§ 109.003.Source of Appropriation

The source rule, and the order it sets is the whole point of the chapter.

An appropriation subject to this chapter shall be made from otherwise unappropriated amounts in a special fund or account that may be appropriated to the affected state agency and that may be used for that purpose, to the extent those amounts are available.

To the extent those amounts are not available, the appropriation may be made from the general revenue fund.

The sequence is agency money first, general revenue second.

Three conditions qualify the first source, and each narrows it. The amounts must be otherwise unappropriated; the fund must be one that may be appropriated to the affected agency; and it must be one that may be used for that purpose.

Many special funds are dedicated by their own statutes to particular uses, and this does not override those dedications — the fund must already be available for the purpose.

The design creates a budgetary consequence for liability. An agency with a special fund sees claims paid from money it would otherwise have spent, which is what makes the cost visible.

General revenue remains the backstop, so a claimant is not left unpaid because an agency has no special fund.

The practical effect varies enormously between agencies. A fee-funded regulatory agency with a dedicated account bears its own claims; one funded entirely from general revenue does not.

That unevenness is inherent in the approach, and it is why the chapter operates alongside the payment provision, which caps what an agency pays from its own appropriation.