti'$L 

V. F. Ta or 

Assistant 

VF'T:jrb