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Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard

Comptroller~'of

PublicAccounts Austin, Texas
IEar Sir: OpinionNo. O-1013 Re: Should the account of the Rio Grande Compact Commlsslonerfor salary and expensesbe paid?
We are in receipt of your letter of July 21, 1939, a part ofwhich reads as follows:

"Mr.F. B. Clayton, formerRio Grande Compact Commissioner, has presented two claims against the State, one for salary and another for expehses, to this departmentwith the request that I submlt~ them to you for'.youroplnion as to their legality. I am attaching the claims for your consideration." "The expense items contained in the attached account are for traveling expenses of Mr. Clayton incurred In connection with his duties as said Commlssioner over a period of timebegin; ning with September 4, 1938, and extending throughApril 17, 1939. The items for salary include the sum of $250.00 for each of the months from January throughApril, 1939.

Chapter 9 of the Acts of the First Called Session of the Forty-first Legislature, 1929, authorizes the Governor to appoint a Rio Grande Compact Commissioner. This statute further provides that !fheshall receive from time to time such compensationas may be allowed him by the Legislature, and until otherwise providedby law he shall receive a salary of $250.00month."

You call our attention to the fact that the last sentence of this statute reads as follows:

"In connectionwith the other members of such committee he may employ such engineering and clerical'aid as may be authorizedby the Legislature of Texas, but he shall incur no financial obligation oh behalf~of the State of Texasuntil the Legislature shall have provided and appropriated the money therefor."Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard,page 2 

### O-1013

In the GeneralAppro riation Bill assed by the Fortyfifth Legislature, the sums of $9,OOO.OO and $l,OOO.OOwere appropriatsd for the years endingAugust 31, 1938, and August 

### 31, 1939, respectively, for the followingpurposes:

"RioGrande Compact Salary and expenses, Commissioner."
You advise that the full amount appropriated for the year endingAugust 31, 1939,was paid out to Mr. Clayton for salary at the rate of $250.00per month for each of the months beglnnlngwith September and endingwithDecember, 1938.

The Forty-sixth Legislaturepassed an'emergency~appropriation act, the samebeing Senate Bill No. 211, appropriating the sum of $5,000.00, or so zmichthereof as'may be necessary, for the~purpoae.

of paying the'salary and necessary traveling, engineerkg, clerical and miscellaneous expenses of theRIO Grahde Compact Commissioner of Texas for the remainder of the fiscalyear ending August 

### 31, 1939. Mr. Claytonnow desires to have his account paid out of the sums thus appropriated.

In our opinionyou are not authorized to pay so much of the account presented to you by Mr. Clayton as Is represented by expenses incurred. Chapter 9 of the Acts of the first call'ed Session of the Forty-first Legislature, above quoted, specifically prohibited the Commissioner from incurringany financial obl'igationuntil the Legislature should have provided and appropriated the-money therefor'.The full amount of the appropriationwas exhausted in the payment of salary.

Section 44, of Article III, of the Constitution of Texas, provldes, in part, that:

"TheLegislature shall a . D
.not grant, by appropriation, or otherwise,any amount of money out of the Treasury of the State of Texas, to any Individual,on a claim, real or pretended,when the same shall not havebeen provided for by pre-existing law; e e a - - -"

In our opinion therewas no pre-existing law which authorized these expenditures. In fact, there was a pre-existing law which said they shouldnot be incurred, and they therefore have no legal existence.

It is our further opinion that the claim for salary for the period endingApril 30, 1939, shouldbe alloiiea and paid. The above mentioned Chapter 9 speclflcallg set the salary of the Commissionerat $250.00per month until otherwiseprovidedbyHonorable Geo. H. Sheppard, page 3 O-1013

lati.We have been unable to find any other provision of the statutes changing this statutory salary. The General Approprlation'Act of 1937 did not change it for the reason that a blanket appropriation for both salaryand expenseswas made for each of the years of the biennium beginning September 1, 1937. It could no more properlybe said that the salary for the year beginning September 1, 

### 1938,was fixed at $l,OOO.OO for the entireyear, than It couldbe said that the salary for the year begInning September 1, 1937,was set. at $g,OOO.OO. 'Ageneral blanket appropriation for two purposesdoes not fix the amount of either.

Nor do we belteve that the provisions of Chapter 497, Acts of the Regular; Session of the Forty-fifth Legislature, control or change the above conch-asion. The pertinentprovisions of this Act read as follows:

"The salaries of all State officers and all State employees e 0 0 e D shall be, for the periodbeginning September 1, 1937, and ending August 31, 1939, such sums or amounts as may~be provided forby the Legislature in the General ApproprlatlonBill. All laws~ and parts of laws fixing the salaries of all State officers and employees 6

. e mare hereby specificallyrepealed insofar as they are In conflict with this Act." The blanket appropriation for the expenses and salary of the Commissionermakes no effort to set the amount of salary he'shall receive. Therefore, there is no conflictbetween said ChapterNo. 497 and said ChapterNo. 9. Said last named Act Is .avalid pre-existing law creating the obligation evidencedby the claim for salary for the payment of which the specialappropriation act was passed. We believe that you are authorized to allow and pay the claim Insofaras it covers the Commissioner's salary. This conclusio~i is In keepingwith the letter opinions addressedby Assistant Attorney :>eneral Grady Chandler to you under date of July 19, 1937, and August 19, 

### 1938.

Trusting this Is the Informationyou desire, We areHonorable Geo. H. Sheppard, page 4 O-1013

Yours very truly
ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TEXAS

By s/VViktor

I?.Boulditi Victor7i.Bouldin Assistant
VUB:FG:wc
APPROfW) AUG .lO, 1939 a/GeraldC. Mann ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS Approved Opinion Com@ttee By s/IiWF Chairman