Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1952 )

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