# EATTTOECNEY GENERAL ~FTEXAS

August 20. 1951

Hon. Robert S. Calvert Comptroller ofPublic Accounts Austin, Texas Opinion No. V-1243

Dear Sir: Re.: Legality ofpaying for classified advertising from any appropriation other 

### thanthat specific appropriation to

### tht State Board of Control for “advertising State’s business.”

Your request for an opinion reads as follows:

“Inthe departmental appropriation bill under which we are now operating is found the foIlowing

. . appropriation for mamtenance and miscellaneous operating expense for the State Board of Control:

*‘Bonds for employees. fuel, water, lights, furniture, 

### fixtures, office equipment, photostat supplies, printing and binding, paper Andy office supplies, support andmaintenance ofpublic buildings and grounds, including extra help and supplies, testing ofmaterials, duplicating machine clupplits, equipment, telephone, telegraph, postage, stationery, books, advertising State’s business, express and drayage, travel expenses, typewriter parts and supplies, automotive equipment, elevator maintenance, salaries, air conditioning maintenance, uniforms, photographic equipment, receptionist supplies and equipment, flags, contingencies, and maintenance of State Cemctery.’

“There have been presented to me accounts for advertising State’s business drawn against appropriations other than the one quoted iboue. For a specific example, see photostatic copy **of** the attached claim.f Hon. Robert S. Calvert, Page 2 (V-1243)

The appropriations donot specifically provide for the advertising of State’s business.

“Provisions for the Board of Control to do such advertising may be found inR,C.S., Articles 610, 634, 643, 650, 666, and others as amended.
“QUESTION: Would the passing of accounts incurred to comply with above quoted statutory provisions against appropriations which do not contain aspecific appropriation for advertising State’s business be in violation of general rider 15-b ofthe departmental appropriation bill which provides in part as follows:

”‘The appropriations herein provided are to be construed as the maximum sums to be appropriated to and for the several purposes named herein, and the amounts are intended to cover, and shall
cover the entire cost of the respective items and the
same shall not be supplemented from any other
sources.“-
Article 666b, V.C.S., reads, inpart, as follows:

“Section 1, Hereafter all departments and agen-:, ties ofthe State Government, when ,rental space is needed for carr,ying on the essential functions of such agencies or departments ofthe State Government, shall submit to the State Board’of Control a request.therefor, giving the type> kind, and size ofbuilding needed, t,ogether with any other necessary description, and stating the purpose for which itwill be used andthe need therefor.

“Sec. 2. The State Board of CQntrol, upon receipt of such request, and if the money has been made available to pay the rental thereon, and.if; inthe discretion ofthe Board such space is needed, shall forth-, ‘, with advertise in anewspaper, which has been regularly published and circulated in the city, or town, where such rental space is sought, for bids on such rental space, for the uses indicated and for aperiod of not to exceed two years. After such bids have been ‘I IHon. Robert S. Calve& Page 3(V-1243)

received by the State Board of Control atits principal office inAustin, Texas, andpublicly opened, the award for such rental contract will be made to the lowest andbest bidder, andupon such other terms
as may be agreed upon. The terms ofthe contract, together with the notice ofthe award ofthe State Board of Control will be submitted to the Attorney General of Texas, who will cause to be prepared and executed in accordance with the terms ofthe; agreement, such contract in quadruplicate; one cf which,will be kept by each party thereto, one by the State Board of Control, and one by the Attorney General of Texas. The parties to such contract will be the department or agency ofthe government using the space as lessee andthe party renting the space as lessor.”

The foregoing Article makes no provision for the payment of advertising for bids on rental space. It requires the agency desiring the rental space to submit to the State Board of Control a request to obtain such space for it. Ifthe Board, in the exercise of its discretion, finds such space is needed by the agency, it then becomes its duty to advertise for bids in a newspaper which has been regularly published and circulated inthe city or town where such rental space is sought, unless the request comes within one ofthe exceptions contained in Section 4 ofArticle 666b.

The appropriations for the support andmaintenance of the executive and administrative departments and agencies ofthe State for the current biennium are contained inthe Departmental Appropriation Bill. (H.B. 322, Acts 51st Leg., R.S. 1949, ch. 615, pp. 1208 et seq.) The appropriations to the State Board of Control are found atpages 1232 through 1236. Item 78 ofthese appropriations, which has been quoted inyour request, isfor printing, contingencies, “‘advertising State’s business,” and other purposes.

The photostatic copy ofthe claim attached to your letter, as an example of such claims presented toyou by other agencies having appropriations in House Bill 322, is for advertising in anewspaper for bids on rental space, under the provisions ofArticle 666b, for the Texas Liquor Control Board. The claim was approved by that Board for payment out of ItemHoii. Robert S. Calvert, Page 4 (V-1243)

50 of its current appropriation for printing, contingent expenses, and other purposes. Neither ““advertising State’s business” nor cost of advertising for rental space is specifically mentioned inItem 50.

We have also examined the appropriations made to each ofthe other departments, boards, commissions, and other State agencies named in House Bill 322, and in all other Departmental Appropriations Bills passed since 1941, which have had an appropriation for the payment of rental space and have not found in any of them either aspecific appropriation for ‘“advertising State”s business” or for the payment ofthe cost of advertising.for bids on rental space. Itappears that Item 78 ofthe Appropriations to the State Board of Control is the only existing specific appropriation for ‘“advertising State’s business.”

Since ArtiCle 666b does not specifically provide for the payment ofadvertising for bids on rental space by the Board of Control or by the department or agency for which such space is sought, and no specific appropriation having been made to any such agency for the payment of such advertising, it becomes necessary for us to determine whether the Legislature intended for the cost of advertising for bids on rental space to bepaid by the Board out of its appropriation for “advertising State’s business” contained inItem 78 of its current appropriations,

We have examined the appropriations made to the State Board of Control in each ofthe respective departmental appropriations bills, including the one for the biennium ending August 31, 1921, which became available to the Board January 1, 1920, and the appropriations for the biennium beginning September 1, 1951, and have found in each ofthem aspecific appropriation for “advertising State’s business,‘” except in the appropriations for the biennium ending August 31, 1921. However, the Legislature included therein an appropriation of $30,000 for the period beginning January 1, 1920, and ending August 31, 1920, and alike amount for the fisc~alyear ending August 31’,’I921, to be expended by the Board for such pur:~ poses as it ““mayfind necessary to effectuate the purposes” : ofthe Act creating the Board. One ofthe undoubted purposes for which these appropriations were made was to pay the cost of advertising innewspapers for bids on contracts for supplies._I -

Hon. Robert S. Calvert, Page 5 (V-1243)

Consequently, the State Board of Control has been from the time of~its creation, January 1, 1920, continuously charged with the duty of advertising for bids on contracts for such supplies as itwas required to purchase for the use of the State, its departments and institutions, except such supplies as itwas authorized to purchase without the necessity of first advertising for bids thereon, and has had at all times
an appropriation for “advertising State’s business” which clearly includes the payment of advertising for bids on contracts for such supplies.

Therefore, inview ofthe foregoing, we have concluded that itwas the intent andpurpose ofthe Legislature that the expenses incurred for advertising for bids on rental space sought by an agency ofthe State under the provisions ofArticle 666b. V.C.S., would be paid out ofthe appropriations to the State Board of Control for “advertising State’s business,” for such advertising undoubtedly comes within the meaning ofthat term as used inItem 78 ofthe Board’s

. appropriattons for the current biennium. Ifsuch had not been the legislative intent ofthe Forty-eighth Legislature which passed the Act from which this Article was codified, and all other Legislatures, including the Fifty-second, which have kbnvened since 1943, they undoubtedly would have made other specific provision for the payment of such advertising.

You are therefore advised that the only available appropriation for the payment of advertising innewspapers for bids on rental space required by Article 666b, V.C.S., is contained in Item 78 ofthe appropriations to the State Board of Control for the current biennium. The payment inquired about cannot be made from other funds.

SUMMARY

The appropriation for “advertising State’s business” contained inItem 78 ofthe appropriations to the State Board of Control for the currentHan, Robert S. Calvert, Page 6 (V-1243)

biennium is now the only available appropriation for the payment of advertising for bids on rental space required by Article 666b, V.C.S., H.B. 322, Acts 51st Leg., R.S. 1949, ch. 615, p: 1235.

APPROVED:

C. K. Richards Trial &Appellate Division

Everett Hutchinson Executive Assistant

Charles D. Mathews First Assistant Yours very truly,

PRICE DANIEL Attorney General

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BY Bruce W. Bryant

Assistant

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