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Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard 

Comptroller~'of Public Accounts 

Austin, Texas 

IEar Sir: Opinion No. O-1013 

Re: Should the account of the Rio 

Grande Compact Commlssloner for 

salary and expenses be paid? 

We are in receipt of your letter of July 21, 1939, a 

part of which reads as follows: 

"Mr. F. B. Clayton, former Rio Grande 

Compact Commissioner, has presented two claims 

against the State, one for salary and another 

for expehses, to this department with the request that I submlt~ them to you for'.your oplnion 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 time begin; 

ning with September 4, 1938, and extending through April 17, 1939. 

The items for salary include the sum of $250.00 for each of the 

months from January through April, 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 !fhe shall receive from time to time such compensation as may be allowed him by the Legislature, and until otherwise provided by law he shall receive a salary of $250.00 month." 

You call our attention to the fact that the last 

sentence of this statute reads as follows: 

"In connection with the other members 

of such committee he may employ such engineering and clerical'aid as may be authorized by the 

Legislature of Texas, but he shall incur no 

financial obligation oh behalf~ of the State of 

Texas until the Legislature shall have provided 

and appropriated the money therefor." 
Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard, page 2 O-1013 

In the General Appro riation Bill assed by the Fortyfifth Legislature, the sums of $ 9,OOO.OO and $ l,OOO.OO were appropriatsd for the years ending August 31, 1938, and August 31, 

1939, respectively, for the following purposes: 

"Rio Grande Compact 

Salary and expenses, Commissioner." 

You advise that the full amount appropriated for the 

year ending August 31, 1939, was paid out to Mr. Clayton for 

salary at the rate of $250.00 per month for each of the months 

beglnnlng with September and ending with December, 1938. 

The Forty-sixth Legislature passed an'emergency~appropriation act, the same being Senate Bill No. 211, appropriating 

the sum of $5,000.00, or so zmich thereof as'may be necessary, for 

the~purpoae. of paying the' salary and necessary traveling, engineerkg, clerical and miscellaneous expenses of the RIO Grahde Compact Commissioner of Texas for the remainder of the fiscal year 

ending August 31, 1939. Mr. Clayton now desires to have his 

account paid out of the sums thus appropriated. 

In our opinion you 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 incurring any financial obl'igation until the Legislature should have provided and appropriated 

the-money therefor'. The full amount of the appropriation was 

exhausted in the payment of salary. 

Section 44, of Article III, of the Constitution of 

Texas, provldes, in part, that: 

"The Legislature 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 have been provided for by pre-existing 

law; e e a - - -" 

In our opinion there was no pre-existing law which 

authorized these expenditures. In fact, there was a pre-existing 

law which said they should not be incurred, and they therefore 

have no legal existence. 

It is our further opinion that the claim for salary 

for the period ending April 30, 1939, should be alloiiea and paid. 

The above mentioned Chapter 9 speclflcallg set the salary of the 

Commissioner at $250.00 per month until otherwise provided by 
Honorable 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 salary and expenses was made for each of 

the years of the biennium beginning September 1, 1937. It could 

no more properly be said that the salary for the year beginning 

September 1, 1938, was fixed at $l,OOO.OO for the entire year, 

than It could be said that the salary for the year begInning 

September 1, 1937, was set. at $g,OOO.OO. 'A general blanket appropriation for two purposes does 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 pertinent provisions 

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 

period beginning September 1, 1937, and ending 

August 31, 1939, such sums or amounts as may~be 

provided for by the Legislature in the General 

Approprlatlon Bill. All laws~ and parts of laws 

fixing the salaries of all State officers and 

employees 6 . e m are hereby specifically repealed insofar as they are In conflict with this Act." 

The blanket appropriation for the expenses and salary 

of the Commissioner makes no effort to set the amount of salary 

he' shall receive. Therefore, there is no conflict between said 

Chapter No. 497 and said Chapter No. 9. Said last named Act Is 

.a valid pre-existing law creating the obligation evidenced by 

the claim for salary for the payment of which the special appropriation act was passed. We believe that you are authorized to 

allow and pay the claim Insofar as it covers the Commissioner's 

salary. 

This conclusio~i is In keeping with the letter opinions 

addressed by Assistant Attorney :>eneral Grady Chandler to you 

under date of July 19, 1937, and August 19, 1938. 

Trusting this Is the Information you desire, We are 
Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard, page 4 O-1013 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/VViktor I?. Boulditi 

Victor7i. Bouldin 

Assistant 

VUB :FG :wc 

APPROfW) AUG .lO, 1939 

a/Gerald C. Mann 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

Approved Opinion Com@ttee By s/IiWF Chairman