The Honorable W. D. “Chris” Chrisner 

Chair~man, Performance Certification 

Board for Mobile Homes 

Box 12157, Capitol Station 

\ 

Opinion.No. H- 154 

Re: Can the Department 

expend all of the money 

Austin, Texas 78711 raised by fees set by 

the Board and related 

Dear Mr. Chrisner: questions 

According to your letter requesting our opinion, the ~Performance 

Certification Board for Mcbile Homes, pursuant to the Texas Mobile Homes 

Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutea, as amended, 

Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., ch. 896, p. 2765), adopted a schedule of fees sufficient 

to pay the costs incurred in the enforcement of the Act. Nevertheless, then 

63rd Legislature in iLs Appropriations Act for 1974 and 1975 (House Bill 

139) appropriated an amount for this work less than the income that will 

be available. 

You ask: 

“Can the department expend all of the money 

raised by fees set by the Board? ” 

Article 5221f, V. T. C. S. , (h ereafter “the Act”) provides generally for 

the establishment of standards for the manufacture of mobile homes and their 

enforcement by a Performance Certification Board It authorizes the Bureau 

of Labor Statistics to issue a certificate of acceptability to mobile home 

manufacturers. 

Section 8 empowers the Bureau to inspect mobile homes at the place of 

manufacture and it is authorized by § 10 to have its inspectors travel within 

or without this state for purposes connected with the Act. 

Section 11 of the Act provides in part: 

p. 716 
The Honorable W. D. “Chris” Chrisner, page 2 (H-154) 

“(a) The board [Performance Certification Board] 

with the advice of the department [of Labor Statistics] 

shall establish a schedule of fees to pay the cost 

incurred by the department for the work relating to 

the administration and enforcement of this Act . . . 

. . . 

‘l(d) All fees shall be paid to the state treasury and 

placed in a special account for the use of the department 

in the administration and enforcement of this Act. ” 

The Appropriations Act for fiscal 1974 and 1975, aupra, at p. III-95 

makes a specific appropriation for administrations of the Mobile Home 

Standards Act to be financed from “Texas Mobile Homes Standards Fund 

No. 82”. 

The Constitution of Texas, in 5 6 of Article 8, provides: 

“No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in 

pursuance of specific appropriations made by law 

I, 

. . . 

A distinction may be made between funds deposited in the Treasury and 

those paid to the Treasurer, a deposit of the latter type being aubj.ect to the 

construction that it constitutes the Treasurer a truatae who may pay the funds 

to the person entitled to them without specific appropriation. Manion v. 

Lockhart, 114 S. W. 2d 216 (Tex. 1938); Friedman v. American Surety Co. of 

N. 151 S. W. 2d 570 (Tex. 1941) 

However, there is nothing about the fees collected under the Act to 

indicate that they are to be held in trust, and it is our opinion that they may 

not be withdrawn from the Treasury without a specific appropriation. Compare 

Attorney General Letter Opinions No. MS-13 (1953) and Attorney General 

Opinions WW-442 (1958) and H-138 (1973). 

We are not unmindful of those decisions holding that where, in a general 

statute, funds are appropriated, it is unnecessary that they be appropriated 

in the Appropriations Act. Pickle v. Finlqr , 44 S. W. 480 (Tex. 1898);National 

Biscuit Company v. State of Texas, 135 S. W. 2d 687 (Tex. 1940). In the last 

cited-case the Supreme Court said: 

p. 717 
. 

The Honorable W. D. “Chris” Chrisner, page 3 (H-154) 

‘1. . . An appropriation can be made for all funds 

coming from certain sources and deposited in a special 

fund for a designated purpose. In such instances, it is 

not necessary for the appropriating Act to name a certain or even a maximum sum . . . ” (135 S. W. 2d at 693) 

However, we are unable to find in Article 5221f, V.T.CS , any language 

of appropriation. The language of $ 1 l(d), which we have quoted above, does 

no more than to “earmark” the funds for the particular purpose; compare 

Attorney General Letter Advisory No. 46 (1973). Furthermore, a statutory 

appropriation may be valid for no more than two years. Article 8, 5 6 of the 

Constitution of Texas; Attorney General Letter Advisory No. 46 (1973)and 

cases there cited. 

We are of the opinion, therefore, that your question should be answered: 

That the Department may not expend unappropriated money raised by fees set 

by the Board; it is limited to the amount appropriated by the Legislature. 

SUMMARY 

Even though the,fees paid into the Treasury pursuant 

to the Texas Mobile Homes Standards Act may exceed the 

amount appropriated by the Legislature for expenses of 

enforcing the Act, the Board of Labor Statistics is limited 

to the amount so appropriated and may not expend unappropriated funds for that purpose. 

JOHN L. HILL 

Attorney General of Texas 

DAVID M. KENDALL, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

p. 718