University of Houston Travel Rules
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Meals and Lodging
The Texas Legislature changed the travel rules for meals and
lodging paid with state appropriated funds.
Previously, the Comptroller set limits of $85/day for lodging
and $36/day for meals during overnight travel in Texas and said
to use the per diem rate of the closest city or county when
traveling outside of Texas, if the destination city or county
was not listed in the General Services Administration (GSA) per
diem schedule.
For travel occurring on or after September 1, 2011, state
employees traveling on state appropriated funds will be limited
to the GSA�s �standard� rate when traveling to non-listed
locations, which is currently $77/day for lodging and $46/day
for meals whether traveling inside or outside of Texas.
The following tables summarize the current meal and lodging
rules for local funds and state funds. They are also located
here under Meal and Lodging
Rule Summary.
Local Fund Travel
| Destination for Overnight
Travel with Local Funds |
Meals and
Lodging Combined |
| Texas |
$220 max. Meals that exceed rate on GSA website require
receipts. If city or county is not listed, use the "standard"
rate on the GSA website. Lodging requires a receipt. |
| Outside Texas and within
the continental US |
$325 max. Meals that
exceed rate on GSA website require receipts. If city or county
is not listed, use the "standard" rate on the GSA website.
Lodging requires a receipt. |
| Outside continental US
(including Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and other
countries) |
Higher of $350 or rate on GSA
website. Meals that exceed rate on GSA website require receipts.
If city is not listed, use the "other" rate on the GSA website.
Lodging requires a receipt. |
State Fund Travel
| Destination for Overnight Travel with State Funds
|
Meals |
Lodging |
| Texas |
See GSA website for maximum. If city or county is
not listed on website, use the "standard" rate on the
GSA website. Receipts not required. |
See GSA website for maximum. If city or county is
not listed on website, use the "standard" rate on the
GSA website. Receipts required. |
| Outside Texas and within the continental US |
See GSA website for maximum. If city or county is
not listed, use the "standard" rate on the GSA website.
Receipts not required. |
See GSA website
for maximum. If city or county is not listed, use the "standard"
rate on the GSA website. Receipts required. |
| Outside continental US (including Alaska, Hawaii,
Canada, Mexico, and other countries) |
Based on actual expenses. Meals
that exceed rate on GSA website require receipts. If city is not
listed, use "other" rate on GSA website to determine maximum
meal expense without receipts. Lodging requires a receipt |
All meal reimbursements must be based on actual expenses. If the
actual meal expense is less than the maximum amount on the GSA
website, the reimbursement will be limited to the actual amount.
This is true for both local and state funds.
If the actual meal amount is greater than the GSA maximum, you
can only receive reimbursement up to the GSA maximum for meals
when using state funds and you cannot direct-bill more than the
GSA maximum amount to the university. If the actual lodging
amount is greater than the GSA maximum, you can only receive
reimbursement up to the GSA maximum for lodging when using state
funds and you cannot direct-bill more than the GSA maximum
amount to the university.
If the actual meal amount is greater than the GSA maximum, you
can receive reimbursement for actual meal expenses when using
local funds as long as you provide itemized receipts for all of
your meals and the total of meals and lodging combined does not
exceed the UH cap ($220/day for Texas, $325/day outside Texas
but inside the continental US, higher of $350/day or GSA maximum
outside the continental US).
The GSA website is located at:
http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/21287
If you have any questions, please contact:
Sandra Silva (ssilva@central.uh.edu) or 3-5883
Edwin Rodas (emrodas@central.uh.edu) or 3-8961
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