OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

QZM‘D 0. MANN .,,o(I* . . . . “‘“AL 

Hon. Roy Lovanthal, Chainnan, 

Livestock Sanitary Comrllesion 

i:'. T. !Ya<goner Suilding 

Fort Sorth, Terns 

Dear Sir: 

Oplnlon 30. C-1272 

ubeequent. quarter; (a) 

t, with oonsmt of Board, 

ted.ror one Item for 

to be incurred by the 

ty of departaent to use 

xgenditnres for partlouefinite aums are approCo:zmXsAon ahen attending meetings called by the 

Chairnan in towns or titles in Texas at a point 

where a aommittee or aonrerence or representatfve 

stookmen neat in,..called regular or annual session?w 

"QPSTION # 2. Will it be psnissibie for 

members and representatives of this Department to 

be reimburser? from the regultir appropriation for 
Ron. Roy Loventbal, Page 8 

traveling expenses allotted this Department for 

expenses in attending national or state meeting8 

of livestook sanitary otfiolals at point8 outalde 

or this State?" 

In the General Rldec to the General Appropriation 

Bill. under the heading *Traveling Expen~~es,~ we find the 

last paragraph of Section (0) prwi.dlng: 

*No ameye herela l pljropriated shall ever 

be apen to pay the traveling expense6 of any 

state sp~loy4e to any type 0r aonrentlon withLn 

this State of: without the state.W 

rubaivlslon (I) uuae the ea&e herding or *T'raveliag Exp8M68," provide8 68, follb*rsr 

"ExOIBpt a8 OthOZViM 8pOOifi4$ally SXSmpm, the 

prOVi8lon8 of thi8 Aot shall al80 apply to department heads and Aember of Omml8alons." 

pee rind no pr0718ion or the appro$riatlon bin 

exeJ&pting the depart%ent head8 or m%rtber8 ot the tirestook 

Saaftary Comalesion rmi the prorlelon8 or the general rider 

above rererred i to. 

Xlth respeot to your QUeStiOn Ho. 1, you are advi8ed that, ln,our opinion, Jm%nhta Or your depemtaent and 

-p10ye88 themor my not be rsiilabaned Out 0i tmv0ling 

eXPelWe rOr eX@?MO8 ia0UFX.d iti attending ai@etim@ galled 

by the Chairman in town8 or oities in Texas at a point where 

a ooamlttee or uonrerenoe or repreoeotetive stook6mn+iuu8t 

in oalled regular or annaal sesrloa, ir the prime purpose 

or oelling 8UCh meetlag at aueh polat e.nd tiscl be to emable 

the membera end e5ployees of the dttprartmmt to attend auoh 

conv,ention or meeting of repreren~tive 8tooknmns.at State 

expense. 

In anmerlng your rlnt a8 will a8 ycmr l koond 

QW8t&i@ we attribute to the laPI4 *ooxw@ntlon~ e8 u8ed in 

-the pro&on of the rider quokd above, fts t&al and aomon 

&m&g, 'de Pound in iYobster*8 lfew Int+matlomL Diotionary, 

to-wit, .-a body or ae8enl~ly or ~l'80n8 meeting for 8OW cmmon purpolle.- It 8eem8 to w that ao broader prohibition 
304 

Hon. Roy Loventhal, Page 3 

might have been made by the Legislature than the phrase 

"any type or conver!tIon within the state or without the: 

Etat4.v 

In answer to ycur second question, you &re advised thnt It till not be ~~nnissible f.or nilembers and representatlves or your department to be reimbursed rrom the 

reguler appropriation ror tmveling expensea allotted your 

department, for expenses incurred in attooding national or 

state neetings of lIvc.rtock sanitary OrriOial8 et points 

outside of this Stte. Such meetings are clearly laoluded 

in the phmre "any type of a.onvention." However advisable 

It may sees to be tbat,menbere from your department attend 

the annual meeting or the Kational Livestock Assoolation, 

or meetings of other organization8 of a sinllar ohamater, 

It is apparent that the Leglslnture hss determined that suoh 

ooniamnces or conventions shell not ba attended by State 

officials at the State's expense. 

With the wisdom or auoh a provieion, this dopax%- 

m8nt has nothing to do. The prohibition above quoted ir 

alear end gxplioit, and there 18 no roam for conqtructlon. 

Tour third quistion reads as tollowet~ 

"~UKTIOIP $5. WI11 It be permissible ror this 

Department to expend money that aoorued In a prrvious quarter of the tIsaal.year for salarier or 

any other it,em provided the total expenditure dO48 

not eroead~ th$total smount allotted It on any of 

Ito itear;'?'+..' 

Your fourth question reada as tollowo: 

"C$JE:YTlON $4, Will It be parmie8fble for 

thi8 Departnent, with the aonsent or the Governor, 

Attorney General and State Treasurer, to transfer 

en approprfetlon Sor any item to the oredit of 

another item where In the opinion of this Department the expenditure will prow more benefloial 

to our work?” 

Your rlrth questAon road8 a8 followa: 
Hon. Roy Loventhal, Page 4 

~. “r,Uv’,TJFW #5. Kill it be permisrible to 

pay our County Supervisors the maximum salary 

of $115.00 per month and the local inepectore 

$lOO.OO,or less per month with the underatanding that re employ some 5 or 8 employee6 in 

dditi033 to the 55 a8 outlined in the appropriation bill?" 

If we understand correatly your third, fourth and 

fifth questions, they all involve, substantially, this one 

inquiry: If, by eooaozioel and effPelent manegement, your 

department effects a saving, by spending less for a partioular 

item than the amount provided In the appropriation bill, may 

that saving-, if neoessery, be used by your Department to defray other proper expenses or th8 Pepertient ror whiah an 

lnsufrloient amount is available by nay of a@propriatim. 

It is quite oletr that sooh saving cannot be 

used for ths: purpose of supplementing the amount provided 

by the Legislature for travelin.& expenses for your department, 

In any event. Subdivisions (a) of the subject *traveling 

expenaesn in the general.rl.der to the general appropriation 

bill provides as hollows: 

"Xt la provided that no expenditure ehall 

be made for traveling expenses by any departmant 

or this state in esoess of the amount of money 

iteml&ed herein for said purpose. This provision 

ehall be applioable whether the item for traveling 

expenses is to be paid out 0r the appropriet1on 

Boom the General Fund, from fees, receipts or 

epecial funds collected by vlrtus of certain law0 

of this State or rrom other funds (eroluslve of 

Federel Funds 1 available for uee by a departmrnt." 

The appropriation for your department la made from 

the Oeneral Fund. In order to determine whether.any 6aVings 

effeoted by you msy be tised to defray the costs of other eervioels or expenses of your aepartment, other than traveling. 

erp0nae3, it is necessary to examine,tbe appropriation bill 

at solfte length. Seotion 1 thereof reed8 as follOwS: 

*That the eeveml suma of money herein 

speoified or EO muot'thereof 88 mw be nCO0saery, me hereby appropriated out Of any moneTa 
Ron. Roy Loventhal, Paye 5. 

in the State Traaaury not otherwise appropriated, 

. .." 

.Under the headin~g "Salary and Other Provi8lon8,~ 

in the General Rider to the General Approprjation Bill, we 

rind the r0110wi~:: 

"(a) All annual salaries shall be paid in 

twelve equal monthly $nstallnenti; unless otharwise provided herein. 

(b) The appropriations herain provided era 

to bo construed as the maxlmum f~ums to be eppropriated to and for the several purpo8es named 

herein, and the amount8 are intended to cover an6 

ehell oover the entire oost of the respeotive item 

and the seme shall not be rupplijmmted rrora any other 

souroe: aqd, exoapt as ot;hamise provldad, ao other 

expenditures shall be madb, nor shallany othrr 

obligatlono be inourred by any department of this.. 

State, provided, however, that nothing heroin shall 

prevent any departmentheed from paying lese than 

the maximum amount set forth horeln for any aalarled 

poeition.” 

Th8 ~limitatlon of paymdnt# clause of ths General 

Rider to the General Appropriation Bill provides in part a8 

r0n0w6 2 

%xospt as otherwise protided, whenever, by 

virtue or the provisions of this Aot, item8 are 

to be paid out or fees, receipts, apeoial runds 

or out of other tunds available iOr use by a department, It Is the intention or the' Legtsleture to 

~llmlt~expendlturss out- of said fees, reoelpts, 

speoxsl funds or other available fund8 to the purpose8 and in the amounts itemized herein, and it 

is so provided.. Ir, however, the amount or the 

fees, reoelpts, special or other available fUUds 

herein referred to are pore than ouffioient to pay 

the ltwx harein designated to be paid therefrcuv, 

the department to which the said rem, receipts, 

speoial iunda or other available fund6 are aPPr* 

prleted may, if neoeesary to EdeqUate~y WeriO?@ 

the fWiOtiOn8 or said department, ua8 eny portion 

of said surplus rees, r0oelPta, apeolal funds 0r 

other available funds; . ..* 
Hon. Roy Loventhal, Page 6 

Thie clause continues by requiring that, berora 

doing 80, the head of such department shall obtain the ap 

proval of the Board, co:.sletlng of the Governor, the Attorney General and the State Treaeurer, $9 the expenditure 

of such *aurpl~aw fees, raoeipta, speoial funds or other 

available funds. 

This is the only portion of the appropriation 

bill which mleht In any mahner authorize the use of a ourplus created by a saving in then smount expended for a 

particular purpose for whloh a apscliled fund is made 

available by appropriation. Sin00 the appropriation8 ror 

your department are made out of the General Nnd,, It lr 

apparent that they do not fall wlthln the oategofy of Fee,@, 

reoelpts, or rpeolal funds. It remalne, therefore, to 

determine whether the Legislature, in the limitation.of 

payments. alause, intended the term *other avdilable~fundr* 

to inolude amounts appropriated from the.General Fund.. 

By rererenoe to then rlrst seotlon 0r the appropriation bill, quoted above, it 1s~ to be noted that ths 

Legislature has not, In respeot to Items appropriated out 

or the Geaeral Fund, appropriated a dsrinite sum of money 

to be available at all events, but has appropriated only 

so muah as may be neoe.saary to acoomplirrh the dedred 

purpose, with a marlmum amount rlxed for that partloular 

purpose. And'ln rererriug agaln:.to subdlvlsion (a) or 

the portion of the General Rider relating to traveling 

expensee, it ~111 be observed that tke Lo fslature in 

the second sentenoe thereor has reaognlze 4 three type8 of 

appropriations: (1) from the General Fund, (8)' from 

fees, reoeipta or speoial funds oolleoted by virtue of 

certain laws of this State, and (3) from other fund6 

available for use by a department. 

It dfd not here treat *other available funds= 

as~inoludlng funds made available by appropriations frcnn 

the General Fund, but found it neoeseary to mention apprOL 

priatlone rram the General Fund spsolfloally. Llkewi8e, 

under the heedlne, "Salary Payments* in the General Rider, 

we find the appropriations from the General Fund se* up 

as a separate and dlstlnct olasslflaation, when the Leglelature states: 

*Eaoh department head shall number ooneeoutlvely the ealafled~pqsitlons in hla department 
lion. Roy Loventhal, Page 9 

for whloh an appropriation is made herein (either 

out of the General Revenue Fund, fees, reoeipts, 

speoial funds or out of other funds available 

ror use by said department) . . .” 

Sims the Legislature glaoed this' limited ootistruotlon upon the term vothar avellable funds' in them 

saotions of the General Bider, we must presume that it 

Intended the same lidted meaning to be esorlbsd to tlls 

term when it used it in the nLlmiitatlon of RaynenQP 

clause of the ~mms rider. 

Furthax%ore, appl- the rule of statutory 

oonstmotlon that where general words follow the enumoratlon of speolrio items, the getiewl words ars to be oon- 

&rued as lnolgding only things of the same rlafq as those 

sRoolfloally mentioned, the tens uother,available funds*, 

as used In the limitation Of paymsnts olause, is to be 

oonatruad as inoluding oaly those funds dedioated OT 

devoted by statute.to ths utaa of a partioular dapartmant 

of the State'Gararmnent. 

For thssu reasons, we answar your third end 

fourth questions in the nogativs. 

In enswer to your fifth quectlon, you are advised 

that the appropriation bill speoifioally pennits you t0 

pay less thati the maximum amount set forth in your appTOpriation ror any salaried positloll, but the earing whioh 

you may thus erreot will not be available for your US@ 

In employing and payins other amployaas fn addition to 

those itemized in the appropriation’ bill. 

Yours vsry truly 

ATTORXEY Gl5SfUL OF TEXAS 

BY 

RRF:.pbp 

R. E. Falrohlld 

Aseiatant 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF T~;XAS