ATTORNEY GENERAL
Under provisions set out in the Texas Constitution, the Texas Government Code, 
Title 4, sec.402.042 and numerous statutes, the attorney general is authorized 
to write advisory opinions for state and local officials. These advisory 
opinions are requested by agencies or officials when they are confronted with 
unique or unusually difficult legal questions. The attorney general also 
determines, under authority of the Texas Open Records Act, whether information 
requested for release from governmental agencies may be held from public 
disclosure. Requests for opinions, opinions, and open record decisions are 
summarized for publication in the Texas Register. The Attorney General responds 
to many requests for opinions and open records decisions with letter opinions. A 
letter opinion has the same force and effect as a formal Attorney General 
Opinion, and represents the opinion of the Attorney General unless and until it 
is modified or overruled by a subsequent letter opinion, a formal Attorney 
General Opinion, or a decision of a court of record. To request copies of 
opinions, phone (512) 462-0011. To inquire about pending requests for opinions, 
phone (512) 463-2110.

Letter Opinions
LO-96-003 (ID# 33340).
 Request from Honorable John D. Kimbrough, Orange County Attorney, Orange County 
Courthouse, Orange, Texas 77630, concerning whether the Orange County 
Commissioners Court must order payment in accordance with a district court order 
adjusting salaries of court administration personnel within the amount approved 
and budgeted.
Summary of Opinion.
The district judges in Orange County have no statutory authority to change the 
salaries of the court administration personnel set in the budget adopted by the 
Orange County Commissioners Court by transferring funds from one budget item to 
another.
TRD-9603141
LO-96-004 (ID# 314141).
 Honorable J. Collier Adams, Jr., Cochran County Attorney, 109 West Washington, 
Morton, Texas 79346-2537, concerning whether Article XVI, section 40 of the 
Texas Constitution excepts a county commissioner from the common-law doctrine of 
incompatibility (request for reconsideration of Attorney General
Opinion DM-311 (1994)).
Summary of Opinion.
Article XVI, section 40 excepts the offices of justice of the peace, county 
commissioner, notary public, and other specifically named offices from its 
restriction on holding two civil offices of emolument, but it does not except 
those offices from restrictions on dual-office-holding based on the common-law 
doctrine of incompatibility.
TRD-9603142
LO-96-005 (ID# 35318).
 Antonio O. Garza, Jr., Secretary of State, Elections Division, P.O. Box 12060, 
Austin, Texas 78711-2060, Constitutionality, as applied to independent and major 
party candidates, of the provisions of Election Code sec.141.063(2)(B), which 
require that a petition filed in connection with a candidate's application for a 
place on the ballot contain each petition signer's voter registration number.
Summary of Opinion.
Whether the Election Code requirement that petitions of major party candidates' 
and independent candidates' petitions submitted in connection with their 
applications for places on the ballot include petition signers' voter 
registration numbers is unconstitutional involves fact questions which cannot be 
resolved in the opinion process.
TRD-9603143
LO-96-006 (ID# 33955).
 Request from Honorable James L. Anderson, Jr., Aransas County Attorney, 301 
North Live Oak Street, Rockport, Texas 78382, concerning whether, and if so, 
under what procedures, the Aransas County Navigation District Number 1 may be 
dissolved.
Summary of Opinion.
The provisions of subchapter G, Chapter 50, Water Code, for the dissolution of a 
district by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission are the only ones 
under which the Aransas County Navigation District may be dissolved.
TRD-9603144
LO-96-007 (ID# 36648).
 Request from the Honorable Guy James Gray, Criminal District Attorney, Jasper 
County Courthouse, P.O. Box 1329, Jasper, Texas 75951, concerning whether Jasper 
County may provide longevity pay to county employees.
Summary of Opinion.
Local Government Code,  sec.152.011 of the authorizes the Commissioners Court of 
Jasper County to provide longevity pay to county employees. Texas Constitution, 
Article III, sec.53 of the does not prohibit Jasper County from implementing a 
prospective longevity pay policy that bases the amount of longevity pay on the 
employee's total service, including service before the policy was adopted.
TRD-9603145
LO-96-008 (ID# 38134).
 The Honorable Garry Mauro, Commissioner, Texas General Land Office, 1700 North 
Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701-1495, concerning whether the Houston 
Metropolitan Transit Authority may provide buses for use during the 1996 Olympic 
Games in Atlanta.
Summary of Opinion.
The governing board of the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority ("METRO") may, 
without contravening Article III, sec.52, Texas Constitution, furnish buses to 
the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games for use during the 1996 Olympic 
Games, provided the governing board of METRO determines that the transaction 
will serve one or more public purposes of METRO, as articulated by the board, 
and that METRO will receive thereby an adequate quid pro quo. The governing 
board must also make certain that, during the period of the transaction, it 
maintains controls sufficient to ensure that such public purposes will be 
accomplished.
TRD-9603146
LO-96-009 (ID# 36491).
 The Honorable Irma Rangel, Chair, Committee on Higher Education, Texas House of 
Representatives, P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas 78768-2910, concerning whether 
Penal Code section 46.035 prohibits carrying a licensed handgun on the premises 
of a public school or university where a school- or university-sponsored 
sporting or interscholastic event is taking place.
Summary of Opinion.
A person would violate both sec.46.03 and sec.46. 035 of the Penal Code if the 
person carried a licensed concealed handgun on the "premises" (as that word is 
defined in section 46.035) of a school or educational institution where a high 
school or collegiate sporting or interscholastic event was occurring. The word 
premises as used in sec.46.03(a)(1) means those portions of a structure, and of 
the land, including appurtenances, on which the structure is situated, of which 
a school or educational institution has ownership or control.
TRD-9603147
LO-96-010 (ID# 36802).
 Request from the Honorable Kim Brimer, Chair, Committee on Business and 
Industry, Texas House of Representatives, P. O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas 78768, 
concerning whether a city former brother-in-law of one of its members to the 
board of directors of an industrial development corporation established by the 
city.
Summary of Opinion.
Because a member of the board of directors of an industrial development 
corporation, established under the Development Corporation Act of 1979, Texas 
Civil Statutes, Article 5190.6, receives only reimbursement for the member's 
expenses, the member is not "directly or indirectly compensated from public 
funds or fees of office." Thus, Government Code,, sec.573.041 of the which 
generally prohibits nepotistic inapplicable. We find no statute that precludes 
one member of a city council from voting on removal of a member of the board of 
directors of an industrial development corporation, even where the city council 
member and director of the industrial development corporation are related within 
the second degree by affinity.
TRD-9603148
LO-96-011 (ID# 35324).
 Request from the Honorable Kenneth Armbrister, Chair, State Affairs Committee, 
Texas State Senate, P.O. Box 12068, Austin, Texas 78711, concerning whether the 
filing of an application for school board trustee results in an automatic 
resignation from the office of criminal district attorney under Article XVI, 
sec.65 of the Texas Constitution.
Summary of Opinion.
The Jackson County Criminal District Attorney filed a formal application to run 
for trustee of the Edna Independent School District in March 1995, at a time 
when he had more than one year remaining to serve as criminal district attorney. 
His application for the school board position constituted an automatic 
resignation pursuant to Article XVI, sec.65 of the Texas Constitution from the 
Office of Criminal District Attorney. Article XVI, sec.65 provides that the 
vacancy created by the automatic resignation shall be filled in the same way 
that other vacancies in that office are filled.
TRD-9603149

Requests for Opinions
(ID# 36623). Request from Major General Sam C. Turk, Adjutant General, Texas 
Army National Guard, P.O. Box 5218, Austin, Texas 78763-5218, concerning whether 
the adjutant general may contract with the federal government to provide 
environmental testing and monitoring, remediation, and underground storage tank 
removal.
(ID# 37861). Requested from the Honorable Ken Armbrister, Chair, Committee on 
State Affairs, Texas State Senate, P.O. Box 12068, Austin, Texas 78711, 
concerning whether the federal government may convert patented state lands to 
another purpose, and related questions.
(ID# 37938). Request from the Honorable James M. Kuboviak, Brazos County 
Attorney, 300 East 26th Street, Suite 325, Bryan, Texas 77803, concerning 
whether a misdemeanor case assigned for trial to a district court may be filed 
with the county clerk.
(ID# 38005). Request from the Honorable Richard J. Miller, Bell County Attorney, 
P.O. Box 1127, Belton, Texas 76513, concerning whether section 42.06, Penal 
Code, which makes it an offense to place a false alarm, creates a crime of 
"moral turpitude".
(ID# 38145). Request from the Honorable Senfronia Thompson, Chair, Committee on 
Judicial Affairs, Texas House of Representatives, P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas 
78768-2910, concerning whether a member of the board of directors of a municipal 
utility district vacates that position when he ceases being a registered voter 
in and owning property in the district.
(ID# 38147). Request from the Honorable Fred Hill, Chair, Committee on Urban 
Affairs, Texas House of Representatives, P. O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas 78768-
2910, concerning whether a city council member is prohibited from voting on a 
matter concerning a planned development in which he resides.
(ID# 38322). Request from the Honorable Irma Rangel, Chair, Committee on Higher 
Education, Texas House of Representatives, P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas 78768-
2910, concerning whether a junior college or community college district may use 
the procedure established by subchapter C, Chapter 2, title I, Election Code 
when a candidate for its board of trustees is unopposed for election.
(ID# 38543). Request from the Honorable Toby Goodman, Chair, Committee on 
Juvenile Justice and Family Issues, Texas House of Representatives, P.O. Box 
2910, Austin, Texas 78768-2910, status of the mayor and a council member of the 
city of Forth Worth who have resigned to run for another office.
TRD-9603334

(RQ-870). Request from the Honorable Ken Armbrister, Chair, Senate State 
Affairs, Texas State Senate, P.O. Box 12068, Austin, Texas 78711, The Honorable 
Bill Ratliff, Chair, Senate Education Committee, Texas State Senate, P.O. Box 
12068, Austin, Texas 78711, school district purchasing and construction 
contracts in light of recent amendments to the Texas Education Code.
TRD-9603333