~THEATTORNEY GENERAL 

OF-TEXAS 

GFiRAID C. MANN 

Aun-rriw ~LTEXAR 

Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Mr. Sheppard : Opinion No. O-5333 

Re: Whether or not the Board 

‘of Control may delegate to 

another the authorltg to 

approve a voucher claim for 

the issuance of a warrant. 

Your request for an opinion from this department is as follows: 

“This department is In receipt of Furchase Voucher to The Cooper Company, Inc., 

301 South 4th Street, Waco, ,Texas, against 

an appropriation made to the Gatesville 

School For Boys, Gatesville, Texas. 

“The voucher carries the approval of 

the Institution Head and appears to, have 

been regularly requisitioned through the 

Board of Control. It is approved by Mr. 

G.B. Carlisle for the Board of Control. 

“This department respectfully requests 

your opinion as to whether it is authorized 

to issue warrant in payment of this voucher 

claim that carries the approval of the 

Board of Control by G. B. Carlisle. It is 

the information of this department that G.B. 

Carlisle is Chief, Claims Division, of the 

State Board of Control." 

The statute (Title 20) defining the powers and duties 

of the Board of Control specifically provides for certain divisions; thus, there is a Division of Public' Printing (Art. 607), 

Division of Purchasing, (Art. 631), Division of Public Buildings and Grounds (Art. 665), Division of Design and Appropriz$r%d Division Af Child Welfare (Art. 

(Art 688) Division of Eleemosyn;;;aj"stitutions (Art. 

. 

,Article 604 declares that "the Board may from time to 

time create such other dlvlsions of its work as may be necessary, 
Honorable Gee, H. Sheppard - page 2 O-5333 

and appoint chiefs of such divisions, . . . . .' 

We are advised by the Chairman of the Board that 

there has been no formal creation by the Board of a Claims 

D'ivision, but that Mr. Carlisle is an employee of the department filling the position of Claims Division Chief listed as' Item 16 of~'galaries -- ~Main Office in the current 

General Appropriation for that department. 

There is no general statute creating the office of 

Chiefof the Claims Division nor indeed is there one creating 

such a division. 

Texas Jurisprudence, Vol. 34, p. 459, Sec. 79, in 

compendium style declares: 

"It is a general rule'that public 

duties must be performed and governmental powers exercised by the officer or 

party designated by law -- that they 

can not be delegated to others. This 

IS particularly true of duties which 

are judicial in their nature, or which 

call for the exercise of reasonable dlscretion, and which are regarded as a 

part of the public trust assumed." 

The rule there announced is In keeping with the general rule throughout the country'. 

In 46 C.J., (p. 1062, Sec. 381) the rule is epitomized 

as follows: 

"Where, however, provision is made by 

statute for the postlon of deputy, such 

deputy is regarded as a public officer.' 

Whether such alter-ego officer be denominated deputy 

or chief, the rule would of course be the same. As said in 

Pfeffer v. Mahnke, 260 S,W. 1033: 

"The chief clerks are public officers in 

the same sense and created by the same legal 

authority as other statutory officers of state." 

They, of course, exercise their office under precisely the same 

authority as the head officer, department or board, as the case 

may be -- that is, the statu,te itself. 

Where, therefore, the approve1 of the Board of Control 

is required, that approval must be the act of the Board es such, 
Honorable Gee, H. Sheppard - Page 3 o-5333 

or of a statutory deputy, assistant, or other alternate clothed 

with such power, 

Under the statutes there is no precise method prescribed for evidencing the Board's approval of an Invoice. 

There is nothing in your letter, nor otherwise known to us, 

to show whether or not the Board has approved the invoice. 

You should therefore require satisfactory evidence that it 

has done so. 

Very truly yours 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/Ocie Speer 

Ocie Speer 

Assistant 

OS-&R-WC 

APPROVH) JUN 7, 1943 

s/Grover Sellers 

FIRST ASSISTANT 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

Approved Opinion Committee by s/BR% Chairman