The Attorney General of Texas 

June 5, 1978 

Honorable Ron Jackson 

Executive Director 

Texas Youth Council 

8900 Shoal Creek Blvd. 

Austin, Texas 78766 

Opinion No. H- 1172 

Re: Payment for return transportation to Texas of juvenile 

runaways. 

Dear Mr. Jackson: 

You ask whether an appropriation to 

. . 

the Texas Youth Council may be 

used to pay travel expenses incurred under Article IV of the Interstate 

Compact on Juveniles, Family Code, chapter 25. The Executive Director of 

the Texas Youth Council serves as compact administrator pursuant to section 

25.05 of the Family Code. Article IV of the Compact provides a procedure 

for returning a juvenile “who has not been adjudged delinquent but who has 

run away. . . . ” Family Code 5 25.02, art. IV(a). Article IV(b) makes the state 

to which the juvenile is returned responsible for payment of transportation 

costs. Section 25.07 of the Family Code provides as follows: 

The compact administrator may make or arrange for 

the payments necessary to discharge the financial 

obligations imposed upon this state by the compact or 

by a supplementary agreement made under the compact, subject to legislative appropriations. 

You inform us that a nonadjudicated juvenile runaway was recently 

taken into custody by South Carolina authorities. The juvenile and her 

parents are residents of Texas. The compact administrator generally requires 

the parents to pay the cost of the child’s return to Texas: however, in this 

case they could not afford to. The South Carolina compact administrator 

paid the costs of transportation and then requested reimbursement for this 

expense pursuant to article IV of the Compact. You wish to know whether 

you may reimburse this travel expense from item 5d in the appropriation to 

the Texas Youth Council. 

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Honorable Ron Jackson - Page 2 (B-1172) 

5. Community Services: 

. . . . 

c. Residential Contract Services 

d. Non-residential Services 

e. Residential Services (Halfway House Operation) 

. . . . 

General Appropriation Act, Acts 1977, 65th Leg., ch. 872, at 2786. 

ln our opinion, the Compact provisions and section 25.07 provide preexisting 

law which would support an appropriation to pay the cost of returning a 

nonadjudicated runaway to Texas. See Tex. Const. art. 3, § 44; Austin National 

Bank v. Sheppard, 71 S.W.2d 242 (TX 1934); Attorney General Opinion WW-340 

(1957). However, we do not believe you are authorized to pay these transportation 

costs from the item for “[nlon-residential services.” Your budget request to the 

65th Legislature stated that the expenditure for nonresidential services would aid 

the adjustment of Texas Youth Council parolees. Budget Estimates - Fiscal Years 

1978 and 1979 at 101. Like the items for residential services with which the 

appropriation groups the nonresidential services item, it appears to be directed at 

persons already under the supervision of TYC. See Attorney General Opinion H-822 

- 

(1976). The TYC appropriation specifically authorizes you to pay the costs of 

deporting nonresident patients or students and returning Texas patients or students 

from other states. General Appropriations Act, Acts 1977, 65th Leg., ch. 872, art. 

II, 5 2e, at 2798. These provisions apply to persons under state supervision and not 

to nonadjudicated juveniles. See Attorney General Opinion H-521 (1975). 

We find no indication that the Legislature intended the nonresidential 

services item to be used to pay the cost of returning nonadjudicated runaways: all 

indications of legislative intent are to the contrary. Since you have generally not 

paid such costs, we cannot draw any inferences from legislative acquiesence in 

administrative practice. In our opinion, the proper course for South Carolina would 

be to seek reimbursement under the Miscellaneous Claims Act. See V.T.C.S. art. 

- 

4351b. 

SUMMARY 

The administrator of the Interstate Compact on Juveniles 

may not use the appropriation to the Texas Youth Council 

for nonresidential services to pay the cost of returning a 

nonadjudicated juvenile runaway to Texas. 

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Honorable Ron Jackson - Page 3 (H-1172) 

Attorney General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

7iii4 &y&?&d 

C. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

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