Mrs. B. B. Sapp. Director 

Teacher Retirement System of Texas 

Tribune Building 

Austin. Texas .’ Opinion No. V-1288 

Re: Availability to the Teacher 

Retirement System of any 

appropriation from which 

the cost of actuarial services may be paid duringthe, 

Dear Mrs. Sapp: present biennium. 

Your request for an opinion concerns the authority of the 

Board of Trustees of the Teacher Retirement System ‘to pay for actuarial services out of funds appropriated to the Teacher Retirement System in House Bill 426, Acts 52nd Leg., 1951, ch. 499. p. 

1228, at p. 1424. 

In the appropriation for the Teacher Retirement System, 

there appear the following items of appropriation: 

u 

. . 

21. 

“For the Years Ending 

August 31, .’ August 31. 

1952 -1953 

. 

Medical Board, Secretary to Medical Board, 

Medical Examination, 

Seasonal Help and Senate Bill 333, Acts of the 

52nd [5lst] Legislature, 

Regular Session 18,580.OO 18.580.00 

Total . . . . . . . . $102,616.00 $102.616.00 
Mrs. B. B. Sapp. page 2 (V-1288) 

‘22. Rental on equipment, 

bond premiums, postage, equipment, furniture, travel expense, 

telephone, telegraph, 

freight, printing, supplies, repairs. publications and contingencies 30.000.00 30.000.00 

Grand Total -- 

Teacher Retirement 

-System of Texas . . . $132.616.00 $132.616.00 

‘For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of 

the Act establishing the Teacher Retirement System, 

there is hereby appropriated to the Teacher Retirement 

System of Texas for each of the fiscal years ending August 31, 1952. and August 31, 1953, all moneys collected 

and received by said System under the provisions of 

Senate Bill Ho. 47, set out by the Regular Session of ~the 

Forty-fifth Legislature and any amounts hereto [sic] 

and also any balances on hand at the end of each preceding fiscal year, together with all sums received by 

virtue of House Bill No. 8, Forty-seventh Legislature.’ 

The above general appropriation following the several 

specific items of appropriation is sufficient to appropriate all unexpended balances in the Expense Fund set up by Subsection 7 of 

Section 8 of Senate Bill 47, Acts 45th Leg., R.S. 1937, ch. 470. p. 

1178, at p. 1193 (Art. 2922-1. V.C.S.). as “the fund from which the 

expenses of administration and maintenance of the Retirement 

System shall be paid.” This is a statutory fund derived from the 

$1.00 per year membership fee exacted from the several members of the, Teacher Retirement System under then Teacher Retirement Act. This fund,, as one of the several funds established 

“under the provisions of Senate Bill No. 47 . . . by the Regular 

Session of the 45th Legislature, ” is appropriated by the general 

appropriation set out above “for the purpose of carrying out 

the provisions of the Act establishing the Teacher Retirement 

System.” (Emphasis added.) 

We think this underscored portion of the appropriation 

to the Teacher Retirement System is clearly sufficient to authorize the Board of Trustees of the System to use the moneys thus 

appropriated to pay for the services of the actuary required by 

Section 6. Subsection (13), Article 2922-1. V.C.S. Cf. Arizona 
Mrs. B. B. Sapp. page 3 (V-1288) 

Teachers’ Retirement System v. Frohmiller, 60 Arie. 485, 140 P.2d 

43). By this Article, the Board of Trustees is expressly enjoined to designate an actuary to act as “the technical adviser of 

the State Board of Trustees on matters regarding the operation of 

the funds created by the provisions of this Act,’ to make periodic 

actuarial investigations “into the mortality, service, and compensation experience of the members and beneficiaries of the Retirement System,” and to do such other actuarial work as is necessary 

to the operation of the System. 

You refer in your request to the fact that “upon the request of the Board of Trustees of the Teacher Retirement System,” 

the Governor vetoed Item 20 of the appropriation to the Teacher Retirement System, which provided $600 for “actuarial services.” 

The Governor’s veto message shows that this item, which was Debleted completely by the Governor, was vetoed for the reason that he 

had been informed by the Board of Trustees that the item was not 

needed since actuarial services could be paid for out of another 

fund. However, since, in our opinion, the payment of actuarial expenses is clearly authorized by the appropriation to the Teacher.Retirement System as enacted into law, “there is neither necessity nor 

~justification for resorting to legislative history to interpret its meaning. a Ohio Power Co. v. N.L.R.B.. 176 F.2d 385. 387 (C.C.A. 6th 

1949. cert. den. 338 U.S. 8991: BI 

-- 

Guardian Life Ins. Co.. 142 .Tex. 

oard of Insurance Commissioners v. 

630. 180 S.W~.Zd 906 119441: Weaver 

‘Texas v. Texas h New Orleans Ry.; 42 S.W. 

i, 172 s. w. 

W. 443 

L3. 

(Tex. 

error ref. w.0.m.); Larkin v. Pruett 

Civ. App. 1919); Ex - 

Gs-ftice Co., 66 F.Zd‘855,. 858 (C. 

Co. v. Commissioner of Inter- 

-~. ~~~. 

-.A. 5tb 1931); General Atlas 

Sheunard. 37 F. SUPP. 51. 54 fW.0. Tex. 1940); In re 

?Co. 

~Tit. Supp. 9%. 941 (E.-D. MO. 1943); 

.- - 

Boston 

v. Department of Public Utilities, 321 Mass. 

Electric Co.~v. City of Bettendorf, 41 K.W.2d 

SO); City of Vanceburg v. Plummt ?r’. 275 KY. 713. 

122 S.W.Zd 772, 77t j (1938); Maryland Casualty Co. v. Sut ,&her land, 

125 Fla. 282, 169 So. 679, 681 (1936); 39 Tex. Jur. 1 .61-162. Statutes, 

Sec. 88. 
.-. - 

,,,. _ _~_l .,.., .,,, ., . -.,. ~,,. ;,.. . ..~ ,-.. -~_c,___. ,.. 

Mrs. B. B. Sapp, page 4 (V-1288) 

It is our opinion, therefore, that the Board of Trustees 

of the Teacher Retirement System is authorized to pay for actuarial services out of the Expense Fund set up by Subsection 7, 

Section 8, Article 2922-l. V.C.S.. and appropriated in full byHouse 

Bill 426, supra, to the Teacher Retirement System. 

This conclusion is supported by Att’y Gen. Ops. O-1212 

(1939) and O-1176 (1939). The former opinion dealt with the effect 

of an executive veto of several specific items in the appropriation 

for the Highway Department. Following the listed specific items, 

in that appropri.ation, there was an appropriation of “all funds 

coming into the,Xtate Highway Fund . s . for the establishment of 

a system oft state highways and the construction and maintenance 

thereof.‘” It was held that by the veto of the specific items of appropriation, the amounts which would have been appropriated 

thereby merely became a part of the lump sum appropriation 

made by the general provision appearing at the end of the appropriation for the department and that the general appropriation 

of the entire fund was sufficient to enable the department to pay 

salaries therefrom. 

In Attorney General’s Opinion O-1176, which also was 

concerned with the effect of an executive veto of an item in an 

. . appropriataon bill, rt was said that “the effect of the veto where 

exercised was to place the Examining Division appropriation in 

the same status as though the vetoed items had never been included in the biII as f&ally passed by the Legislature.” The 

opinion held that the general appropriation of moneys derived 

from a specific source (‘all fees and assessments collected under authority of said Examining Law-) could be used to pay for 

a specific item which ahad been cohtained in the appropriation for 

the Exa mining Division of the Board,of Insurance Commissioners 

as passed by the Legislature but which had been vetoed by the 

Governor. 

SUMMARY 

The Board of Trustees of the Teacher Retirement System is authorized to pay for actuarial services out of the Expense Fund set up by Subsection 7. 

Section 8. Article 2922-1. V.C.S.. and appropriated 

in full by House Bill 426, Acts 52nd Leg., 1951, ch. 

499, ,p. 1228, at p. 1424. 

Yours very truly, 

APPROVED: 

Everett Hutchinson 

PRICE DANIEL 

Attorney General 

Executive Assistant 

Charles D. Mathews 

First Assistant UAssistant