AG Ken Paxton seeks impeachment back pay. State's accountant says he won't cut check.

After being threatened on Monday with legal action by Attorney General Ken Paxton for withholding back pay he feels is owed after his impeachment acquittal, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar's office responded to Paxton's letter Tuesday, saying the best course of action is to take the question to the Texas Supreme Court.

The dispute between the two government agencies comes down to a disagreement on whether the state's constitution allows Paxton to receive around $50,000 of his annual salary that wasn't paid because of the impeachment vote by the House in May.

Responding to Paxton's first assistant, Brent Webster, officials in Hegar's office disputed the claim they acted unconstitutionally by withholding Paxton's pay, writing in a response letter that there is a lack of clarity on the "unprecedented situation" and that the state's top accountant doesn't see legal authority for authorizing Paxton's payment.

"Because we disagree with your interpretation of the Texas Constitution on this very important issue, we encourage you to file a writ of mandamus with the Texas Supreme Court for a definitive ruling," read the letter signed by Victoria North, the comptroller's general counsel on fiscal and agency affairs.

In charging that the comptroller's office is creating a "legal liability" for the state, Webster wrote that Paxton is entitled to receive the entirety of his $153,750 salary as appropriated by the Legislature.

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Webster also argued that the impeachment charges Paxton was acquitted of earlier this month never addressed or sought to suspend Paxton's pay. Additionally, he said, the state constitution does not address the issue of pay for suspended state officials, something that its framers could have clarified but did not.

"The constitution could have — but does not — provide that a public official is denied a salary during the pendency of impeachment proceedings," Webster wrote.

North, in the agency's response to Webster, wrote that a suspended state employee may receive back pay only if there is a preexisting agreement setting the parameters for the future payments to the employee in question. Without that previous guidance, making a retroactive payment could be viewed as an employment benefit, which are policies regulated by state law that must be set in place prior to a payment of benefits.

Since Paxton was impeached in late May, members of his office have sought clarity on the pay situation and to have the hold on Paxton's paychecks removed.

After Paxton's acquittal on 16 impeachment charges by the Texas Senate, Paxton's effort to see his salary paid in full has ramped up again with Webster's letter coming after efforts earlier this summer.

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In approaching the Supreme Court for a ruling, North said the attorney general's office could cite a rejected payroll file submitted by the attorney general's office on Sept. 22 that sought payment for that month, during which Paxton was on trial in the Senate for 10 days.

"We are a phone call away and are more than willing to have a conversation on how to efficiently seek a ruling, which is a position we have consistently held since we sent our letter 117 days ago," North wrote.

In closing his letter to Hegar's office, Webster referenced an additional communication from the comptroller's office that questioned a possible overpayment to Paxton and the possible recovery of those funds.

Webster disputed that claim, calling it false, and pushed back against any further inquiry into the matter.

"There is no legal basis for that request, and it is denied," Webster wrote.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas AG Ken Paxton's request for back pay with Texas Supreme Court