February 12, 1975 

The Honorable Cue D. Boykin 

Chairman 

Texas Industrial Accident Board 

P.O. Box 12757, Capitol Station 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Opinion No. H- 524 

Re: Validity of an appropriation to the Attorney General’s 

Office from Workmen’s Compensation Fund NO. 94. 

Dear Mr. Boykin: 

You have asked our opinion on the legality of the Legislature’s 

transfer of a portion of the Workmen’s Compensation Fund No. 94 to the 

A,ttorney General’s Operating Fund. 

The Workmen’s Compensation Fund is created by article 8306, 

section 28, V. T. C. S., which provides: 

I 

Sec. 28. The:re is hereby established as a special 

fund, separate and apart from all public monies or 

funds of this state, a Workmen:s Compensation Fund 

which shall be used by the Board for the purpose of 

paying costs of the administration of the law, in 

addition to amounts appropriated by the Legislature 

of the State of Texas. The State Treasurer shall be 

the treasurer and custodian of the fund. He shall 

adminjst-,r such fund in accordance wit,h the directions of the Board, and the Comptroiler shall issue 

war:rants upon its in accordance with the directions of 

the Board. 

, 

. . . . 

Failure to make any report required by this Section 

shall be punishable by fine not the exceed One Thousand 

. 

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The Honorable Cue D. Boykin page 2 (H-524) 

($1000) Dollars and the failure to pay any tax 

within thirty (30) days after same is due under 

this Section shall be ,punishable by a penalty of 

ten percent (10%) of the amount, and shall be 

recovered by the Attorney General in a suit 

brought by him in the name of the State of Texas 

and such penalties when collected shall be deposited’. 

in the State Treasury ‘for the use and benefit of the 

Workmen’s Compensation Fund. ‘. 

Even though funds may be.earmarked by statute, they,may not be’ ,’ 

spent absent a valid appropriation. Texas Constitution, art. 8, $6. 

In the appropriation to the Attorney General’s Office the Legislature has transferred money from several different funds tothe Attorney 

General’s Operati.ng Fund. For the year ending August 31, 1975, these 

transfers include one of $50,000 from the Workmen’s Compensation Fund 

Nq. 94. Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., ch. 659, p. .1786 at 1920. 

The Attorney General’s Operating Fund was created in 1959 and has 

been funded i.n a similar fashion since th,at time.’ Acts 1959, 56th Leg. ,. 

3rd C. S. ch. 23, p. 442 at 510. The Operating Fund’s validity was upheld 

in Attorney General OpinionWW-573 (1959). 

To be valid this appropriation from the Workmen’s Compensation 

-Fund to the Attorney General’s Operating Fund must be authorized by 

general law [Texas Constitution,, art. 3, $441 and must be consistent 

wi.t.1~ the requirements of general law [Texas Constitution, art. 3, § 35; 

A+‘:orney General 0pi:lion V-1254 (195111. We believe both of these tests 

xrt me!: here. 

Se&on 28 of artdcle 8306 provides that. the fund “shall be used by 

the Board for the purpose of paying costs of the administration of the law. . . “‘. 

7” - Lo.‘: ~“0 this language is mandatory and the Board is requi~red to make 

expenditures from the fund to pay the costs of administering the workmen’s 

compensation law. In fulfilling his constitutional and statutory duties as 

the at.torney for state agencies, the Attorney General represents the Industrial 

pe 2365 
The Honorable Cue D. Boykin page 3 (H-524) 

Accident Board in court and counsels with the Board in regard to its 

legal obligations. The very section which creates the fund indicates that 

a portion of the cost of administering the law will be incurred by the 

Attorney General, si.nre he is required t.o bring suit to recover taxes and 

penalties for the benefit of the fund. Additionally, work is being undertaken 

in preparation for the initiation of the program of workmen’s compensation 

for state employees. This program is expected to go into effect prior to 

the end of the current: fiscal year and both the At.torney General and the 

Industrial Acc~,ident Board will have extensive administrative responsibilities 

under the law. See V. T. C. S.,art. 8309g. In light of these responsibilities 

of the Attorney General’s Office, the Legisl~ature has determined both in 

general law and in the appropriation bill that the Attorney General’s Office 

plays an integral role in the administration of the Workmen’s Compensation 

Law. Therefore, t,he Legislature!s transfer of a portion of the Workmen’ti 

Compensation Fund to the Attbrney General’s Operating Fund is entirely 

consistent wjth the statutory mandat~e that the fund “be used by t.he Board 

for the purpose of paying c~osts of the administration of the law. ” 

Although there is language i,n section 28 of article 8306 which could 

be construed as li.miting administration of the fund to the Board, we believe 

the statut.e is more correc~tly i,nterpretcd as specifying and mandating the 

purpose for which the funds ran be spent rather than as abrogating the 

power of the Legislature to allocate the fund for speci,fic purposes within 

the cont.emplation of the statutxy purpose. Thins interpretaEon is consist:ent 

with priar praci:ice and c~,onstruci:ion in regard to similar funds. See Attorney 

- 

General OpinEon WW-604 (1959) which approved a proposed transfer from 

the Barber Examiners Fnnd (V. T. C. S. I ari,. 7407a, $27) i:o the General 

Revenue Fund t,o reflect the cost of servic~es furnj,shed to the Barber’s Board 

by other siaie agencies. 

SUMMARY __l__-~__ 

The Legisla!g,re is au!:hori,zed to appropriate 

a pori:j,on of the Workmrn!s Compensation Fund 

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The Honorable Cute D. Boykin page 4 (H-524) 

to the Attorney General’s OffiLe to reflect 

the costs of administering the Act. 

Very truly yours, 

dHl& .’ 

Attorney General of Texas 

-ROVED: 

DAVID M. KENDALL, First Assistant 

C. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

lg 

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