The opinion
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-. 609
OFFICE OF THE All-ORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
GROVERSELLERS
~TTQRNEI
GENERAL
Board or Begents
State Teachers Colleges of Texas
Box 756
Austin, Texas
Dear Slrt
bit, and on which I am
al infcirnatlon;. I return
h with the following
090 1s Jaakeonvllle, Texas,
lnted a mabar of the Board of Regents
State Teachers Colleges, and duly~
.
e annual meeting of the Board of Regents
was held in Austin Kay 15, 16, 194.4, and Mr. Kerr
.-~-P~?~WWU (ru um mnt- ir at all possible, it
being the ocoasion of the annual meeting at whioh
matters of great Importance oovering the a&ng
year and biennium are disposed of. fIe oame and
lnaurred the expenses as ahown in the attached
aooount .
-
mrd or Regents, page 2
The question our bae.rd wishes answered
16 whether said account can be paid 5n full,
and If not, what portion of en.“- may be paid
NT-Y.
*We will appraaiata your findings in the
6atter.e
Mr. Kerr’s expense acoount contains an Item ror
tranrrportatlon expenses from ?:asnlngton to Austin an4 return,
together with addltkonal iteine ror meals, hotel aad par diem.
Under the deaislons of our Supreme Court l.n the cases
of Carpenter vs. .She pard, 145 S. iy. (28) 562, end Cramer vs.
Sheppard, 167 S. 2. P26) 147, a civil officer or this Stste does
notvacate or rorralt hi6 civil orrice by joining any branch of
our armed rorces other than the regular army, navy or marine
oorps; We understand that Mr. Kerr is In the naval reserve
rather t&min~ the re@ar navy; ,.oonsequegtly,, the fact that
he 16 in aervlce does not prevent the payment of suoh exp~enses ---
a6 he may actually and neceasarilp lnour in discharging the
duties of his civil 0rri06.
571th respeat to such expenses, Sect&tin 6 of ArtloLe
2647, i. A. C. S., provides:
*The board shall meet each year at Austin, on
the first sonday in By, or as soon thereafter as
praotlcable, for the transeation of business per-
teinlng to the affairs of the State norm1 schoola,
and at 6uch other tlaes and places as a majority
of the menbers of the board deem necessary .for the
relraro or said colleges. “%ch and every nesber of
said board sbal~l receive five dollers per day for
the the spent attending the meetings provided for
ln this law, and in addition. thereto the aloount of
their traveling expenses, said compensation to be
paid to the several ne.mbcrsof the board out of the
appropriation for the support end nointenance of the
said State Teaoners’ College6 as the bosrd nay direct.”
.. ,’
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639_
Board of Regente, page 3
::
3iotIon l!, o?‘Artiole 16 OS the.Texas ,ConstItutIon
-sea& ,+ $ollowa t
. .”
.
,?All 01~11 orfioers~ shaii’ reside withio the
,. ‘,,. S&hta; and all district or oounty offlcora within
~’their .dI:.trIots or counties, and shall keep their
~.‘,ofPIoes at such places as, ssy be required by law!
and ~faIlure to’coqnlg-.wIth this ooniition shall
vsoate the office ao held.*
.,..
Opinion H6. o-3456 by this department reads; in
part, as~followsr.
*In Our opinion, however, the expenses Incurred
by Hr. Eartin in coming to his dIst$Iot from Brown-
wood, where hla military oWica requires him to be
stationed, In orders to parform the duties oi? hla
civil oifioe, and the expenses Incident to the return
trip to Brownwood may not be paid. The expsnaea of
these t$I.ps are not suoh a8 are neoesaarlly Incurred
In dIsohar&ng the duties of the civil offioe of
Dlatrlot Attorney. On the oontrary, the necessity ior
these expenditures. arises out of the holding of the
military Off$C8. The altuatlon, to o,ur mind, Is muoh
the aeme as If’ the Dlstrlot Attorney were compelled,
for personni rsaaons, to make a trip outside of his
dlatrlot, In which event wa think It olear that, though
It would be neoesaary for hI.m to return to hIa diatriot
In order to diecharge the duties of hIa o1~11 office,
he oou1.d not have his expenses inourred in making the
return trip paid by the State any more than he would
be entitled to have the expensea of the going trip
paid by the State. In other words, In neither Instanoe,
ha8 the presenoe of the distriot attorney at the point
outside. of his district been oooasioned by the neoesaity
of dIsoharf$ng a duty inoident to his civil otl’ioa 83
DIatrIot Attorney, and it la only such traveling ex-
penses as ore necesaarI.ly Inrurrcd in diaoharglng the
dutfea of the civil oittda of Diatriot Attorney whlah
map be paid to the oifioer as District Attornay.*
In view of the foregoing authoritIes,It Is the opinl~a
of this department that Hr. .5srr Is only entftled to receive
Board or Kegants~, page. I;
floe dollars per day for the time spent attsndlnp, iiha mestinga
of the Board of Fegsnts of the State l’eaohera Collqas, and In
addition thereto, the amount of his travollng axpcnses f’rom
~nokaonville, Texas, hfs legal residence, to Austin, Texas,and
?he return trip from Austin to Jaoksonville.