Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1946 )

OFFICE OF THE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Hr. a: a. Dolly nor OrooiawAlt ThsUnl.vor``ity of Tezar Auuetinj Texas Dear alrr OP*~LO~ a~,.. o-7189 ~raqurstlng an opinion on tho a411it deorerary to s4t 6tlt your IO quote only the tir8t,,~ we think stats the queetion at ibb tfully ‘requested upon %I oonrmction with the foregofag quratlca., your attantton 16 direotad to ~subseotion2 or the general prOvIsIons or the present Mr. J. C. Dolly, pa&e 2 appropriation bill gove+=nlngt&e payment of salaries theraunder.W Subsection 2 ofthe general appropriation bill is found on page SG$ of the General and Special Laws, 49th Legis- lature, Regular Session, 1945, and reads ln part as follows: "Subseotion 2. Salary Provisions. No salary appropriation herein shall be supplgaented out or student ree fuss, dormFt0ry rude, or local funds except out of the Pure Feed Funds at the Agrioultural and Meohanioal College or out 0r fund8 reoeived from the United states Government or Its agenaies, unlese 90 ordered by the governing board of the inatltution to whiohatoh salary or salaries apply, at a regular meeting with at least a laajorltyofthe membera or such board present, e&d such order shall be entered in the minutes or.said board and shall set forth the reasons thereror. "No fulltims instruotional salary as itemized herein shall be increased from any fund, exoept from the Pure Feed Fund at the Aarloultural an& Meeohanioal'Collegeor from funds‘-reoeivedfrom the United States Government or its agenaies. to sn amount in ~10088 or the maximum salary provided herein for positions or sllailarrank in the same Institution, unless the ataxiaum salary or higher salary WAS legally paid in the preoediug biennium in whioh ease the salary may be supplemented not toacoeod lO$. It Is further provided that oompenaa@lon for oorres- pondenoe and/or errtensionteaohing as provided herein and compensation rrom bequests and girts shall be exoluded from the salary limitation in this paragraph. The rate of the salary paid an employee of any institution named herein ror services during a suauaersession shall not exceed the salary rate paid the employee for the same or similar servioes in that Institution during the longmssion." In order to determine the intenticm of the 49th Leg- islature in plaolng the exoeption which ws have underlined In subseotlon 2 of he general appropriation bill quoted above, we think it necessary to oompare It with the sitilar provision in the appropriation for eduoational institutions by the 48th Mr. J. C. Dolly, page 3 Legislature, On page 878 of the Regular Session laws, 48th Legislature, we find the r0ii0ting provioion: "Subseation (2). Salary Provisions. NO salary appropriated herein shall be supplemented out of student fee funds,dormitory funds, or local funds, exoept out ofthe Pure Feed.Fund at the Agrioultural and Meohanical College or out of funds reoeivad from the United SEatea Government or its agencies, unless EQ oraered by the epverning board of the institution towhich such salary or salaries apply, at a regular meeting with at least a majority ofthe members of such board present, and suoh order shall be entered in theminutes of the prooeedings of said board and shall set forth fully the reasons therefor. No full time in structional salary as itemized herein shall be -ted to sxoeed an amount above the maximum as herein Itemized to be aoorooriated from the General Revenue Fund of the State'forthe particular institution to which aaid salary or salaries aooly. unless the e received in vhioh ease dlustment mav be made not to exoeed ten UO) oer oent above suchmaxlmum salary so re- geived. * * *" It will be noted that the exception oontalned ln para- graph 2 of subseotion 2, General Provisions of the Appropriation Aot ror Educational institutions, 49th Legislature, is not found in the above quotation. We think it clear that no authority existed, byreason of the provisions quoted.+nedi- ately above, to increase a full.Ume instruotimal salary in an amount in excess of 10% above the maximum full proressor's salary as itemized in the Aot. The 49th Legislature was evi- dently consoious of this fact and we believe the exception, i.e. "* . . except from . . . funds received from the United States Government or itsagenoies. . ." was placed in tha Aot for the specific purpese of excluding the funds ao reoeived from the provisions l~liniting salary adjustments to lO$ above the amount aouually reaeived during the preoeding blenniu. You are advised, therefore, that it is the considered opinion of this department that the Board of Regents have legal authority to increase the salaries of full time Instructional positions to an amount greater than lodjo, if and only if, the . Mr. J. C. Dolly, page 4 needed hnds for such increases are derived solely from funds reaelvsd from the United States Goverrment or Its agencies. Trusting the above satisfaotorily answers your in- W-Y, we are ~- Yoill-s very truly ATTCRNEYGENERALOF TEXAS BY (aignea) E. M. DeGeurln Assistant BPF'ROVXDAF'R 10, 1946 (signed) Grover Sellers A!l!TORNFi 0ENFS.U OF TEKAS APPROVED: Opinion Oommlttee By J. C. D., Chairman