Case Information
*1 OFFICE OF THE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TRW AUSTIN .il
f- kworable wmree H. Sheppard
ConiptrolLer of Fublic maouats Texas
jpstin,
opinion MO. 043669 Authority of peyzmnts Boar automobile cud out that in , this department ts Board .hs no. au- " traveling ezpams.
CcuRptrollews De- f a apeoifio appro- rus meint ellame properly ahargeable eee of an autom6bfl.e In the iatlon for the purohaae of vellng expense approprfatlon?
grant of the Board e valid grant? *2 .
eon., George Ii. Sheppard, page 2.
81088s of $750.00, including the trade-in valua of a used oar, and this limited prloe shall aover a oar equipped with bumpers and extra rim orwheel but not an extra oesing and tube.*
It Is olear that the Legislature thus regarded the purohase of an automobile as en Item of “Traveling $rpeIules’. Your first question is therefore answered in the afflmatlve. In the absence oi euoh a provision in the question would be more dliflcult, the general rider, but even In that event, It is not olear that the purohaee OS an automobile should not be regarded as an Item of nmm3llng Iqpemesn, end we wuld therefore be lnolined the aonatructlon plaoed by your department upon to adopt the term NTrevellng Expenses * as used in the Departmental Appropriation Bills over a long period o? ysara.
Sin00 the purchase ot automobiles is an expend- iture for ‘Traveling JCxpsrmesn, under the Departmental appropriation Bill and the oonetruotion given the term Vrevelfng Expsnses* by your department over a number of years, It Is ap erent that the timftatlon Board, in grant ng 02 payments
f: the Railroad Colrrmission authority to expend surplus supplemented the Item appropriated funds for the purohase of automobIlee,har
to the Rellroad COB+ mission ior traveling expermes, end made available to the Railroad Coam1ls8ion a larger faun of money than ~6s apeoi- fiaally provided for that purpoee by the Leglalature, Sinoe, es we have held in the opinions oited above, the Limitation of payments Roar6 has no authority to grant per- mission to expend surplus funds ior traveling expenses, It follows that the grant of the l,imitetlon of payments Board, lnsofaz as It conferred authority upon the Railroad Com- funds ror the purohase of auto- mimion to expend surplus mobiles, is an exoess of the authority oonferred by the Leglslature upon the Limitation ot Fayments Board, and Is therefore invalid.