The opinion
TEZE NEYGENERAL
TEXAS
,December 19, 1952
Hon. R. C. hMillg, Chairman
State.Board of Control
Austin, Texas Opinion No. V-1557
Re: Necessity for approval
by the Board of Control
on vouchers covering re-
imbursement of the grocery
purchases of certain per-
sonnel of the Board for
Texas State Hospitals and
Dear Sir: Special Schools.
Your request for our opinion reads in main as
follows:
+%Vedesire the opinion of your office
as to the duty and responsibility of the
Board of.Control to approve for payment
vouchers cwering reimbursement to certain
offfciels of,Institutions under the juris-
diction ,ofthe Roard for Texas State Hos-
pitals and Specie1 Schoolsfor groceries
Purchased for personal use.
*OR November 12, 1952, the Board for
Texas State Hospitals and Speoial Schools
submitted to the Board of Control such a
voucher in the alMlnt of $50.00 payable to
John L. Dietrich, Business Manager of the
Moody~Stete Sohool for Cerebral Palsied
Children. The voucher covered reimburse-
ment out of Appropriation No. R-719 to Mr.
Dietrich for groceries he purahased for his
own personal use during October, 1952. The
voucher was forwarded without Board of Control
approval to the Comptroller of Public Accounts
for issuance of a State warrant. On November
14, 1952, the voucher was returned to the
Board of Control by the C~omptrollerwith this
notation, 'Approval by the Board of Control.*
Hon. R, C, Lanning, page 2 (V-1557)
"The Board of Control feels that a
transaction of this kind is not in any
sense a purchase for a State Institution
or Agency and thus our approval is not
required on any resulting claim before a
warrant can be issued by the Comptroller.
"The authority and procedure for such
a transaction is set up by rules adopted
~-bythe Board for Texas State Hospitals and
Special Schools, a copy of which we are
enclosing, and we are unable to see how
the Board of Control is involved.
"The State Comptroller feels that since
we have approved all similar claims in the
past, we should continue to do so before a
State warrant is issued. We believe the
practice is only a carry over from the time
when the Board of Control operated the State
Institutions and the auditing and spproval
of such claims was a pert of the Hospital
and School administrative function rather
than a part of the purchase function.f'
Ordinarily, the purchase of all kinds of
supplies for the various state agencies and in-
stitutions is the function of the Boerd of Control
under the provisions of Article 634. This ar-
ticle has been construed by a number of~Attorney
General's Opinions, including V-677 (1948),0-3885
(1941)* o-2612 (19401, and O-2595-A (1940).
The Board for Texas State Hospitals and
Special Schools was created in 1949 by the 51st
legislature under the provisions of Article 3174b,
V.C.S. * and all powers and duties heretofore vested
in and exercised by the State Board of Control over
our state eleemosynary institutions was transferred
to the newly created Board. Att'y Gen. Op. V-905
(194910 However, Section 2 of this act reads:
"Provided, however, that the Board
of Control shall continue to handle pur-
chases for such Institutions in the same
manner as they do for other State agencies."
There is no authority provided in the a-
bove act for the purchase of groceries by individual
Hon. R. C. Lanning, page 3 (v-1557)
employees of said institutions and reimbursements
to them by the State. For that authority it is
necessary to turn to the provisions of the current
biennial appropriation bill (R. B. 426, Acts 52nd
Leg. ; R.S. 1951, ch. 499, p. 1228) which reads in
part, at page 1292:
"Sec. 5. Emoluments of Employees: (a)
Under written direction of the Board and/or
Council, subject to the approval of then
Iagislative Budget Board, institutional
employees may receive suoh emoluments as
the Board and/or Council may by rule and
regulation prescribe. Prior to granting or
allowing such emoluments to any medical or
supervisory personnel, which will require
new or additional remodeling or construction,
approval must be obtained in writing from
the Legislative Budget Board. A cony of such
approval, when obtained, shall be filed with
the Comptroller of Public Accounts and no
expenditure of any funds herein appropriated
or any local or other available funds shall
be made without prior approval.
,"(b) To prevent inequalities in salaries
to those employees not receiving any or all
of such emoluments, it is provided that the
Superintendent, upon written approval of the
Board end/or Council shall pay such employees
an amount not to exceed Fifty Dollars ($50)
per month each aa an outside maintenanoe allow-
ance. It is speoifically required, however,
that no employee receiving an additional
allowance as provided herein may receive any
emoluments at any institution unless he reim-
burses said institution for such emoluments
at rates prescribed by rules and regulations
of the BoarU and/or Counaii, subject to the
approval of the Legislative Budget Board.
Any such reimbursements are hereby appropriated
only to the food appropriation for each insti-
tution. It is further specifically required
that the Board and/or Council shall specify
those employees who shall receive full emol-
uments and those who shall receive the addi-
tional monetary allowance.
Hon. R. C. Lanning, page 4 (V-1557)
*(c) Emoluments may be granted to the
Medioal Director and Assistant Medical Direc-
tor of the Board but for no other employee of
the Board's Central Office."
It is our opinion that the transactions
in question are notthose regulated by Article 634,
V.C.S. They are not purchases by the State, but
are individual purchases, the reimbursements for
which are specifically authorized as emoluments un-
der House Bill 426. There is no provision made for
the Board of Control to approve or act in any way
upon such allowances. Approval by the Board for
Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools of vouch-
ers covering reimbursement for grocery purchases by
designated personnel is all that is necessary and
required before the application is made to the
Comptroller for issuance of a state warrant. We
do notice, however, that the Hospital Board rules
you enclosed are merely some committee recommenda-
tions and do not bear any certificate of adoption
by the Hospital Board; but we have been advised
that proper rules have been adopted.
It is not necessary for the Board of
Control to approve vouchers covering reim-
bursement of the grocery purchases by cer-
tain personnel of the Board for Texas State
Hospitals and Special Schools. These pur-
chases are emoluments under the provisions
of the current biennial appropriation bill
and approval by ths Hospital Board is suf-
ficient.
Yours very truly,
ABPROVED:
PRICE DAEIEL
William S. Lott Attorney Generel
State Affairs Division
Mary K. Wall
Reviewing Assistant By ti'$L
V. F. Ta or
Charles D. Mathews Assistant
First Assistant
VF'T:jrb