Mr. C. H. Cavness

State Auditor Austin, Texas OpinionNO. s-176 Re: Duty of the State Auditor to audit the Texas Turnpike Authority. Dear Mr. Cavness:

You request an opinion of this office as to whether the State Auditor Is required tomake an audit of the Texas TurnpikeAuthority under the provisions of Article 4413a-13,Vernon's Civil Statutes. You also ask whether an annual audit by the State Auditor would satisfy the provisions of Section 21 of Chapter 410,Acts 53rd Legislature,Regular Session, 1953, page 967. Said Act is codified as Article 6674~.

Article 4413a-13enumerates the duties of the State Auditor. Said article reads In part as follows:

"The State Auditor Is hereby granted the authority and it shall be his duty: "1.

. . . H2. To personally, or by his duly authorized assistants,examine and audit all fiscalbooks, records and accounts of all custodians of public funds, and of all disbursing officers of this State, making Independentverificationof all assets, liabilities,revenues and expendltures of the State, Its departments, boards, bureaus, Institutions,commissions or agencies thereofnow In existence or hereafter created.'. . . h

Mr. C. H. Cavness - page 2 (s-176)

It was held in the case of Texas TurnpikeAuthorit?v’.

‘Bhepperd,279 S.W.2d 302 (Tex.Sup.1955)that the Texas TurnpikeAuthority Is ati a of Texas. See Section 3 of Article Eency of :&heState 674~. It Is, therefore,our opinion that the State Auditor is requiredby the provisions of Article 4413a-13 to audit the affairs of the Texas TurnpikeAuthority. If the Legislaturehad flitended to relieve the State Audltor of this responslblllty, It should have made specific exemption to Art. 4413a-13.

The last sentence of Section 21, Article 6674v, reads as follows:

“TheAuthority shall cause an audit of Its books and accounts to be made at least once In each year by certifiedpublic accountants and the cost thereofnay be treated as a part of the cost of construction or of operation of the turnpike project." The fact that the cost of the audit nay be treated as a part of the cost of constructionor of operation of the turnpikeproject .lndlcatesthat It was the leglsl.ative intent to provide an independent audit of the Authority'sbooks and accounts, since the State Auditor is paid for his servicesby legislative appropriationand not by the agencies whose books and records he audits. It is also noted that Section 711 of the trust Indentureexecutedby the Authority in financing the DallasFort Worth Turnpike project requires an independent audit of the books and acoounts of theAuthority.

SUNMARY

The State Auditor Is required to audit the books, accounts and records of the Texas TurnpikeAuthorlty under~the provisions of Article 4413a-13,V.C.S.or. C. H. Cavness - page 3 (s-176)

An Independentaudit is required to be made of the Texas Turnpike Authority'sbooks and accounts under the provisions of Section 21, Article 6674v, V.C.S. Yours very truly, JOHN BEM SREPPERD AttorneyGeneral of Texas 

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Milton Richardson Assistant APPROVED: J.A. Amis, Jr. Land Division John Reeves Reviewer Nary K. Wall Reviewer Davis Grant Speclal~Reviewer Will D. Davis Special Reviewer Robert S. Trotti FirstAssistant John Ben Shepperd Attorney General HR:bt