Opinion No.

Ms. Martha Galarza Cameron County Auditor Post Office Box 3846 Brownsville, Texas 78520

Re: Whether a county's alleged underpayment to indigent health care providers is an unconstitutional debt for purposes of article XI, section 7 of the Texas Constitution (RQ-0672-GA)

Dear Ms. Galarza:

Your predecessor in office informed us that health care providers submitted invoices for the fiscal year 2006-2007 for services provided to indigent residents of Cameron County in excess of the amount budgeted by the county for indigent health care in the 2006-2007 fiscal year.1 Thus, he asked the following four…