TITLE attorney-general

Opinion No. GA-0340

Ms. L. Marliessa Clark, C.P.A.

Hamilton County Auditor

Hamilton County Courthouse

Hamilton, Texas 76531

Re: Procedures applicable to a county's accounting for and spending excess contributions returned to a county pursuant to section 26.008 of the Government Code (RQ-0311-GA)

Section 26.008 of the Government Code applies to court costs collected by certain counties and remitted to the comptroller to supplement county judges' salaries. Under section 26.008, the Comptroller of Public Accounts returns excess contributions to the participating counties, to be used only for court-related purposes for the support of the judiciary. Section 26.008 does not require the Hamilton County Commissioners Court to create a separate fund to account for the excess contributions or to adopt a separate budget for those funds. The Hamilton County Commissioners Court does not have authority to adopt a special budget, distinct from the annual county budget, for the excess contributions.

The "court-related purposes" for which the excess contributions may be spent include judges' salaries and any other costs necessary to support the operation and maintenance of the courts and the administration of justice. Section 26.008 does not prohibit the commissioners court from allowing the excess contributions to be accumulated from year to year.

The county budget of a prior fiscal year may not be retroactively amended to provide that excess contributions received in that year were spent under that budget.

Opinion No. GA-0341

The Honorable Jana Duty

Williamson County Attorney

405 Martin Luther King, Suite 240

Georgetown, Texas 78626

Re: Whether a nonprofit corporation may offer a savings bond or prepaid bank credit card as a prize in a charitable raffle under the Charitable Raffle Enabling Act, Occupations Code chapter 2002 (RQ-0303-GA)

Section 2002.002(1-a) of the Occupations Code, adopted by the 79th Texas Legislature, supersedes the definition of "money" articulated in Attorney General Opinion JC-0111. Compare Act of May 27, 2005, 79th Leg., R.S., H.B. 541, §1 (to be codified at TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. §2002.002(1-a)) with Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0111 (1999) at 4. Under the statutory definition, the term "money" means "coins, paper currency, or a negotiable instrument that represents and is readily convertible to coins or paper currency." Act of May 27, 2005, 79th Leg., R.S., H.B. 541, §1 (to be codified at TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. §2002.002(1-a)).

United States savings bonds and prepaid, or "stored-value," credit cards are not negotiable instruments. Accordingly, they are not "money" for purposes of section 2002.056(a) of the Occupations Code and may be offered and awarded as prizes in a charitable raffle.

For further information, please access the website at www.oag.state.tx.us or call the Opinion Committee at (512) 463-2110.

Nancy S. Fuller

Assistant Attorney General

Office of the Attorney General

Filed: July 26, 2005