ATTORNEY GENERAL
Under provisions set out in the Texas Constitution, the Texas Government Code, 
Title 4,  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

LO97-064 (ID# 39418). Request from the Honorable
 Jose R. Rodriguez, El Paso County, Attorney County Courthouse, 500
 East San Antonio, Room 203, El Paso, Texas 79901, regarding removal of persons
 appointed to county purchasing board and related questions.


Summary. There is no term of office for the
 positions on the county purchasing board, which can create and fill the 
position
 of county purchasing agent. Individuals sitting on that board may be removed
 by the powers that appointed them. The position of county purchasing agent
 may be abolished by simple majority vote of members sitting on the board.

LO97-068 (ID# 39523). Request from the Honorable
 Thomas F. Lee, District Attorney, 63d Judicial District, P.O. Box 1405, Del
 Rio, Texas 78841, regarding whether the Val Verde County Hospital District
 is authorized to construct a building to lease to private physicians, and
 related questions.


Summary. The Val Verde Hospital District
 has express statutory authority to construct buildings and to lease all or
 part of its buildings. A hospital district lease of a building to private
 physicians to attract and retain physicians to practice at a hospital in
 a rural, underserved area of the state, where no alternative, private sites
 are available near the hospital, would serve a "hospital purpose" within
 the meaning of article IX, section 9 of the Texas Constitution, provided
 that the lease will procure for the district necessary services, including
 services for needy patients, that would not otherwise be available. In 
addition,
 in order to comport with constitutional limitations on the use of public
 funds, a hospital district lease must serve a public purpose and the hospital
 district must receive adequate quid pro quo. Any lease must include sufficient
 controls to ensure that the public purpose is accomplished. The hospital
 district is not authorized under its enabling statute to lease undeveloped
 real property.


LO97-069 (ID# 39175). Request from the Honorable
 Steven C. Hilbig, Bexar County, Criminal District Attorney, Bexar County
 Justice Center, 300 Dolorosa, Suite 5072, San Antonio, Texas 78205-3030,
 regarding whether a constable may call regular and reserve deputy constables
 into service to provide security at events sponsored by separate governmental
 or private entities and collect payment therefor.


Summary. A regular or reserve deputy constable
 may not perform official duties in exchange for any type of additional 
consideration
 from another governmental or private entity, including a contribution to
 a deputy constables' association, nor may a constable deploy regular or reserve
 deputy constables to perform official duties in exchange for any type of
 additional consideration. A constable may merely inform regular, full-time
 deputy constables of opportunities for off-duty security employment, but
 both the constable and the deputy constables will be subject to the Texas
 Board of Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act, V.T.C.S.
 Article 4413(29bb), if the constable does so pursuant to a contractual 
agreement
 or does so for any type of consideration. A constable is not authorized to
 call a reserve deputy constable into service for the purpose of providing
 security for a separate governmental or private entity unless the deputy
 constable does so to preserve the peace and enforce the law within the scope
 of his or her official duties.


LO97-070 (ID# 39519). Request from the Honorable
 Fred Hill Chair, Committee on Urban Affairs, Texas House of Representatives,
 P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas 78768-2910, regarding whether under Local 
Government
 Code, sec.143.006(c)(5) members of a certain municipality's fire fighters'
 and police officers' civil-service commission were eligible for appointment
 to the commission, and related questions.


Summary. The postmaster of a local post office
 does not exercise sovereign functions independently of others' control and
 therefore does not hold a public office. An interim position, such as interim
 city attorney or interim municipal judge also is not a public office. 
Consequently,
 a court probably would find that a postmaster or an individual who has served
 as interim city attorney or interim municipal judge is eligible for appointment
 to a municipal fire fighters' and police officers' civil-service commission
 under Local Government Code, sec.143.006(c)(5). On the other hand, members
 of a tax-appraisal-review board collectively exercise sovereign functions
 independently of others' control and thus hold public offices. Accordingly,
 a court probably would find that a member of a tax-appraisal-review board
 is ineligible for appointment to a municipal civil-service commission under
 Local Government Code, sec.143.006(c)(5). Assuming that a member of a municipal
 civil-service commission holds a public office, the commission's actions
 are valid until and unless a court determines in a quo warranto proceeding
 that one of the commissioners was ineligible for appointment to the commission.
 Where the starting and ending years of the term of office of each of the
 three civil-service commissioners overlap, so that one commissioner's term
 expires every year, the commissioners' terms are properly staggered as Local
 Government Code, sec.143.006(c) requires. Additionally, a term of office
 runs with the office, not with an appointee. Thus, an individual who is 
appointed
 to complete a vacant, unexpired term completes the existing three-year term;
 the appointee does not begin a new three-year term.


LO97-071 (ID# 39502). Request from the Honorable
 David Hammit, Madison County Attorney, 101 West Main, Suite 121 Madisonville,
 Texas 77864-1990 regarding if persons other than inmates may purchase items
 from a county jail commissary.


Summary. Persons other than inmates may not
 purchase items from a county jail commissary when the purchases are not for
 use of the inmates.


TRD-9710996


Opinion

DM-448 (RQ-911). Request from the Honorable
 Garry Mauro, Commissioner, Texas General Land Office, 1700 North Congress
 Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701-1495, regarding whether land designated for
 "agricultural use" is subject to the five-year rollback provisions when the
 property is acquired by the state and related questions.


Summary. State-owned land used for public
 purposes is not subject to the rollback tax under sec.23.55 of the Tax
 Code.


TRD-9710997