Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

THEATTORNEYGENE- OF 7JYExAs AUSTIN~~.~XAS W’ILL WILSON A1TORNEY GENERAL July 20, 1961 Honorable J. M. Falkner Opinion No. WW-1095 Commissioner Department of Banking Ra: Whether the Position Classifica- Austin, Texas tion Act of 1961 is applicable to the Finance Commission, the BankingsDepartment, or the Sav- Dear Mr. Falkner: ings and Loan Department. In your letter of June 1, 1961, you request the opinion of this office as to whether the Finance Commission and the Banking and Sav- ings and Loan’Departments are to be governed by the Position Classi- fication Act of 1961 ,(Acts 1961, 57th Leg. I p* 238, ch. 123), adopted April 26, 1961, to become effective September 1, 1961. Section 2 of said Act reads in part as follows: “Sec. 2, All regular, full-time salaried employ- ments within the departments and agencies of the State specified in Article III, . . . of the bianniel Appropiia- tions Act, shall conform with the Position Classification ~Plan hereinafter described and with the salary rates and provisions of the applicable Appropriations Act commen- cing with the effective date of this Act, with the exceptions and deferments hereafter provided in this Section. “Effective January 1, 1962, all regular, fullutime salaried employments in executive or administrative agen- cies of the State, regardless of whether their funds are kept inside or outside the State Treasury, shall also con- form with the Position Classification Plan hereinafter described and with the salary rates and provisions of the General Appropriations Act with the axcsptiona hereinafter provided in this Section. YSpecifically excepted from the Position Clarsifica- tion Plan hereinafter described are . . , such other positions Hon. J. M. Falkner, page 2 (WW-1095) in the State Government as have heretofore been or as may hereafter be excluded from such Position Classification Plan . . . by direction of the Legislature. “‘(Emphasis sup- plied) The question to be resolved is whether these Departments have been excluded from the Position Classification Plan by direction of the Legislature. Article 342-112, V.C.S., (T exas Banking Code of 1943), has, since 1951, read in part as follows: II. . . Fees, penalties and revenues collected by the Banking Department from every source whatsoever shall be retained and, held by said Department, and no part of such fees, penalties and revenues shall ever be paid into the General Revenue Fund of this State. All expenses incurred by the Banking Department shall be paid only from such fees, penalties and revenues, and no such expense shall ever be a charge against the funds of this State. The Finance Commis- sion shall adopt, and from time to time amend, budgets which shall direct the purposes, and prescribe the amounts, for which the fees, pskna]Ltiesand revenues of the Banking Department shall be expended; . . *‘I Article 342-205, V. C. S. ) relating to the savings and loan func- tions of the Finance Commission, was amended during the 57th Legisla- ture by H. B. 91 (Acts 1961, p. 393, ch. 198), which creates a Savings and Loan Department operating in essentially the same manner as the Banking Department. This amendment was passed May 11, 1961, to become effective September 1, 1961. Subsections (b) and (b) of Section 2 of the amendmg act read in part as follows: “(bj . . . The Deputy Savings and Loan Commissioner, the Savings and Loan Examiners and all other officers and employees of the Savings and Loan Department shall receive such comgensa~tion as is fixed by the Finance Commission which shall be paid from funds of the Savings and Loan De- partment. ” “(h) . . *All expenses incurred by the Savings and Loan’DepartmenU sbaSPbe paid only from such fees, penalties, charges and revenues, and no such expense shall ever be a Horn J. I& Falkner, page 3 (WW-1095) charge against the funds of this State or the funds of the Banking Department. The Finance Commission shall adopt, and from time to time amend, budgets which shall direct the purposes, and prescribe the amounts, for which the fees, penalties, charges and revenues of the Savings and Loan Department shall be expended: . . . It The primary obje&ive sought in.construing an act to determine its proper meaning is the ascertainment of the legislative intent; and, as stated in 39 Texas Jurisprudence, at page 172: “An important rule to be observed in statutory inter- pretation is that an act should be given a fair, ratio-l, reasonable and sensible construction, considering its lan- guage and subject matter, and with a view to accomplishing the legislative intent and purpose. In other words, construc- tion should comport with common sense and justice, and irrational conclusions or deductions should be avoided. ” We are of the opinion that the Legislature considered that tlae Finance Commiss,ion and the Banking Department had been previously excluded from the Position Classification Plan under the language of Ar~ticle 342-112, quoted above, and that the enactment of H. B. 91, containing specific lan- guage directing that all personnel affiliated with the new Savings and Loan Department are to be compensated~from funds of the Saving8 and LoasiDe- partment in amounts fixed by the Finance Commission, is further evidence of the legislative intention to exempt these Departments from the Position Classification Plan. To decide otherwise would be to say that the Legisla- ture approved the Position Classification Plan on April 26, 1961, and two weeks later approved and included meaningless provisions relating to salary disbursements in the amendment to tbn Banking Code. “The rule that statutes in parimateria will be con- stnued together applies with peculiar force to acts passed at the same session of the Legislature, and with even greater force to acts passed at the same time. It is presumed that contemporaneous statutes are actuated by the same policy and imbued by the same spirit. Accordingly they will be read together, each in the light of the other, as though they were embraced in one act or were supplementary to each other. “The several acts will be harmonized and each will Hon. J. h& Fallmer, page 4 (WW-1095) be upheld and given effect unless their provisions are absolutely repugnant. ” 39 Tex. Jur. 258, Statutes, § 137. SUMMARY The Position Classification Plan, established by the Position Classification Act of 1961, does not apply to the Finance Commission and the Banking and Savings and Loan Departments. Yours very truly, WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas BY Dudley D. @Calla DDM/pe Assistant Atiorney General APPROVED: OPINION, COMMITTEE: Morgan Nesbitt, Chairman Elmer McVey John Reeves Milton Richardson REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: Houghton Brownlee