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THEATT~ICNEY GENERAL OFTEXAS
Hon. WI W. Glass, Chaillnan OpinionNO. ~-563 contingentExpenseColmllittee House of Representa~ivss Re: Conetitutionality of House Awtin, Texas Bill Iio.89, 56th Leg.,re- latingto the paymentof Legislativeexpensesdue to officialtelephonecalls made during the interimby Dear Mr; Glass: members of the Legislature.
Yo-,Jhave requestedan opinionon the constitutionalityof House fill 85;of the 56th Legislature, which reads in part as follows:
"Sec,tlonI. The followingwords, texms or phrases when need in t&ix Act have the meaningsascribedto them 12 this ee;tion.
"(a) 'Legislative expense'means that expense in- sident y;oi&e workingsof the Legislatureas an actual law-makingbody, as a whole, as the Legislatureitself, when in session;througha specialcommitteedelegated by k&e Legislaturewhile in se&ion to work on a legis- Iatlvem&tes betweensessions;throughpersonnelem- plop3 to closema,ttern after adJournmentjthroughem- p;opeasmaintainedbetweensessionsfor the care of the legislativehallisor for maintenanceof a centraloffioe or -,l"earirAg home ifor legislativematters betweensessions; 31"-31-w;@&s acting,during the Interim, in their offiial zapacityaa Members of the Legislature in the perfoxmsnceof dutiesnecessaryto the proper con- diet cf +2x businessof the Legislature.
"tb) 'Officialtelephonecalls'means all tele- phone cells made by &mbers of the Legislaturepertaining to state affairswith which the Legislatureis or may be C0~,$CTE33..
"Sec. 2. The Committeeon ContingeM Expensesof each,House of tie Legislatureshall appropriatefrom its CcntingentExpenseFund whateversums shall be con- sidere?. necessaryby the Committeeto pay officialtele- phone calls during Interimperiodsand such calls shall be consideredIwgislativeexpensesas definedherein, Said - -
Hon. W. W. Glass, page 2 (~~-563)
Committeesmay set reasonablelimitson such legis- lativeexpense."
Section 24, Article III, Constitutionof Texas, providesaa fol- lows:
"Membersof the Legialature'shallreceivefrom the public Treasurya per diem of not exceedingTwenty-five ($25.00)Dollarspar day for the first I.20days only of each cessionof the legislature.
"In additionto the per diem the members of each House shall be entitledto mileage in going to and returningfrom the seat of government,which mileage shall not exceed$2.50 for every 25 miles, the distanceto be computedby the nearestand moat directroute of travel,from a table of distancespreparedby the Comptroller,to each county seat now or hereafterto be established; no member to be entitled to mileagefor any extra session thatmay be calledwithin one day after the adjournmentof a regularor called session."
The SupremeCourt of Texas In Spears v. Sheppard,136 Tex. 277, 150 s.w.2d 769 (l94l),in construingthe provisionsof Section24 of ArticleIII of the Constitutionof Texas,held: I . " * Moreover,the compensationprovidedfor in this Articleof the ConstitutionCoversand includesall services thatmay be requiredof the member duringhis entire term of office, includingthe time servedby him on committeesbe- tween sessionsof the Legislature. . . ."
LikewIse,it ie stated in h'alkerv. Baker, 145 Tex. 121, 196 S.W. 2d 324 (1946): " * Thie per diem multipliedby the number of days 0 0
the Legislatureremains in regularor called seaeion,is the entire compensationa member is entitledto receive,and for ithe must attend the legislativesessionsand performall the other duties of his office each bienniun. . . ."
AttorneyGenerals'OpinionsWW-148 (1957),WU-131 (1957),and O-3778 (1941)concludethat expensesincurreda8 a result of the actlvi- ties of the Legislaturemay properlybe dividedInto two categories which are "legislative"and "personal." The Legislatureis authorized to providefor the paymentof "legislative" expense,but cannotauthorize the paymentof "personal"expenseby the uae of publicmoneys. The dlffer- ence