TEIEATTORNEY GEN&=zAL' 0,FTEXAS Honorable J. M. Falkner Banking Commlesloner of Texas Austin 14, Texas Honorable Jesse James State Treasurer of Texas Austin 11, Texas Opinion No. c-127 9te: Reimbursement of travel expense8 'for new members of the State Bank- Gentlemen: lng and State Depository Boards. As ex-officio membera of both the State Banktng Board and:the State Depository Board, you have jointly requested our opinion on the above captioned queation. Formerly the Attorney General was a statutory member of each of these boards in addition to each of you; however a,recent enact- ment of the 58th Legislature removed the Attorney General from the.se,boardsand ,providedthat a citizen member be ap- pointed. Since the three state officials previously serv- ing on these boards lived in Austin, there was never any appropriation made for travel expenses as such was unnecea- sary. The problem now arises, and you request how'the c%ti- zen members serving on such boards may be reimbursed for travel expenses. - Section 18 of Senate Bill 318 of the 58th Legislature states as follows,: "The citizen members replacing the At- torney General.on the Boarde and Commleelons amended by this-Act shall be reimbursed for their actual .meala, lodging and incidental expenses ,when performing their dutierra$ mem- bers of theirrespective Boards at all of- flcial meetings of the,Board on the same basis aa Is provided for members of the LegIs- lature~serving on Boards, Councils, Commit- tees or CommiSeions, provided, however, that -629- Hon. J. M. Falkner, and Hon. Jesse James, page two (c-127) the travel expenses herein provided shall not be paid but for fiftean (15) meetings of such Boards per year. Each member shall make out under oath an Itemized statement of the number of days engaged In attending of- ficial meetings of the Board and the amount of expenses when presenting same for~payment." Subsection d of Section 17 of House Bill 86,the General Appropriation Bill, states as follows: "Members of the Legislature who serve on any Board, Council, Committee of Commis- sion shall receive actual expenses for meals, lodging, and incidental expenses not to ex- ceed Twelve Dollars ($12) per day when travel- ing on official business inside~,theState; and shall be reimbursed for actual expenses incurred for meals, lodging, and Incidental expenses,when traveling on official business outside the State. Claims for reimbursements of such expenses'shall be presented on forms prescribed by the Comptroller. "When traveling on official business in- 's,ide the State, such Members of the Legis- lature shall be reimbursed for mileage on the same basis as is provided In the Constitution for Members of the Legislature; and It Is further provided that the same mileage rates shall apply to necessary travel to points with- in the State other than the seat of govern- ment. . . .' No appropriation was made, however, for reimbursement for travel expenses incurred by the citizen members. Considering the problem with regard to the State Bank- ing Board, viefind that there is no appropriation whatsoever for the Banking.Department other than one to cover operating space in the John'H. Reagan Office Building. It is further significant that Article 342-112 of .Vernon'sCivil Statutes, the Banking Code of 1943; specifically states that: "The Commissioner shall, from,tlme to time aa directed by the Finance Commission, submit to such Commission a full and complete report of the receipts and expenditures of the Banking Department and the Finance Com- mission may from time to time examine the -630- Hon. J. M. Falkner, and Hon. Jesse James, page three (C-127) financial records of the Banking Depart- ment or cause them to be examined. In addition, the Banking Department shall be audited from time to time by the State Audl- tor in the same manner as other State De- partments, and the actual costs of such audits shall be paid to the State Auditor from the funds of the Banking Department. Fees, penalties and revenues collected by the Banking Department from every sdurce whatsoever shall be retained and held by id Department, and no part of such fee's, z&alties and revenues shall ever be paid Into the General Revenue Fund of this State. All expenses incurred by the Banking Depart- ment shall be paid only~from such fees, penalties, and revenues, and no such expense shall ever be a charge against the funds of this State. The Finance Commlsslon shall adopt, and from time to time amend, budgets which shall direct .the purposes, and pre- scribe the amounts, for which the fees, penalties and revenues of the Banking bepart- m&t'shall be expended; and th Finance Com- mission shall, as of December 51, 1951, and annually thereafter, report to the Governor of the State of Texas the receipts and dis- bursements of the Banking Department for each calendar year; and shall within the first sixty (60) days of each succeeding Regular Session of the Legislature make a report to the appropriate committees of the House and Senate charged with considering legislation ertaining to banking." (lQn- phasis addedP . Many opinions from.this office have held that the expenses of the Banking Department and the Banking Board may be paid out of any revenues collected by the Depart- ment, whether from penalties, fees, examinations or other- wise. The Finance Commission provides In its budget the amounts allocated for the various purposes. Attorney Gener- al's Opinions Nos. NW-725 (1959). WW-1095 (1961); and C-88 (1963). Opinion No. WW-500 (1958) stated: "Since the above quoted'portion of Artl- cle 342-112 provides that all expenses Incurred -631- Hon. J. M. Falkner, and Hon. Jesse James, page four (C-1?7) by the Banking Department shall be paid only from such fees, penalties and revenues, and the expenses incurred on behalf of the Banking Department for the services of the Court Reporter being legitimate expenses, you are advised that the Finance Commission of Texas may authorize the payment of these obligations." Since we have previously held that the Finance Com- mission may setaside ~fu~ndsto satisfy 'expensesincurred by the State Banking Board, we advise you that such Com- mission may likewise set aside funds to cover travel ex- penses of the new cltizen'member of the Banking Board. A different situation exists as to the citizen mem- ber of the State Depository Board. The Flnance~Commission has no authority to budget funds for this purpose as it Is not properly an expense incurred by the State Banking Board or State Bank~ingDepartment. The Treasurer's office has a line item appropriation for travel expenses for its own departmental employees only. It therefore follows that there are no existing funds to reimburse the citizen member of~the State Depository Board for his travel expenses. However, Senate ~111 318constitutes pre-existing law, so as to enable a subsequent Legislature to make an appropriation to reimburse the citizen member for his prior travel expenses. SUMMARY The citizen member replacing the At- torney General on the State Banking Board may be reimbursed for his travel expenses by funds set aside by the Finance Commis- sion of Texas. There are no existing funds to cover travel expenses of the citizen member re- placing the Attorney General on the State Depository Board. Yotirsvery truly, FDW:ms -632- Hon. J. M. Falkner, and Hon. Jesse James, page five (C-127) APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE W. V. Geppert, Chairman Milton Richardson John Reeves Dudley McCalla J. C. Davis APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL By: Stanton Stone -633-