Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1947 )

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6h?FICE OF
Tnp ATTORNEY GENEI-WL
PRICE DANIEL
ATTORNEYGENeHAL
September 18, 1947
Hon. George H. Sheppard
Comptroller of Public Accounts
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas Opinion No. V-383
Re: The mileage reimbursement to
be paid a district attorney
for those miles driven In
his own car on offlclal State
business in excess of the
first one thousand miles In
one calendar~month.
Dear Sir:
Your request for the opfnlon,of this Department
Is, In part, as follows:
"A District Attorney has submitted to
this department his expense account covering
1213 mile9 for the month of June at five
cents per mile. This department is unoer-
taln as to whether the Attorney Is allowed
five oents a mile for, the entire 1213 tiles
or whether he is entitled to recelve~five
cents for the first 1,000 mlles and four
cents for the remaining 213 miles.
"We shall, therefore, thank you to ad-
vise us whether the DlstrIot Attorney may re-
ceive five cents a mile for his entire mileage
or whether he is governed by the rider on the
Appropriation Bill and can only receive five
cents a mile for the first 1,000 miles and
four oents for that mileage above 1,000 trav-
eled In any one calendar month."
R . . .
"The sole question here Is whether tb,e
District Attorneys and Distriot Judges shall
receive a straight five oents a mile for the
entire mileage traveled In any one oalendar
. -
Hon. George H. Sheppard, Page 2, V-303
month or whether they shall receive five cents
a mile for the first 1,000 miles traveled and
four cents, etc., for the mileage traveled in
excess of 1,000 miles in any one calendar month.”
The pertinent statutes are as follows, all em-
phasis being added:
Article 6823, R. C. S. 1925, as amended, is as
follows:
“The traveling and other necessary expenses
incurred by the various officers, assistants,
deputies, clerks and other employees In ‘the var-
ious departments, Institutions, boards, commls-
sions or other subdivisions of the State Govern-
ment, In the active discharge of their duties
shall be suoh as are specifically fixed and ap-
propriated by the Legislature in the general
appropriation bills providing for the expenses
the expense accounts submitted for payment or
allowanc,e from such appropriations, and such
payment ore a.llowance shall be made at a rate
not to exceed fi (5d) cents for each mile ao-
tually traveled ,%d ‘no’a’dditlonal expense- In-
cident to the operatlon of such automobile, ,s.hall
be allowed. As amended Acts 1931, 42nd Leg.,p.
372, oh. 218,‘fl l-/”
The eneral provisions of the Judiciary Appro-
priation Bill 7Chap. 379, Acts 49th Leg., R. S. (1945) )
oontaln the following proviso In Section 4 thereof:
“Traveling expenses paid to all officers
and employees under the teqs of this bill shall
be the same amount and paid under. the same oondl-
tlons as provided for in the General Departmental
Bill.”
The general provisions of the General Depart-
mental Appropriation Bill, (Chap. 378, Acts 49th Leg.
R. S. (1945) p. 810) referred to in the preceding para-
graph are as follows:
V
Hon George H. ShepparU, Page’ 3, V-383
Subaeotion ,(ll) f, Seotion 2, (in part) :
*r. Unless otherwise speoifloally pro-
vided by the statutes, it is provided that any
officer or employee who travels on offloial
State business and who uses his own oar while
so doing shall be reimbursed for the use of
said car on the basis of the total mileage
traveled during any oalendar month at the fol-
lowing rate: Five cents (5#) per mile for
the first thousand miles traveled and four
cents (4#) per mile for each mile traveled
in excess of one thousand miles.”
Article 6820, R. C. S. 1925, is as follows:
“All dIstrIct judges and dlstriot attor-
neys when engaged In the discharge of their of-
fi I 1 d tI In ‘any county in this State other
tgnatheUoo%y of their residence, shall be ear-
lowed their actual and necessary expenses while
actually engaged In the discharge of such duties,
not to exceed four dollars per day for hotel bills,
and not to ,exoeed, four cents a mile when travel-
Ing by railroad, and not to exceed twenty cents
a~mile when traveling by private conveganoe, In
graph and telephone expenses Incurred by them
in the actual discharge of their duties. Suoh
expenses shall be paid by the State upon the
sworn and itemized account of each dlstriot
judge or attorney entitled thereto, showing suoh
expenses. In distriots containing more than one
oounty, suoh expenses shall never exoeed in any
one year $100.00 for each county In the district;
provided that no UlsfrIot judge or attorney shall
receive more than $000.00 in any one year under
the provisions of this article. The aooount for
said services shall be reoorded in the official
minutes of the district court of the oountv In
whloh such judge or attorne resides, reap&o-
tive1g. Dots 1923, p. SO,5
When Article 6823, supra, was amended by Chap.
218, Acts 42nd Leg., 1931, p. 372, the emphasized portion
thereof was added and the verbiage of the original act
of 1917 remained unchanged exoept for the addition of
the followlna emohasized words. “In the various deoart-
merits, instl&tiks, boards, commissions, or other-sub-
Hon. Geor:e B. Sheppard, Page 4, V-383
divisions of the State government.
The emergency clause of the amending act. reads
In part as follows:
"Sec. 2. The fact that officials and em-
ployees of the State government are receiving
allowances for the use of privately owned auto-
mobiles based on various rates, some of whioh
appear to be exoessive, and, that no unirorm
,rate of allowanoe is specified In the statutes
creates an emergenoy . . . n
The enactment by the 42nd Legislature of the a-
mendment to Article 6023 oonstituted an implied repeal of
that ortlon of Artlole 6820, aupra whloh DrOVideS that
"aTz tit judges and district akorneys-. . . shall
be allowed their actual and neoeaaary expenses . . . not
to exoeed twenty oents a mile when traveling by private
oonveysnoe . . . n
You are therefore advised that it 1s the opln-
ion of this Department that District Judges and Dlstriot
Attorneys using their own oars while traveling on offlo-
ial State business shall be reimbursed iOr auoh use at
the rates provided for In Subsection (11) S, Section 2,
Chapter 379, Acts of the Forty-ninth Legislature, Regu-
lar Session, 1945, p. 936.
Opinion No. O-7072, approved May 21, 1940, Is
overruled In as far as It contliots with thfs opinion.
Dlstrlot Judges and Dlstrlot Attorneys
using their own oars while traveling on of-
ficial State business shall be reimbursed for
such use et the rates provided In the general
Departmental Appro rlatlon Bill, I.e., 5 oenta
for the first 1,00 8 miles, during any oalendar
month and 4 cents for eaoh mile traveled In
exoeas of 1,000 miles. Artloles 6820 6823
Rawle C. 9. 1925; Chapter 379 Aote 1945 [Judiola-
ry Appropriation Bill); Chapter 378, dote 1945
Hon. George B. Sheppard, Yage 5, V-383
(Departmental Approprfdon Bill.) Opidon
No. o-7072, overrulBd In part.
Yours very truly
ATTORNEY
GENERALOF TEXAS
C. K. Richards
-”
Assistant
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