§ 109.006.Appropriation for Claim Not Limited

One sentence separating a procedural rule from a substantive limit.

This chapter does not limit the amount the legislature may appropriate to pay claims subject to this chapter.

The reading it forecloses is understandable. The chapter directs where appropriations come from, restricts what an agency may pay, and refers to per-claim and annual limitations — which together look like a ceiling on what the state will pay.

They are not. The chapter governs how money is appropriated and paid, not how much may be.

The limits in the payment provision are on what an agency may pay from its own appropriation, and they come from the General Appropriations Act rather than from this chapter.

The Legislature retains its full appropriating power, which it could not give away by statute in any event — a later Legislature is not bound by an earlier one’s self-restriction.

The section matters for a claimant with a large judgment. An agency limited by its annual cap cannot pay, but the Legislature may appropriate whatever it chooses to satisfy the claim.

The payment provision’s exception is the route: where the Legislature specifically identifies a claim and appropriates money for it, the agency payment rules do not apply.

So the practical answer for a substantial claim against the state is legislative, and this section confirms that route is unobstructed by the chapter.