Honorable Robert S. Calvert
Comptroller of Public Accounts
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas
Opinion NO. w-679
Re: Questions relating to
amounts due retired
Texas Ran ers under
Section 68 Article XVI,
Texas Consiitution, and
Senate Bill 53, Acts
56th Legislature, Regular
Dear Mr. Calvert: Session, 1959.
We have received your request dated July 7, 1959,
in which you present the following questlons:
"(1). Please advise the amount of
money which should be paid to persons
eligible under the Senate Bill 53, for
the month of August?
Y(2). Please advise the amount of
money to be paid to a person for the month
of September, who became eligible for Ranger
benefits on the 15th day of September."
Section 66 of Article XVI of the Constitution of
Texas reads as follows:
"The Legislature shall have authority
to provide for a system of retirement and
disability pensions for retiring Texas
Rangers who have not been eligible at any
time formembership In the Employees Retire-
ment System of Texas as that retirement
system was established by Chapter 352, Acts
of the Fiftieth Legislature, Regular Session,
1947, and who have had as much as two (2)
years service as a Texas Ranger, and to their
widows; providing that no pension shall exceed
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 2 (w-679 1
Eighty Dollars ($80) per month to any
such
. Texas
. Ranger
._ or his __
widow provided
._ .
that sucn widow was legally marrlea prior
to January 1, 1957, to a Texas Ranger
qualifying for such pension."
Section 2 of Senate Bill 53, Acts 56th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1959, Chapter 283, Page 629, reads in part
as follows:
II. . . Full monthly payment shall be
made for each month commencing with the month
in which the completed application Is filed
and ending with the month In which the recipl-
ent dies." (Emphasis added).
Senate Bill 53 will become effective August 11,
1959, and will authorize a pension payment to be made for
August, 1959.
If the abdve quoted provisions of Senate Bill 53
were interpreted to require payment for the full amount of
the pension for August when the legislatlve authorization
did not become effective until August 11, such would contra-
vene Section 16 of Article I of the Constitution of Texas,
which prohibits such a retroactive effect. It Is well
established that a statute should be construed so as to
effectuate its purpose and in a manner to support its pre-
sumed constitutionality.
Therefore, in our opinion , eligible pensioners may
receive only that proportionate part of the August payment
represented by the period in August subsequent to the effect-
ive date of the Bill.
Your second question, In our opinion, is controlled
by when the properly completed application is filed. We shall
assume the person “who became eligible” for the benefits on
the 15th day of September also filed a completed application
before the end of the month.
It is olear that the Legislature intended the
recipient to receive the full amount of the monthly benefits
starting with the month In which the properly completed ap-
plloatlon is filed. The Courts give liberal construction to
such provisions in order to effectuate the purpose Intended
in statutes euch as this. See Teacher Retirement System v.
Duokworth, 260 S.W. 2d 632 t Clv.App. ,, a rmed an
/ -
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, Page 3 (w-679)
o inions adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas, 264 S.W. 2d
'$). Furthermore, we believe that If the complete application
is filed during the month of September, the recipient is to
receive full payment for the calendar month beginning September
1 and ending September 30. Such seems to be the construction
intended by the terms of the statute. (See Long v. City of
Wichita Falls, 142 Tex. 202, 176 S.W. 2d 936‘).
SUMMARY
Under Section 66, Article XVI of the
Constitution and Senate Bill 53, Acts
56th Legislature, Regular Session,
1959, recipients are to receive only
that portion of the August, 1959, pay-
ment represented by the period of
August subsequent to the effective date
of the Bill; subsequent monthly pay-
ments are to be made on the basis of a
full monthly payment for the calendar
month in which the completed application
is filed.
Yours very truly,
WILL WILSON
Attorney General of Texas
Tom I. McFarllng
Assistant
TIM:mfh:mg
APPROVED:
OPINIONCOMMITTED
Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman
Robert T. Lewis
C. K. Richards
J. Milton Richardson
Zellner J. Turlington
REVIEWEDFOR THE ATTORNEY
GENERAL
By: Leonard Passmore