Hon. J. E. McDonald Opinion No. 

### v-918.

Commissioner Departmentof Agriculture Re: Availabilityof Item Austin, Texas 56 of the current appropriationsto the Departmentof Agriculture for the payment of expenses Incurred In the administration of the Pink Boll Worm Law. (R-B. NO. 322, Dear Sir: Acts 51st Leg.)

Reference Is made to your request for Ion, which reads, In part, as follows: an opln-

"We desire the opinion of your office
as to whether or not this departmentcan pay 'otherexpense&'in the administration of Chapter 3, and Title 4, R.C.S. 1925 and any amendmentknown as the Pink Boll Worm Law, from Item #56 of H.B. 322, passed by the 51st Legislature, which Item reads as follows: 'Seasonal salaries,none to exceed $200 per month for administration of Chapter 3, Title 4, R.C.SYl925

. ...$5000.00?'

"For your information,Item #56, referred to above is the companionappropriation to Item #68 of S.B. 391, passed **by** the 50th Legislature

which Item reads as follows: 'Seasonalsalaries (none to exceed $190 per month each) and other expenses in the admlnlstratlonof Chapter 3, and Title 4, R.C.S., 1925 and any amendmentknown as the Pink Bollworm Law.'

"The State Comptroller has presently set up this Item#56 In the amount of $5000.- 00 as Seasonal Salaries only, effectiveSept. 1, 1949. In this connection,if this approprlatlon Is allowed to stand, limited toHon. J. E. McDonaldpRge 2 '(V-918)

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salaries only, with no part of the $5000.00 to pay general or contingentexpenses for Pink Bollworm controlwork, then the project Is going to be criticallyhandicapped not only from the State'sviewpointbut It will become a problem of National scope as well.

"It is our Interpretation, that the 51st Legislaturehad no Intentionof denying this departmentof the use of these funds, by limiting the amount to salaries only, when it has been a custom of the department for many years in the past, and the several sessions of the Legislaturehas re-appropriated

the money from one budget to another, leaving It to the discretionof the Commissioneras to how much shouldbe expended for salaries,and to general expenses in the enforcementof the Pink Bollworm Law. It Is our belief that the entire ,wordlngfor Item **#56** should read exactly as quoted above from Item 68, and our further belief that the 51st Legislatureso lntended; but the wording of,thlsparticular Item (Item**#56)** was erroneously phrased in the final draft of the Approprlatlon'blll, either clericallyor stenographically, as all of this wording as It should have been appears on Page #lb, (but not in proper sequence) mimeographedcopy of H.B. #322 which was presented on the floor f$r finalpassage by **the** 51st Legislature.

Item 68 of the appropriations made to the Department of Agriculturefor the biennium ending August **31,** 1949, appropriated$5000.00 for each year of the, biennium for the followingpurposes:

"Seasonalsslarles and Other Expenses In Administration

of Chapter **3** and Title 4, R.C.S. 1925 and y Amendmentknown as the Pink Bollworm Law. S.B. 391, Acts 50th Leg. R.S. 1947, ch. 400, P. 803.

Item **56** of the appropriations made to the Departmentof Agriculturefor the current biennium Is an appropriation

of $5000.00 for each ear thereof for "Seasonalsalaries,none to exceed %200.00per month forHon. J. E. McDonald,page **3** (V-918)

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administration of Chapter **3,** Title 4, R.C.S., 1925" H.B. 322, Acts slat Leg., R.S. 1949, ch. **615,** p. 1208.

We quote with approval from Opinion No. **O-906,** written during the administration of Attorney General Oerald C. Mann:

"It is, of course, elementary law that money appropriated by the Leglslature cannot be used for any other purpose than that specified in the appropriation bill without constituting a mls~applicatlon of public funds.

"Conference

opinion,AttorneyQeneral's Department,August 18, 1921, by Honorable E. F. Smith:

"'It la the law of the State that no part of the money appropriated by the Leglslature can be used for any purpose other , than the specificpurpose named In the appropriationbill. An expenditurefor **a** purpose other than the one for which the money was appropriated would be a misapplicationofpubllc funds. The Comptrollerwould not be authorizedto **draw** his warrant on any fund for any purpose except the purpose named ln the Act, and the ??reanurer

would be without authority to henor a warrant on any fund for any purpose excapt~thatnamed In the approprlation bfll.'

"The above opinion quotes from 4 COrpus Jurls 1460, as follows:

"'An appropriationof funds is an authority from the Legislature,given at the proper time, and In legal form, to the proper officers,to apply sums of money, out of that which may be In the treasury In a given year, to specified objects or demands against the State; the act of the Legislature In setting apart or assigning to a particularuse s certain sum of money to be used In the payment of debts or dues from the State to Its creditors;a setting apart from the public revenue of a certainHon. J. E. McDonald,page 4 (V-918)

ture sum of money for a specified object, ln such manner that the executiveofficers of the governmentare authorizedto use that mdneg and no more for that object, and for no other: (Underscoring ours)."

It may be, as stated by you, that the Leglslahad no i?tentlonof denying to your Departmentfunds

_ to pay travelingand other expensesnecessary to enforce the provisionsof a law so importantto the cotton lndustry of this State as the Pink Bollworm Law, and Its fai-lure to provide~forthe payment of such expensesmay have been due to an error or oversight. However,we cannot speculateas to what the Legislature may have intended
or the reason why an appropriationfor the payment of such expenseswas not made. We can, In this instance, consideronly the plain, unambiguouslanguage found in Item 56 to determine its meaning and the purpose for which the money aljproprlated therein Is to be expended, which is to pay "seasonalsalaries"Only. Therefore,It necessarilyfollows that It Is our oplnlon such appropriationsmay not be lawfully expended for travelingor other expenses Incurred in enforcing the provisionsof the Pink Bollworm Law.

SUMMARY

The money appropriatedto the Department of AgricultureIn Item 56 of the current ap~roprlatlons for tie purpose of paying 'seasonal

salaries may not be lawfully expended for travelingand other expenses incurredby the Department in the enfortenmntof the Pink Boll~orm **IZIW.** H.B. MO. go6. 322, Act6 516t Leg.; A.G. Opinion No.

Yours very truly,

APPROVED

ZL 2L.u-d ATTORNEYGENBRAL

BWB:azun:mw ATTORNEYGEWWAL OF TEXAS

BY &2X @?s&&q~p

Bruce W. Bryant Assistant