RESTRICTED REIMBURSEMENTS

(a) A state agency may not reimburse a state employee for a lodging expense incurred at a place that is not a commercial lodging establishment. (b) A state agency may not reimburse a state employee for a meal or lodging expense the employee incurs while traveling outside the employee's designated headquarters for less than six consecutive hours unless the employee is a chief administrator of a state agency or the travel provisions of the General Appropriations Act authorize the reimbursement. (c) A state agency may not reimburse a state employee for a meal expense incurred within the employee's designated headquarters unless the expense is: (1) mandatory; and (2) connected with training, a seminar, or a conference. (d) A state agency may reimburse a state employee for a meal expense incurred while traveling without an overnight stay away from the employee's designated headquarters only if the chief administrator of the agency authorizes the reimbursement. (e) A state agency may not reimburse a state employee for the purchase of an alcoholic beverage, unless the employee is a peace officer who purchased the beverage as a purchase of evidence in an administrative or criminal case.