Honorable Martin Dies, Jr. Opinion No. M- 669

Secretary of State Capitol Station Re: Travel allowance and per diem Austin, Texas formembers of the American Revolution Bicentennial Dear Sir: Commission of Texas.

In your recent letter you requested the opinion of this office as to the travel allowance and per diem thatmay be paid under the provisions of Senate Bill Number 701, Acts of the 61st Legislature,Regular Session, 1969 (codifiedas Article 6145-8, Vernon's Civil Statutes), to members of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of Texas.

ParagraphB of Section 1 of that bill makes provision for travel allowance and per diem for suchmembers. ParagraphA of Section 4 of the bill appropriatesmoney to the commission.

ParagraphB of Section 1 reads as follows: “Members of the commission shall be reimbursed for mileage and per diem only, and shall receive no other compensation,perqufslte or allowance. The mileage shall be the same as allowed tomembers of the Legislature, to wit, ten cents per mile, to and from the place of meetfng and their respective places of residence. The per diem thall be Twenty-fiveDollars per day or fraction thereof. Weare of the opinion that in providing formileage at ten cents per mile the Legislature Intended to deal onlywith Intrastatemileage from a member's place of resfdence to a meeting place In Texas, for the reason that the draftsmanwas careful to equate this allowance with the travel allowanceprovided formembers of the Legislaturewhen traveling to Itsmeeting place. Therefore, this statute as enactedwill govern themileage allowed when a member travels from his place of residence to a meeting of the commission;and he will be allowed ten cents per mile regardless of his mode of travel.

Article 6145-8 fs silentas to other travel,hence other travel, such as a trip coWashington for a conference,will be -3194-- .

Hon. Martin Dies, page 2 (M-669)

governed by the provisions of Article 6828a,Vernon's Civil Statutes, enacted as the 'TravelRegulationsAct of 1959.

Section 3(a) of Article 6828areads, In part, as follows: "Reimbursementfrom funds appropriatedby the Legislature for traveling and other necessary expenses incurred by the various officials,heads of state agencies, and employees of the state in the active dlscharae of their duties shall be on the basis of either a per diem or actual expenses as speclflca'Ily-flxed and appropriatedby the LegElature in General AppropriationActs.
. . .I' The Legislaturehas made provision for certain transportationallowancesunder House Bill Number 2, the GeneralAppropriationAct enacted by the 61st Legislature, Second Called Session, 1969. Article V, Section 13(b) of that Act reads, in part, as follows:

'An employee travelingby rented or public conveyance, or the commercial transportation company furnishing same, is entitled to a transportationallowance equal to the actual cost of necessary transportation for performing official business.

. . .ll
We are of the opinion, therefore, that a member of the commissionwho travels to Washington or other out-of-statepoints on official business by commercial transportation is entitled to reimbursement of his actual cost of transportation.

Article 6145-8 clearly provides a twenty-fivedollar per diem for members of the commission. We are of the opinion that this statute Is controllingand that a member of the commission is therefore entitled to a per diem of twenty-five dollars per day or fraction thereofwhich he devotes to official commissionbusiness. General lawwould provide actual expenses formembers of the commissionwhen on officialbusiness, as they could qualify as heads of a state agency under Article 6823a, Section 2 and Article V, Section 16, of the GeneralAppropriations Act. Article 6145-8 is a special enactment,however, and controls where there is a conflictwith general law in thematter of per diem allowance. SUMMARY

Under Article 6145-8,Vernon's Civil Statutes, a member of the AmericanRevolutfonBicentennial -3195-. -

Hon. Martin Dies, page 3 (M-669)

Commission of Texas, when on officialbusiness of the commission, Is entitled to be reimbursed at the rate of ten cents per mile when travelingwithin the state to a meeting of the commission; suchmember Is entitled to his actual cost of transportationwhen traveling to points outside the state,and In either case Is entitled to a per diem of twenty-fivedollars for each day or fraction thereof. truly y urs,

_ zif* c , RD C. MARTIN ney General of Texas Preparedby James S. Swearingen AssistantAttorney General
APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE
Kerns Taylor, Chairman W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman A. J. Gallerano Terry Reed Goodman Wardlow Lane IvanWilliams
MRADE F. GRIFFIN Staff Legal Assistant
ALFREDWALKRR Executive Assistant
NOLA WHITE First Assistant

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