OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

i AUSTIN 

Honorable C. Be Cavne88 

State Audltrr 

Awtln, %~~X.WI 

Dear Mr. cavnear: 

ts far our oonsldorar Retirement sy8ta3o 

OOQpt th0 State'8 

sentributlens to the 

0~08 Of stats 

are paid In whcle 

tho gonoral revenue fund* 

ed vhehher 8uoh warrants 

Fund warrant8 are 

ostlon, we would observe in tb beglna8 &3nnSlal f+tXtd liarl'&nt8 am payable 

Of this StatO. It i8 tPUe that they 

order sf lssuanoe, and that bwauss 

enoy of revenues 8upporting the fund, It 

ths after 188uanoe of general revonus warrant8 before the State is able to redeem thom in Oa8h. 

State varranta do not oonitltuts payment of the 

oblig8tions they are drawn to oover; their i8sWMIOe doe8 

not discharge th8 obligation to pay. They an merely order8 
116 

Honorable C. H. Cevne88, Page 2 

dravn by one ef the Slsoal offloors of the government upon 

another, directing the latter to pay out of named funds, 

when available, 8 8peoified 8um to a named per8en, Payment 

of the salary of an employee OS the State OS TeXa8, thereSore, Is accomplished not by the 188uanoe of a warrant 

whereby the Treasurer Is directed to pay him 8 oertain EUP, 

buud18 oonsummsted only by redemption of the warrant 80 lsl 

With tho above prinolples In mind, ve would examine 

the following provi8lon8 of the Teaohor Retirement Aot which 

ve OOn8idOr pertinent to the inquiry submitted In yo\rletter: 

"sec. 8 

"1C The Teacher Saving FPnd. 

'(8) The Teaohher Save She11 be 8 

fund In which shall be eoa ted regular five 

(5) per OentUn contributions from the ooapensetlen of memb8r8, including OIIrrent interest earnings* Contributions to and payments from the 

Teaoher Saving Fund shall be made a8 Sollow8: 

"(b) Bach employer shall oauae to be deducted from the selery of eaoh member en each 

and every pay roll of such emplo 

s 

er Ser each 

Andy every pay roll period, Site 5) per oentum 

of his earnable compensation, prevlded th8 t the 

8x.811 ofthe deduction8 madj for a member shall 

not exceed Cne Hundred and Eighty Dollara ($180) 

during any one (1) year. Deductions shall begin vlth the first pay roll period of the 8ChoOl 

year 1937-38. In determining the amount earnable by a member In 8 pay roll perled, the State 

Board of Trmsteea may Consider the rate ef annual eompensatlon payable to 8uc.h member on the 

first day of the pay roll period a8 continuing 

throughout such pay roll peried, and it may 

omit deduction from compensation for any period 

less than a f'ull pay roll period if a teacher 

vas net a member on the first day of the e 

roll period, and to Saoilltate the making ef 
Honorable C. Ii. Cavnea8, Page 3 

deduotl~s, It 8u1~ m~$lfy the deduotlon re- _ -- 

q~lred Of any member by 8~On an amOullt es SILSll 

not exceed one-tenth (l/10) of one (1) per oent\rm of the annual compensation upon the basis 

of whioh such deduction Is to be made* 

"(c) The deduction8 provided for herein 

8hall be made notwithstanding that the mlnhum 

colnpensetlon provided for by law for any member 

shall be reduoed thereby* Every member ahall 

be deemed to oonsent and agree to the deduotlons made and prevldod for herein and Shafl: recelpt for his full selery or 00Plpen8etlon, and 

payment OS salary or OO~eMbtiOn. le88 said 

deduction. c&all be a Sull and OOmDlete dlscharge and acqulttanoe of all alaim and de8ianda whataoovor Ser the sorvloos ronderod by 

such persoll during the period oovered by suoh 

payment, except es to the benefits provided 

under thl Act. The employer shall certify to 

the StateaBoard of TIW8tOeE 0x1 each and every 

pay roll, or In such other manner a8 eeld Board 

may presoribe, the amount8 to be deducted; and 

-when deducted shall be paid into said Teacher 

Bavlng Fund, and shall be credltod, to the Individual eocount of the member frolp whose oompensatlen said de&uctlon we8 made. 

" 

. . . . 

“8. Celleotion or Contributionso 

"(1) The oolleotl0n of members3 contributiOM.8hall be aa r0il0vs: 

"(a) Each employer shall cause to be deducted on each and every pay roll of 8 member 

for each and every pay roll period subsequent 

to the date of establishment 0S the Retirement 

System the contributions payable by such member, 

as provided In this Act. Each employer shall 

certify to the treasurer QS 88id OmplOyOr on 

each and every peg roll a statement es vouchers 

for the amount 80 deducted* 
118 

Honorable C. Ii. CsvneIsL), Page 4 

"(b) The treasurer or proper disbursing 

offlceti of each employer on authority from the 

employer shall make deduotions from salaries of 

teachers a8 provided in this Act, and ahall 

transmit monthly, or at such t&no as the State 

Board of Trustee8 shall designate, a certified 

copy 0s the pay roll, and the amount 8peoified 

to be deducted shall be paid to the Executive 

Secretary of the State Board of Trustees, and 

after making 8 record of 811 reoelpts, the said 

Board shall pay them to the Treeaurer of the 

State of Texas, and by him be credited to Teeoher Saving Fund, and euch funds shall be deemed 

as epproprlated for we according to the provisions of this Act. For the purpose of oolleoti.ng contributions of teaohers who are teaching 

in common school di8triCtS, the oounty auperintendent or ox officio county superintendent of 

eeoh cehnty OS this State is hereby designated 

to perform the dutlea of employer of all oo?mwm 

8chool district8 ever vhich he has jurisdiction, 

and he ia hereby authorized and empiwiered to retain the amounts 80 deducted from pay rolls of 

hrembera and have a correapondlng amount deducted 

from any funds available for paying teachers1 

(ralarles, and transmit mme to the Exeoutive 

Seoretary of the State Board of Trustees a8 prevlded for In this Act. Any dbllege or unlveraltp 

or other educational m%itutlon or agexmy 

orted in whole or In part by the State sha 

ve the amount retalned or deducted Zrem the 

tida regularly appropriated by the State for 

tie c%rrent maintenanoe for such eduCationa departments end instItutiona. 

n 

. . 0 . 

"(8) The State Tpeasurer shall furnish annually to the State Board of Trustee8 a sworn 

statement of the amount of the funds in his custody belonging to the Retirement System. The 

records of the State Beard of Prustees shall be 

open to public inspection and any member of the 

Retirement System ahall be furnished with 8 statement of the amount to the credit of hi8 individual 
119 

Honorable C, H. Cavness, Page 5 

account upon written request by such member, 

provided that the State Board of Trustees shall 

not be required to answer more than one euoh request Of a member in any one year.” (&pha8ls 

supplied) (Sea. 8, Art. 2922-1, Vernon’s Civil 

Statutes, as amended by Chapter 377, Acts 48th 

Legislature). 

A8 to “any college or university or other eduoatlonal institution or agency supported ln whole or ln part 

by the State,” the act expressly providea that the amounts 

required to be retained or deducted shall be retained or 

deducted “from the fund8 regularly a~rlated by the State 

for the current sw$.ntenanoe for such eduostlonal department6 

and lnstltutlons. 

Obvlouaiy, It was oontemplated by this provision 

that the suma deductible under the act from the compensation 

of persons employed by the State es employer should be retained by the officials representing the State in the payment of his salary. It was not within the contempletlon of 

the act that the S’unds required to be retained should be 

paid to the employee, or that he should be required to advance the amounts from his pereonal funds; certainly It Is 

beyond the terms or intention of the act that he shoold be 

required to advance the amount8 to the Teacher Retirement 

e In advance of the time the State pays his salary to 

. 

The objection has been raised that IS the Teacher 

Retirement System accepts general fund warrants, no lnvestment can be made of the sum8 represented by the verranta uutll the time they are paid, and further that the fund might 

be required to pay over, ln cash, moneys to wlthdravlng membeI- in advance of the time the warrant8 actually are payable. 

Relther objection Is tenable: there can be no obligation on 

the part of the offlcera managing the Fund either to invest 

money8 before they are receivable, or to return money8 prior 

to the time of actual payment into the fund. 

You are respectfilly advised, therefore, that under 

the express terms of the Teacher Retirement Act, it la the duty 

of the employing agencies to withhold and retain thelems deductible under said Act from the salaries of persons employed 

b 
120 

Honorable C. H. CavneBs, Page 6 

by the State. Such f’unds are not to be paid, nor are warNlsts for the deductible Items to be payable, to the Individual, but the 8ame am to be retained by the State, in 

the hands of its OSfiOer8, and transferred to the appropriate accounts of the Retirement System “from the fund8 

regularly appropriated for the current maintenance” of the 

departments or Institutions affected, 

To the extent that our opinion O-5492 may be considered 

to be In conflict herewith, the earlier opinion Is aocordlngly modified. 

Very truly yours 

ATTORKEY QEI4ERAz, OF TEXAS 

GK:ff