[ Act No. 2431, December 23, 1914 ]

AN ACT APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR SUNDRY EXPENSES OF THE INSULAR GOVERNMENT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that: 

SECTION 1. The following sums, or so much thereof as may be respectively necessary, are hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, in compensation for the service of the Insular Government for the fiscal year ending December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and fifteen, unless otherwise stated.

(See Table  of Acts No. 2431 in PUBLIC LAWS PHILIPPINE LEGISLATURE VOLUME 10 Pages 67 to Pages149).

SEC. 2. There is hereby created an emergency board which Emergency board, shall consist of the Insular Auditor, the Insular Treasurer, the Attorney-General, the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the Philippine Assembly, and the senior member in point of service of the Philippine Commission, with the latter as chairman, whose duty it shall be, whenever application is made by any officer of the Government in charge of any work of construction or repair, or by the Director of any Bureau or Office of the Government, certifying that the needs of the work, Bureau, or Office concerned require the expenditure of a sum of money greater than the amount appropriated by the Legislature for such purpose, to hear such evidence as may be presented in support of such application and submit its report with its recommendation thereon to the Governor-General. The Governor-General with the concurrence of the Speaker of the Philippine Assembly, upon recommendation of a majority of the emergency board aforesaid, may authorize the expenditure of additional funds not specifically appropriated, in such amount as may be deemed necessary for the purposes of the work, Bureau, or Office concerned. The Governor-General, within thirty days after the opening of the next regular session of the Philippine Legislature, shall send to each body thereof a statement of the amount or amounts of the expenditures authorized under the provisions of this section.

For the purposes of this section, there is hereby appropriated from funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated such sum or sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions hereof, not exceeding one million pesos: Provided, That no funds shall be set up on the books of the Auditor under this section until the same shall have been allotted by the Governor-General and the Speaker.  This emergency board shall enter upon the discharge of its functions immediately after the close of the session of the Philippine Legislature in which this Act was passed and shall exist until October sixteenth, nineteen hundred and fifteen.

SEC. 3. Whenever the Governor-General shall be of the opinion that there is good reason for believing that the probable revenues of the Insular Treasury will not be sufficient to cover the expenditures provided for in this Act, he shall direct the emergency board to consider the condition of funds existing in the Insular Treasury, the expenditures already made and to be made, and the probable revenues until the end of the fiscal year for which this Act ; has  been passed,  and  to  propose  adequate  measures  to reduce the expenditures in order that they may be met out of the funds in the Insular Treasury and the certain revenues which will accrue to it. The board will report to the Governor-General the result of its deliberations as soon as possible and make such recommendations as it may deem wise. In accordance with the report of the board, the Governor-General with the concurrence of the Speaker of the Assembly may suspend temporarily, or definitively to the end of the fiscal year for which this law has been enacted, the payment of the expenses of any Bureau or Office, to an amount not to exceed thirty per centum of the sum appropriated by this Act for such Bureau or Office.

SEC. 4. All sums appropriated by this Act for the various Bureaus, Offices, and provinces shall be expended solely for the specific purposes for which appropriated, and for no others, and no amount appropriated for salaries and wages shall be available for the  payment of contingent expenses nor shall any amount appropriated for contingent expenses be available for the payment of salaries and wages: Provided, That in any Bureau or Office, subject to approval by the Governor-General, or the proper head of Department, any unexpended balance under any item of contingent expense, not exceeding a total of ten per centum of the amount appropriated for such contingent expense, may be used to increase the amount under any other heading of contingent expense in said Bureau or Office: And provided further, That the appropriations herein made for each Bureau, Office, or province shall be available for payment of such expenses as may accrue to said Bureaus, Offices, or provinces by reason of the operations of Acts Numbered Fifteen hundred and nine, Sixteen hundred and ninety-eight, and Seventeen hundred and thirty-nine.

SEC. 5. Unless otherwise provided by this Act, all income accruing to Bureaus and Offices by virtue of the provisions of existing law shall revert to the general unappropriated surplus of the Insular Government.

SEC. 6. The net surplus of all appropriations herein and heretofore made for the current expenses of Bureaus and Offices of the Insular Government shall revert to the general fund as of December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and fifteen, and shall not thereafter be available for expenditure except by subsequent legislative enactment.

SEC. 7. During the new fiscal year of nineteen hundred and fifteen no Department head or chief of Bureau shall  increase or decrease the salary appropriated for each office or employment, any provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, That this section shall not affect the provisions of section eighteen of Act Numbered Sixteen hundred and ninety-eight.

SEC. 8. Hereafter no allowance shall be paid to any employee  for the  maintenance  of  means  of transportation ranspor owned by him but used on official business, in excess of twenty pesos per month in the case of a horse, or thirty pesos per month in the case of motor vehicles or vessels.

SEC.  9. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, all existing laws creating positions the salaries of which are not set forth in this appropriation Act, shall be understood to be repealed.

SEC. 10. Notwithstanding the provisions of preceding sections of this Act, five per cent of the total allotted to each Bureau, Office, or other branch of the Government, shall not be available nor shall it be expended without the authorization of the Governor-General with the concurrence of the Speaker of the Philippine Assembly, following investigation and favorable recommendation by the emergency board created by this Act.

SEC. 11. This Act shall take effect January first, nineteen hundred and fifteen.

Enacted, December 23, 1914.