.’ 

TEEA'ILTORNEYGENERAL 

ozp TEXAS i 'Y 

AUBTXN. TeaEAs~ 

FAOAN DICILBON 

-dARW 

August 23, 1948 

,. . .,,, ‘I ;. . .., 

Hon. A. P. ititchell, Chairman 

Board of Registration for 

Professional Rngineers 

Austin, Texas Oplnlon No.~V-666 

Re: The'legailty of paying 

salaries from an appropriation to establish a 

library for registered 

professional engineers. 

Dear Sir: 

Your request for an opinion contained the following: 

"The.appropriatlon Pbr the State 'Doard. 

of BeglstratSon for Professiona1,Englneer.s~ 

for the Biennium 1948-49~included the fol-, : 

lOWing: 

'#The State Board<of Registration for, " 

Professional Engineers, havingelected,~to:~.' . 

establish a library for registered,profesA '.'. 

sional engineers of Texas as authofized by 

Chapter 571"of the' Acts~ of~the'47th DegiS~- 

lature, Regular Session, andhaving alfqcated the $60,000 author$sed by the above,mentioned~Abt of the Legls,lature for.this pur8 

ose; and having expended only approximately 

35,000 for this purpose during the bieinnium 

for which the authorieation was made, is hereby authorized to make addltLonal,expenditures, 

in such amounts as will bring the total of 

monies so expended during 'the biennium 1941- 

43 and during the biennium 1947-49 to ,a sum 

not to exceed $60,000. No part of this fund 

shall be expended for buildings;' 

"This is carried as'Appropriati,on No. 

Y-157. The Board has elected to carry out 

then provisions set out in the above quoted 

paragraph. The purchase of books entails a 
. c 

. 

. 

hon. A. F. Mitchell, page 2 (v-666) ' 

large amount .oS epecialleed~ bookkesplng~and 

other. alerioal work. *The regular appropriations for \$kthe ~admln%stratSon of the &glneerlng Registration Act are not sufficient to 

provIde'Sor this extra work. . . 

vSpeclflcally, we ask for authorl8atlon 

to~secure additional assistance ior the necebaary bookkeeping aad~alerlcal~work and to 

pay for euah astilstance.rrom appr~priatlon Ho. 

Y-15? for the %glneers' Library., 

'&e Sollowlng provision 1s also~~lncluUed~ln 

the appropriation for the Board of Registration for ProSeaslon8l Engineers: ..- 

'1.3. Contingent Expense, Surety Bonds; Hem& 

,bershlps, Special or Emerg ncy Assist; 

-08 % 3,ooo.oo. 

Sen8te Bill 391, general and Special L8wa of 

Texas, 50th Legislature, page 901. 

Vhether‘sny p8rt of the appropriation msde for 

the llbr8l'y csn.be used for the p8yment of expenses for 

the purpom mentioned Su your request depends upon the .' 

lntentlon~of the Leglsleture 8s mnlfested-I.8 the sppropriations he&e for the Board. %sre-OS the opinlon'thst 

the Leglslatnre did not. Intend that any p8rt of the li-' 

brarysppropriatlons be-used .for..the payment. of -such e%- 

phseti and tkat:sualr payments'asn not be Issde."OuUoonClUBiOn f.8 b8Sed, in p8&, UpOn the S8et that.88 Sppl@Oprlatlon~h8s .been.-m8de expressly 8uthoFielng psyment for 

the type-of ssslst8noe mentlaned 'in yoim .zlequest. Item 

1-j oS.,the spproprlation for the BOSld ppovldes, among 

other things, for 'Speoial Assistance"~ 8nd ve..belleve 

th8t the moneyapgropM..ated thewti 088 be used~for the. 

purpose o? paying for extra olerlo81 and bookkeeping asslstanoe Ipade necessary by the purohsse of' book8 for the 

englneerst Ilbre 

P1)r$~iiinent to the question bed!& oonqidQed &I 

Subtiectlon -f of:Seatlon 3.4 of the Oeneral ProvIsIons 

;~~;h$t;i~~;~~la~lon Bill for State DepartId subsection provides tlmt. 

"Hone of the Suuds hereinabove a ro-- 

prlated .Sor 'Contingent expenses' or Raintensnoe'snd Mleoellaneousl shall be used for 

the payment of any s818rles unless spealfl- 
Hon. A. F. Mitchell, page 3 (v-666) 

cally authorized to be paid in the~ltemisation under the Contingent, &intenance Snd 

&EWellaneous Items herek-nabove set out and 

desl 

F 

ted therein a8 tsalarle8-', '.'extra 

help . or '8e880~1 18bOr'." Senate Bill 

391, General and Special Laws of Texas, 50th 

kIgiSlStuZre, page 938. 

'Phe provisions of the above quoted Subsection 

do not prohibit the U8e of the funds appropriated in 

item 13 of the appropriation for the Board.for a purpose such a8 the-one here under consideration. Item 13 

1s our opinion, thereforei th8t the Board may m8ke provision for such bookkeeping and oler+zal Bsslstance as 

1s neoessary in the pureh8sing of books for the engineers' 

library and although it cannot pay for s8me out OS the 

appropriation for the library, It m@ make expenditures 

0s the appropriation in Item 13 for any 8mount8 necesb8l'y to p8r for such 88SiSt8nGe. 

The Boatid of Begistratlon for ProfesBiO%X%1-&1gineerB may.make provision for 

such bookkeeping Snd oleria81 8sBiBt8We se 

is-neoessarg ln.the purch8sing of books'sor 

a&z.ggys) library authorlsed by,the LagThe Board may not use sny p8rt 0s 

the llbr&y~appropriation to pay for this 

extra help but may make expenditures of an 

item~in the appropriation for the:fjosI?d which 

f 

rovide8, ~moa@ other things, fog Special 

88iSt8Me for 8ny 8mounts necessary to p8g 

for such sesistanoe. 

APPROVED: 

CBK:mw 

Yours very truly, 

ATTORNEY %3EfbU OF TEXAS