RQ-0722-GA
Requestor:
Mr. Adan Munoz, Jr.
Executive Director
Texas Commission on Jail Standards
Post Office Box 12985
Austin, Texas 78711-2985
Whether a bailiff may supervise an inmate who is temporarily incarcerated in a courthouse holding cell (RQ-0722-GA)
Briefs requested by August 7, 2008
RQ-0723-GA
Requestor:
The Honorable D. Matt Bingham
Smith County Criminal District Attorney
Smith County Courthouse
100 North Broadway, 4th Floor
Tyler, Texas 75702
Re: Whether a state judge is authorized to permit felony and misdemeanor probationers to travel temporarily outside the state or to reside outside the state (RQ-0723-GA)
Briefs requested by August 8, 2008
RQ-0724-GA
Requestor:
The Honorable Jeff Wentworth
Chair, Committee on Jurisprudence
Texas State Senate
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711
Re: Whether the police chief of an independent school district may simultaneously serve as a member of a city council that is located within the geographical boundaries of the school district (RQ-0724-GA)
Briefs requested by August 11, 2008
For further information, please access the website at www.oag.state.tx.us or call the Opinion Committee at (512) 463-2110.
TRD-200803512
Stacey Napier
Deputy Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Filed: July 9, 2008
Opinion No. GA-0640
The Honorable Kim Brimer
Chair, Committee on Administration
Texas State Senate
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78701-1494
Re: Applicability of chapter 1501, Texas Insurance Code, to certain health benefit "cafeteria" plans offered by employers (RQ-0662-GA)
S U M M A R Y
The payment of individual health benefit plan premiums through a cafeteria plan that is funded entirely by pre-tax deductions from employer-paid salaries and that is not offered or endorsed by the employer is a small or large employer health benefit plan under section 1501.003(3) or 1501.004(3), Insurance Code, if the plan (1) is a health benefit plan that provides health care benefits (2) to the requisite employees and (3) is an employee welfare benefit plan under 29 C.F.R. section 2510.3-1(j) (i.e., does not fall within the safe harbor exclusion). Whether any particular plan meets these requirements involves questions of fact.
An individual who is eligible to participate in a cafeteria plan that is funded entirely by pre-tax deductions from employer-paid salaries and that constitutes a small or large employer health benefit plan under chapter 1501, may, depending upon the facts, be ineligible to participate in the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool under chapter 1506 of the Insurance Code.
Opinion No. GA-0641
Mr. Robert Scott
Commissioner of Education
Texas Education Agency
1701 North Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701-1494
Re: Proper formula under section 21.402, Education Code, for determining the required contributions by a school district to the Teacher Retirement System for compensation that exceeds the statutory minimum (RQ-0663-GA)
S U M M A R Y
The Seventy-ninth Legislature enacted legislation providing certain education personnel a salary increase. Section 825.405, Government Code, requires a school district to pay to the Teacher Retirement System a contribution for certain employees who receive more than the statutory minimum salary. The formula used to determine the statutory minimum salary includes the "salary provided by Section 21.402" of the Education Code. TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. §825.405(b) (Vernon 2004); TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. §21.402 (Vernon Supp. 2007). The salary provided by section 21.402 does not include the salary increase originally established by section 21.402(c-1) and arguably perpetuated by section 21.402(d).
For further information, please access the website at www.oag.state.tx.us or call the Opinion Committee at (512) 463-2110.
TRD-200803511
Stacey Napier
Deputy Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Filed: July 9, 2008