The Attorney General of Texas 

December 18, 1978 

JOHN L. HILL 

Attorney General 

Honorable John J. Kavanagh, M.D. 

Commissioner 

Texas Department of Mental Health 

and Mental Retardation 

P. 0. Box 12668 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Dear Commissioner Kavanagh: 

Opinion No. H- 1290 

Re: Deposit and use of funds 

received for genetic counseling 

services. 

You have requested our opinion regarding the deposit and use of funds 

for genetic counseling services. Section 2.25 of article 5547-202, V.T.C.S., 

authorizes the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation 

to 

charge for genetic counseling services provided under 

the authority of this Act at a rate not to exceed the 

actual cost of providing such services. The proceeds 

from such charges shall be retained and utilized by the 

department for the continued provision of such 

services. 

You state that the Denton State School, a department facility, receives funds 

under section 2.25 from community mental health centers, from other 

departmental facilities, and from individuals. Genetic counseling services are 

generally provided on an outpatient basis. You ask whether section 2.25 

empowers the Denton State School to deposit funds received thereunder in a 

local depository. 

Article 3179, V.T.C.S., applicable to the Denton State School, inter alia, 

provides: 

AR funds of every character received by or 

belonging to the institutions, other than money 

appropriated for their support from time to time by 

the Legislature, shall as soon as received, be paid over 

to the State Treasurer by the Board, superintendent or 

other person receiving them. The Treasurer shall 

place such sums to the credit of the general revenue 

fund. 

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Honorable John J. Kavanagh, M.D. - Page 2 (H-1290 1 

It might be argued that article 3179, by requiring the deposit of all such funds in the 

State Treasury, irreconcilably conflicts with section 2.25 of article 5547-202. 

Article 3179, however, applies only to unappropriated funds, and it seems clear that 

all moneys collected under section 2.25 are appropriated. 

In section 3h of article II of the current appropriations act, Acts 1977, 65th 

Leg., ch. 872, at 2804, all proceeds from the operation of out-patient clinics by the 

Denton State School are, with a single nonrelevant exception, reappropriated to 

that institution: 

OUT-PATIENT CLINICS. (11 The State agencies named in 

this Section are authorized to charge for treatment and 

medication to patients treated on an out-patient basis at 

rates not to exceed the actual cost. An additional charge 

may be made for medication dispensed to patients at a rate 

not to exceed the cost to the State. 

(2) Proceeds from the sale of medications and from 

treatment are hereby reappropriated to the respective outpatient clinics or institutions. 

(3) As an exception to the General Provisions of this Act 

relating to reimbursements and payments, it is expressly 

provided that the moneys received by the Department of 

Mental Health and Mental Retardation and the Department 

of Health Resources, from interagency contracts with the 

Department of Public Welfare under Title XIX of the Social 

Security Act, are to be considered pay-patient collections 

and deposited in the General Revenue Fund. 

ln addition, section 26 of article V appropriates to the relevant agency 

reimbursements for authorized services received from another state agency: 

REIMBURSEMENTS AND PAYMENTS. Any reimbursements received by an agency of the State for authorized 

services rendered to any other agency of the State 

Government . . . are hereby appropriated to the agency of 

the State receiving such reimbursements and payments for 

use during the fiscal year in which they are received. 

The reimbursements and payments received shall be 

credited . . . to the agency’s current appropriation items or 

accounts from which the expenditures of like character were 

originally made. . . . 

Thus, outpatient moneys collected by the Denton State School from 

individuals and from community mental health centers are reappropriated to the 

agency by section 3h of article II of the appropriations act, while funds received 

from other departmental facilities are reappropriated under both that section and 

section 26 of article V. As a result, since article 3179 has no application to these 

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Honorable John J. Kavanagh, M.D. - Page 3 (H-1290) 

particular funds, section 2.25 of article 5547-202 prevails, and the Denton State 

School should retain and utilize funds collected for genetic counseling services “for 

the continued provision of such services.” By deciding that these funds may be 

deposited in a local depository, we need not decide whether they are considered to 

be “in the state treasury.” 

SUMMARY 

The Denton State School is authorized to deposit funds 

received for genetic counseling services, pursuant to section 

2.25 of article 5547-202, V.T.C.S., in a local depository. 

/$i$g~& 

cL/y General of Texas 

DAVID M-KENDALL, First Assistant 

Opinion Committee 

jsn 

P. 5090