_, . 

Mr. J. T. Ellis, Jr. 

Administrator 

Department of Health 

Austin, Texas 

Bear Mr. Ellis : 

Re: Whether state employees 

assigned to local health 

departments are governed 

by the provisions of Section 3a of the Travel 

Regulations Act of 1959 

as to their travel and 

other necessary expenses, 

and related questions. 

You state 

ments and loca - . 

that assistance to city and county health depart1 health units Is provided by the State Health 

uepartment, by assigning to such local health departments 

state employees qualified under the Merit System as required 

by Federal regulations and the Appropriation Acts of the Legis,; 

lature. These employees are carried on the Department of Health 

payroll and paid with funds from the State Treasury. YOU 

further state your department considers them to be in fact employees of the State of Texas and therefore "governed by the 

Travel Regulation Act of 1959, Senate Bill No. 272, enacted by 

the 56th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature." 

OF mxAs 

Opinion No, WW-1053 

1. Your first question asks whether traveling and other 

necessary expenses incurred by an employee above described 

which are paid by local health agencies and not from funds 

appropriated by the Legislature are governed by the provisions 

of Section 3a of the Travel Regulations Act of 1959. 

Article 6823a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, 5,s the Travel Regulations Act of 19%. Sections 3a and 3b thereof read: 

"Sec. 3. a. Reimbursement from funds 

appropriated by the Legislature for traveling and other necessary expenses incurred by 

the various officials, heads of state agencies, 

and employees of the state in the active discharge of their duties shall be on the basis of 

either a per diem or actual expenses as specifically fixed and appropriated by the Leglslature in General Appropriation Acts. A per 

diem allowance shall mean a flat daily rate 
. . 

Mr. J. T. Ellis, Jr., page 2 (W-1053) 

payment in lieu of actual expenses incurred 

for meals and lodging and as such shall be 

legally construed as additional compensation 

for official travel purposes only. 

"b. The rate of per diem and transportation allowance and method of computing those 

rates shall be as those set forth in General 

Appropriation Acts providing for the expentes 

of the state government from year to year. 

The answer to your first question is that the traveling 

and other expenses so paid are not governed by the provisions 

of Section 3a of Favel Regulations Act of 1959. Of course, 

such employees cannot legally receive pay for such expenses 

from both the State Treasury and the local agencies. The 

Section quoted specifically refers to "Reimbursement from 

funds appropriated by the Legislature W . .' (Emphasis 

added). 

2. You further state that in some instances state employees of the Department of Health assigned as above stated 

are receiving lump sums for traveling and other necessary 

expenses from local funds. In this connection, your second 

question reads: "If such lump sum payments for traveling 

and other necessary expenses are in fact in excess of actual 

traveling and other necessary expenses, does this violate the 

limits of local transportation allowances as defined in Section 8 of the Travel Regulations Act of 1959?" 

Section 8 of Article 6823a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, 

reads: 

"Sec. 8. An employee whose duties customarily require travel within his designated 

headquarters may be authorized a local transportation allowance for this travel. Such allowance, however, shall never exceed the transportation allowance for use of a privately owned 

automobile as set by the Legislature in the 

General Appropriations Acts." 

As these payments are not made from the State Treasury 

they are not controlled by the General Appropriations Acts 

or the Travel Regulations Act of 1959. In this connection, 

we refer you to Section 7, Article 6823a, Vernon's Civil 

Statutes, which reads: 
Mr. J. T. Ellis, Jr., Page 3 (WW-1053) 

“Sec. 7. Double travel expense payments 

to state officials or employees are prohibited. 

When an employee engages in travel for which he 

is to be compensated by a non-state agency, he 

shall not receive any reimbursement for ,such 

travel from authorized amounts in the General 

Appropriation Acts." 

Since such employees are not being reimbursed for 

such travel from authorized amounts in the General Appropriation Acts, and are being compensated for their travel by 

non-state agencies only, such compensation, from local funds, 

does not violate Section 8 of the Travel Regulations Act of 

1959, as the Travel Regulation Act is only applicable to funds 

appropriated by the Legislature. 

We are not answering your third question, as'it was predicated on our answering your second question in the affirmative. 

SUMMARY 

1\ state employee assigned to local 

health departments is not governed 

by the provisions of Section 32, 

Article 6823a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, the Travel Regulations Act of 

1959, as to reimbursement for his 

traveling and other necessary expenses 

if none of such reimbursement is from 

funds appropriated by the Legislature. 

The receiving of lump sums for traveling and other necessary expenses from 

local funds by such assigned employees, 

which are in excess of their actual 

expenses, does not violate the limits 

of local transportation allowance as 

defined in Section 8 of the Travel Regulations Act of 1959, for such expenses. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

SAW:mm:ms Assistant 
Mr. J. T. Ellis, Jr., page 4 (WW-1053 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Dudley D. McCalla 

Karietta Payne 

I?aston C. Courtney 

W. Ray Scruggs 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By: Morgan Nesbitt