The Honorable Dr. H. CL Sibley 

Executive Director 

Texas Animal Health Commission 

1020 Sam Houston Building 

Austin, Texas 70701 

Opinion No. H- 58 

Re: Entitlement of Commissioner 

of Texas Animal Health 

Commission to recover per 

diem and expenses 

Dear Dr. Sibley: 

Your letter requesting our opinion stated that a recently appointed 

Commissioner submitted an expense account for his initial months’ service 

which creates questions. The expense account which you have submitted, 

as well as correspondence which we have received from the Commissioner 

involved, indicate that he found it necessary to travel to Austin on several 

occasions to get acquainted with office personnel and the status of various 

programs of the Commission, to determine what avenues were open to the 

Commission in the event the United States Department of Agriculture carried 

out a threat to refuse to recertify Texas as a “modified-certified free State” 

unless Texas took legislative action to upgrade its brucellosis program; to 

travel to Washington, D. C. for talks with personnel of the United States 

Department of Agriculture as well as with members of Congress to determine 

if Texas would have Federal assistance cut off; and other similar trips. For 

these trips the Commissioner has submitted a travel voucher on the form 

prescribed by the Comptroller of Public Accounts itemizing his mileage, 

his air transportation fees to and from Washington (which are supported by 

an airline receipt) and his meals and lodging. 

In your letter you point out that there were no Commission meetings 

during the two months involved and that the minutes of the Commission do 

not reveal any direction by the Commission to this Commissioner to perform 

any of the travel and services for which reimbureement is claimed. 

You also state that the Commissioner wants to know whether he is entitled 

to the statutor,y $20.00 per day payment for each day on which he performs 

some function attributable to Commission activities “irrespective of whether 

such services were undertaken at the direction of the Commission. ” 

p. 246 
The Honorable Dr. H. Q. Sibley, page 2 (H-58) 

Article 7009, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes, covers the creation and the 

composition of the Texas Animal Health Commission which, prior to 1959, 

was the Livestock Sanitary Commission of Texas. As amended in 1965 

(Acts 1965, 59th Leg., p. 217, Ch. 89) the statute calls for the appointment 

of six citizens as Commissioners, one of whom is to be designated as Chairman 

by the Governor. “Insofar as is practicable, the Commissioners appointed 

hereunder shall be appointed so as to give proportionate representation from 

the west, from the south, from the north, and from the eastern portions of 

Texas . . . ” 

Article 7009 concludes by stating: “Each Commissioner is entitled to 

receive $20 per diem plus the actual and necessary expenses incurred while 

in the performance of his official duties. ” 

The duties of the Texas Animal Health Commission are broad and 

important. Generally they have to do with regulating the movement of 

livestock and the requirement of tests, immunization or dipping necessary 

as a protection against the dissemination of contagious, infectious or communicable livestock diseases (Article 1505a, 5 2, Vernon’s Texas Penal Code). 

They are spelled out in detail in Chapter 14 of the Penal Code of the State of 

Texas, Articles 1505a through 1525g. 

Senate Bill No. 1 of the 3rd Called Session of the 62nd Legislature, the 

Appropriation Bill for the year ending August 31, 1973, appropriates to the 

Animal Health Commission $3, 000 for the per diem of Board members. It 

also includes in Item 8, Consummable Supplies and Materials, etc., an 

appropriation for travel. 

Reimbursement of travel expenses is governed generally by Article 6823a 

Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes, the Travel Regulations Act of 1959. It provides 

in $ 6 that the Comptroller of Public Accounts is to promulgate rules and 

regulations to facili.tate the execution of the travel regulations and, with the 

concurrence of the State Auditor to prescribe the form on which travel expensas 

are to be submitted. “The Comptroller shall approve claims for travel expense 

and issue warrants on basis of approved claims. ‘I 

The rules and regulations issued by the Comptroller of Public Accounts 

do not provide for the determination of a contested or questioned claim. The 

form of the voucher which he has prepared does call for approval of the 

Agency. 

p. 247 
The Honorable Dr. H. Q. Sibley, page 3(H-58) 

In Att0rne.y General Opinion V-145 (1947) this office had for consideration 

the authority of the then Livestock Sanitary Commission (now the Texas Animal 

Health Commission) to approve claims incurred in the enforcement of its 

statutory authority. The conclusion of the Opinion was: 

“The chairman of the Livestock Sanitary Commission 

has full authority to approve any and all claims incurred 

by the Livestock Sanitary Commission in the enforcement 

of the provisions of House Bill 19, Chapter 3, Acts of the 

Regular Session of the 50th Legislature. I’ 

The statute referred to had to do with the establishment of quarantines 

to prevent the outbreak of Hoof and Mouth disease. 

It appears that the only limitation imposed upon a Commissioner as to his 

expenses for which he is entitled to reimbursement is that they be “actual and 

necessary” and that they be’incurred while in the performance of his official 

duties. ‘I Surely the official duties of a Commissioner must include ~more than 

merely attending meetings of the entire Commission and it is our opinion 

that each Commissioner of a department headed by a Commission has considerable discretion in determining what his activities are to be and what 

expenses he incurs. His discretion, however, is not unlimited. 

Whether or not the services are “in the performance of his official 

duties” is a determination to be made primarily by the Commissioner himself 

and certified to in his travel voucher; secondly by the Commission Chairman 

in approving or disapproving the voucher for payment; and thirdly, by the 

Comptroller of Public Accounts. 

SUMMARY 

Entitlement to reimbursement of travel expense and 

per diem of a member of the Texas Animal Health Commission 

is not dependent upon whether it was incurred in attending 

Commission meetings or whether it had been expressly 

directed by the Commission. A Commissioner has a great 

deal of discretion in determining whether or not his actions 

are “in the performance of his official duties, ” However, 

because funds appropriated for such expenses are limited, 

the discretion is not unlimited. 

p. 248 
The Honorable Dr. H. Q. Sibley, page 4 (H-58) 

Very truly yours, 

Attorney General of Texas 

AFPRqVED: 

?i&sd& 

DAVID M. KENDALL, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

p. 249