Opinion Number

Dear General Patin:

You requested the opinion of this office as to whether line items in the Capital Outlay Act (the "Act") qualify as appropriations and whether the funds included in the Act can be shifted from one line item to another without legislative approval.

As you know, the Louisiana Constitution requires that monies only be withdrawn from the state treasury pursuant to an appropriation. La. Const. Art. III, Sec. 16 (A) and Art. VII, Sec. 10 (D). The line items in the Act are clearly appropriations, whether the means of financing provided in the Act is the general fund, the…