Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion, KP-0078

The RESTORE Act established a Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund funded by penalties from the Deepwater Horizon spill and allocates money to Gulf States through five components (Direct, Comprehensive Plan, Spill Impact, NOAA Science Program, Centers of Excellence).
The Act provides that amounts in the Trust Fund "shall ... be available for expenditure, without further appropriation," and assigns duties for Texas to the Governor or the Governor's appointee. 33 U.S.C. § 1321(t).
Texas's 2015 General Appropriations Act (Art. IX, § 6.24) requires RESTORE-related funds be deposited in the State Treasury and thus drawn through the state appropriations process; other provisions (Art. IX, § 13.02) allow the Legislative Budget Board to review and potentially disapprove certain federal fund expenditures.
The federal Treasury and the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council have indicated the federal grant process for RESTORE funds contemplates state compliance with federal grant rules and that subjecting RESTORE funds to the Texas legislative appropriations process would conflict with the Act.
Texas law generally requires grants and similar funds received by state agencies to be deposited in the treasury, but provides exceptions allowing funds held in trust for non-state beneficiaries to be administered outside the treasury with the Comptroller as trustee. TEX. Gov'T CODE §§ 404.093–.094, .073.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the Appropriations Act rider requiring RESTORE funds be deposited in the State Treasury and subject to state appropriation conflicts with the RESTORE Act phrase "available for expenditure, without further appropriation"	Rider improperly subjects funds to Texas legislative appropriation, violating the RESTORE Act and frustrating Governor's statutory role	State contends depositing funds in treasury and appropriations process is consistent with state law and OMB/Treasury grant rules that require state accounting and appropriation procedures	The rider conflicts with the federal RESTORE Act as interpreted by the federal Council/Treasury; the rider is therefore without effect to the extent it contradicts the federal law and its allocation to the Governor/appointtee
Whether RESTORE funds may be administered through a trust or account outside the State Treasury by the Comptroller	(Implicit) Funds must remain under Governor/appointee control, not diverted to state treasury processes	Statutory exceptions allow funds held in trust for non-state beneficiaries to be kept outside the treasury with the Comptroller as trustee	Under Texas law, if the Governor or appointee receives RESTORE funds in trust for a non-state beneficiary, those funds may be deposited outside the State Treasury in an account for which the Comptroller serves as trustee

Food & Drug Admin. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S. 120 (contextual statutory construction; interpret statute in view of overall scheme)
City of Rockwall v. Hughes, 246 S.W.3d 621 (Tex. 2008) (court will not read additional words into statute to change its meaning)