Opinions
Opinion No. GA-0397
The Honorable Mike Jackson
Chair, Committee on Nominations
Texas State Senate
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711-2068
Re: Education Code section 54.208's exemption from tuition for students
enrolled in fire science courses (RQ-0371-GA)
S U M M A R Y
In Education Code section 54.208, "fire science" is a technical term that
refers to a course that falls within a designated fire science curriculum,
as well as a course that is primarily related to fire service, emergency medicine,
emergency management, or public administration, regardless of whether that
course falls within a curriculum designated as "fire science."
A fire fighter seeking an exemption from tuition under section 54.208 need
not be pursuing a degree in fire science and may already have a degree in
fire science.
Section 54.208 exempts a fire fighter from paying tuition and laboratory
fees at public junior colleges and four-year colleges and universities.
Education Code section 54.051 permits a public junior college to determine
its tuition, subject to statutorily prescribed minimums. In addition, Education
Code section 130.084 authorizes a public junior college's governing board
to set and collect with respect to a public junior college in the district
any amount of tuition or fees the board considers necessary for the efficient
operation of the college. Therefore, where a public junior college has designated
a charge as "tuition," that charge is tuition; where a public junior college
has designated a charge as a "fee," it is a fee. And thus to the extent Houston
Community College has designated a charge as a fee, that fee would not be
tuition, and a fire fighter exempt from paying tuition under Education Code
section 54.208 would have to pay that non-tuition fee.
Opinion No. GA-0398
Mr. Carl Reynolds
Administrative Director
Office of Court Administration
Post Office Box 12066
Austin, Texas 78711-2066
Re: Eligibility of former and retired judges to sit by assignment (RQ-0377-GA)
S U M M A R Y
Government Code section 74.055(c) sets out eligibility requirements applicable
to former and retired judges who wish to sit by assignment as a judge. Amendments
to section 74.055 that became effective on June 18, 2003 increased the required
length of service needed to qualify and adopted stricter requirements as to
disciplinary actions. The amending legislation excepted from the changes to
section 74.055 those persons who qualified to serve by assignment under its
requirements immediately before the changes became effective. The exception
applies both to persons who at the relevant time were on the list to serve
by assignment and those who were not on the list but qualified to be placed
on it. The exception does not apply to a person who was an active judge when
the changes to section 74.055 became effective.
Opinion No. GA-0399
Eduardo J. Sanchez, M.D., M.P.H.
Commissioner
Texas Department of State Health Services
1100 West 49th Street
Austin, Texas 78756
Re: Whether section 241.154(b) of the Health and Safety Code or section
408.025(d) of the Labor Code governs the fees a hospital may charge a workers'
compensation carrier to provide certain records in a workers' compensation
proceeding (RQ-0382-GA)
S U M M A R Y
Section 408.025(d) of the Texas Labor Code governs fees for the release
of reports and records a health care provider is required to prepare and submit
under chapter 408 or Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation
rules. A hospital licensed under chapter 241 of the Texas Health and Safety
Code that is requested by a workers' compensation carrier to provide such
reports and records must charge fees authorized by the fee schedule promulgated
under section 408.025(d) of the Labor Code. A hospital that is requested by
a workers' compensation carrier to provide other medical records in a workers'
compensation proceeding may charge fees under section 241.154(b) of the Health
and Safety Code.
Opinion No. GA-0400
The Honorable David Aken
San Patricio County Attorney
San Patricio County Courthouse, Room 102
Sinton, Texas 78387
Re Whether an individual or company may set up a plat copying machine in
a county clerk's office or in another area of the county courthouse (RQ-0379-GA)
S U M M A R Y
A county clerk who wishes to regulate the copying of real property plats
should first promulgate reasonable rules that address such matters as available
space, safety, and disruption. Whether any particular rule is valid is a question
of fact to be determined by a court. Moreover, this result is limited to the
office of the San Patricio County Clerk.
Opinion No. GA-0401
Mr. Paul Mallett, Executive Director
Commission on State Emergency Communications
333 Guadalupe Street, Suite 2-212
Austin, Texas 78701-3942
Re: Whether the Commission on State Emergency Communications or the Comptroller
of Public Accounts has primary jurisdiction to determine in the context of
a claim for a refund whether the 9-1-1 emergency service fee imposed on wireless
telecommunications connections by Texas Health and Safety Code section 771.0711(a)
is applicable to a service provider's specific service (RQ-0370-GA)
S U M M A R Y
The Commission on State Emergency Communications, not the Comptroller of
Public Accounts, has authority to determine whether section 771.0711(a) of
the Texas Health and Safety Code, imposing a 9-1-1 emergency service fee on
wireless telecommunications connections, applies to a wireless service provider's
specific service. The Comptroller, not the Commission, has authority to order
a refund of fees collected under section 771.0711. A claim for a refund of
the fee imposed under that section must be filed with the Comptroller, but
if the claim presents issues particularly within the Commission's expertise,
the Comptroller should abate the administrative proceeding to allow the Commission
to make the initial determination of those issues.
Opinion No. GA-0402
The Honorable Richard E. Glaser
County and District Attorney, Fannin County
101 East Sam Rayburn Drive, Suite 301
Bonham, Texas 75418
Re: Whether an elected constable is prohibited from simultaneously serving
as a full-time deputy sheriff (RQ 0383-GA)
S U M M A R Y
An elected constable is not prohibited by article XVI, section 40 of the
Texas Constitution or the common-law doctrine of incompatibility from simultaneously
serving as a deputy sheriff.
Opinion No. GA-0403
Mr. James R. Hine
Commissioner
Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services
Post Office Box 149030
Austin, Texas 78714-9030
Re: Whether an establishment that furnishes food and shelter to four or
more persons who are unrelated to the proprietor and that requires those persons
to obtain personal care services through the proprietor's licensed home health
agency is an assisted living facility that must be licensed under section
247.021(a) of the Health and Safety Code (RQ-0381-GA)
S U M M A R Y
An establishment, including one characterized as a retirement community,
that furnishes food and shelter to four or more persons who are unrelated
to the proprietor and that requires those persons to obtain personal care
services through the proprietor's licensed home health agency is an assisted
living facility that must be licensed under section 247.021(a) of the Health
and Safety Code. An assisted living facility may not require its residents
to use a particular personal care services provider to the extent the services
are provided by a health care professional, as defined by section 247.067(a)
of the Health and Safety Code. Nor may an assisted living facility restrict
its residents' rights to contract for health care services with personal care
services providers, although a facility may restrict residents' authority
to contract with personal care services providers for services other than
health care. To the extent an assisted living facility's contract with its
residents requires the residents to obtain non-health care personal care services
from a specified provider, the facility may enforce the contract.
Opinion No. GA-0404
Mr. Carl Reynolds
Administrative Director
Office of Court Administration
Post Office Box 12066
Austin, Texas 78711-2066
Re: Whether the seal placed on certified copies of documents recorded in
the county clerk's office must be raised (RQ-0384-GA)
S U M M A R Y
Texas statutes do not mandate that the seal placed on every page of a document
as part of the clerk's certificate be raised. As an elected officer the county
clerk has discretion to determine whether the seal placed on every page of
the document must be raised. A document that bears a clerk's certificate is
a certified document.
Opinion No. GA-0405
The Honorable Steven B. Payson
Dawson County Attorney
Post Office Box 1268
Lamesa, Texas 79331
Re: Whether article VII, section 6b of the Texas Constitution permits a
commissioners court to distribute county permanent school fund reductions
to a school district based on students attending school in the district who
have transferred from another school district in the county (RQ-0386-GA)
S U M M A R Y
Article VII, section 6b of the Texas Constitution authorizes a commissioners
court to reduce the county permanent school fund and to "distribute the amount
of the reduction to the independent and common school districts of the county
on a per scholastic basis." Tex. Const. art. VII, §6b. For purposes of
article VII, section 6b, transfer students are to be counted as scholastics
of the school district in which they reside. A commissioners court may select
a method to determine the number of resident scholastics in each school district
in the county, but it may not select a method that counts as a scholastic
a person who resides in another school district.
For further information, please access the website
at www.oag.state.tx.us. or call the Opinion Committee at (512) 463-2110.
TRD-200601093
Stacey Schiff
Deputy Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Filed: February 28, 2006