OFFICIAL OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL - 1942 SYLLABUS 332. State Welfare Department. The State Welfare Department may cooperate with the Works Progress Administration by providing a referral or certifying agency under the terms of the Nevada statutes and as long as the money appropriated is being used for the purposes set forth in the legislative Act. STATEMENT OF FACTS CARSON CITY, January 3, 1942. In our opinion to you of October 27, 1941, we held that as long as State money was being used for the five purposes set forth in section 1, chapter 81 of the 1941 Statutes of Nevada, and as long as the Federal Government has not discontinued its employment relief, the Board of Examiners should continue to allow claims in the sum of $3,000 per month payable to the proper Federal agency in charge of work and direct relief. We further held that there was no statutory authority for transferring this sum of money appropriated to a Federal agency to either the State Board of Relief, Work Planning and Pension Control (chapter 138, 1935 Statutes of Nevada) or to the State Welfare Department (chapter 127, 1937 Statutes of Nevada). Under date of December 16, 1941, William R. Lawson, Administrator of the Works Progress Administration, addressed a letter to you which in part, stated as follows: The Emergency Relief Appropriation Act for the Fiscal Year 1942 states that the purpose of the Act is to provide work for needy employable persons on useful projects. The Act further provides that no relief worker shall be employed on WPA projects until after he has been certified as in need of employment by a local public certifying agency or by the Work Projects Administration where no such agency exists. It is the policy of the Work Projects Administration that a local public welfare agency shall be responsible for referring to WPA the needy unemployed in the state who are eligible and capable of performing satisfactory work on the projects. Policies which determine eligibility for referral to WPA shall be based upon a written agreement signed by the head of the local public welfare agency and the Work Projects Administrator of the state. Before this agreement can become effective it shall be submitted to and approved by the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Region. The intent of the Federal Work Projects Administration regarding the responsibility for referrals cannot be carried out if the Administrator of the Work Projects Administration in Nevada also acts as the Director of the local public welfare agency. It is for this reason that I advised Mr. Noah Kearns when he was appointed Administrator, in September 1941, that he could assume no responsibility for the referral agency. In order that the relationship between the State of Nevada and the Work Projects Administration can be brought in line with policies established by the Federal Administration and at the same time cause as little disturbance in the relief program in Nevada as possible, I recommend: 1. That immediate steps be taken by the State of Nevada to provide a local agency with administrative authority and funds to cooperate with the WPA in carrying out the provisions of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, Fiscal Year 1942. 2. That WPA receive no new referrals until such an agency is in operation. 3. That for a limited time the WPA operate the work program for those persons who now have active certifications with WPA. INQUIRY May the State Welfare Department cooperate with the Work Projects Administration by providing a referral or certifying agency, which agency is to be separate and apart from the Federal agency? OPINION Administrator Lawson’s letter of December 16, 1941, is clearly a request from the Federal Government that the State Government cooperate with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration of Nevada, now officially designated Work Projects Administration, by providing a local public welfare agency responsible for referring to WPA the needy unemployed in the State who are eligible and capable of performing satisfactory work on WPA projects. Heretofore this referral agency has been directly in charge of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration of Nevada and has been paid for out of the moneys appropriated to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration of Nevada by sections 5 and 7, chapter 97 of the 1935 Statutes of Nevada; by section 2, chapter 103 of the 1939 Statutes of Nevada; and by section 2, chapter 81 of the 1941 Statutes of Nevada. We believe that the State Welfare Act, supra, authorizes its board to assist the Federal Emergency Relief Administration of Nevada by setting up a referral agency for WPA. The title of this Act, in part, reads as follows: An Act providing for the creation of a state welfare department; defining the powers and duties of such department; providing means of cooperation with the federal government and with the counties of Nevada in all matters concerning public assistance to needy individuals. Likewise subdivision 4 of section 3 of the Act provides that the State board shall assist and cooperate with other departments, agencies and institutions of the state and federal government, when so requested, by performing services in conformity with the purposes of this act. Section 6 of the State Welfare Act appropriated $16,200 for the biennium ending June 30, 1939. This appropriation was continued by chapter 138 of the 1939 Statutes of Nevada. $13,600 was appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1943, by chapter 145 of the 1941 Statutes of Nevada. Since the Federal agency, the WPA, has requested the establishment of a local referral agency separate and distinct from its own Federal agency, we believe that the State Welfare Board may create such an agency by virtue of the powers vested in it, and that it may use therefor moneys appropriated to it by the 1941 Legislature, chapter 145. Subdivision 8, section 3 of chapter 138, 1935 Statutes of Nevada, heretofore noted in our opinion of October 27, 1941, likewise contains definite authority for aid and assistance to the Federal agencies. It reads: To cooperate with and advise the federal emergency relief administration for Nevada and such other boards or offices of the federal government as are now or may hereafter be empowered to administer federal relief, either work or direct, in the State of Nevada. As noted in our former opinion, there is no statutory authority for transferring the $3,000 per month appropriated to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration of Nevada to the State Welfare Department. However, one of the purposes for which this $3,000 per month was appropriated is To provide for an agency to certify relief labor to the Works Progress Administration and other federal work programs employing relief labor. It was unquestionably the clear and positive purpose of the Legislature that part of the $3,000 appropriated each month should be used for providing a certifying agency, and we are of the opinion that as long as this purpose is being served, as well as the other purposes named in section 1, the money appropriated by the 1941 Legislature is being spent in conformity with section 1 of the said Act. In view of the fact that the Federal agency requests a State agency to perform the function of a referral agency as set forth in section 1, chapter 81 of the 1941 Statutes of Nevada, and in view of the additional fact that under both the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1942 (Public Laws 143--77th Congress) and present WPA regulations, the Federal agency refuses to continue to provide a certifying agency, we believe that claims may be incurred by the State Welfare Department for the purpose of providing a certifying agency. Such claims, after the approval of the State Welfare Board, should be presented to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration administrator of Nevada, now officially designated the WPA administrator, for his approval, so that he in turn may present such claims to the Board of Examiners of the State of Nevada for their approval as a charge against the monthly appropriation of $3,000 to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration for Nevada. In line with Administrator William Lawson’s letter of December 16, 1941, the monthly amount to be used for this purpose, as well as the general provisions for such use, may be set out in the written agreement to be signed by the head of the State Welfare Department and the WPA Administrator of Nevada and approved by the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Region. Respectfully submitted, GRAY MASHBURN, Attorney-General. By ALAN BIBLE, Deputy Attorney-General. HON. E. P. CARVILLE, Governor of Nevada, Carson City, Nevada. SYLLABUS 333. Motor Vehicles--Uniform Drivers’ License Law of 1941--Cooperation Required Between Motor Vehicle Department and Drivers’ License Administrator. (1) There is no statutory law mandatorily requiring the Motor Vehicle Department of the State and its officers and assistants, including County Assessors, to assist the administrator of the so-called drivers’ license law and his assistants in the enforcement of the Uniform Motor Vehicle Operators’ and Chauffeurs’ License Act, being chapter 190, 1941 Statutes of Nevada, pages 529- 542, to the extent of seeing that at least one driver of every motor vehicle has the appropriate operators’ or chauffeurs’ license when such assistance is requested by said administrator or his assistants either of the Motor Vehicle Commissioner direct or indirectly of County Assessors; but it should not be necessary to have any such mandatory requirement in order to accomplish “cooperation” between these two agencies of State government. While there is no such statutory requirement for cooperation, it is simply in the interest of proper governmental functioning that all officers and departments of the State cooperate with each other to the end that the State government may properly function and the money of the taxpayers devoted to governmental purposes may be conserved and the functions of government carried on economically.