EA o=my GENERAL
OIFTEXAS
AWSTIN 11. -l?ExAs
PRICE DANIEL
ATTORNEY GENERAL
December 16, 1946
Hon. C. HI. Cavness Opinion No. V-740.
State Auditor
Austin, Texas Re: The legality of full-
time salaried State
employees also being
Justices of the Peace
or ?veathermenfor the
Federal Government.
Dear Sir:
Your request for an opinion by this office
upon the above subject matter is as follows:
'In our audit of the accounts of one
of our State institutions we have found
that two full-time salaried employees
are holding at the same time other posi-
tions as follows:
1, Justice of the Peace
2, Weatherman for the United States
Government
"We understand that both of these
are only part-time arrangements that do
not interfers with the respective State
Sdtl-time jobs, but we believe we should
ubprr opinion as to whether sithsr or
both of these instances are in conflict
with the provisions of Section 33 of Ar-
ticle 16 of the State's Constitution."
Section 33 of Article XVI of the Constitution
contains the followingt
'The Accounting Officers of this
Stats shall neither draw nor pay a war-
rant upon the Treasury in favor of any
person, for salary or dompensation as
agent, officer or appointee, who holds
at the same time any other office or
Bon. C. He Cavn48s - Page 2 (V-740)
position of honor, tru&t,or profit, qua-
der this St&e or the Unit,eclStates,:ex-
c4pt a4 prescribed in this ConstltutiB
0 0 0
Section 40 of Article XVI rays that*
"No person shall hold or Ursroise, at
the nmue time, n1or4 than one 01~11 offioo
of emolument, except that of Justice of
Paace. o aw
A Justios of Peace is one 6f.those officers
referred to in Section 33 whers it says no persons
shall be paid out of the Trsasury who hold another of-
fice or position,, . D "except a,spresoribed in this
Constitution.w The Justice of Peace, therefore, may
hold both positions under Section 40 and be paid under
Section 33 as a State employee as an express exception.
It is assumed that no question of incompatibility is
involved,
Your letter doas not give the facta as to
the nature of the employment of the U. S. Weatherman.
If he is simply an unpaid observer who holds no posi-
tion of honor or trust, he is entitled to his stat4
pay under Section 33, On the other hand, if he holda
3 federal appointment which is one of honor or trust,
or.one which carries remuneration, ho nay not be paid
from the Treasury for his state job, Section 33 says
plainly that a state employee may not be paid from the
Treasury "yho holds at the 'same time any other office
or position of honor, trust or profit under this stats
or the United States," Similar rulings have been re-
quired by Section 3?iwith regard to other state employ-
eea who simultanaously hold federal jobs: Agent of
C,ensusBureau (O-58); U4puty U. S. Game Warden (O-1421);
U..5, Government printer (O-3542); Viar'LaborBoard (O-
5232); civil 44rvio4 job (O-5317 and O-7813), Enclos-
ed is a copy of Opinion q-6232 which oitos mm-q of these
opiniona.
The office of Justice of Peak4 is ex-
pressly exempt in 84ction 40 of Article XVI,
,Texas Constitution, which prohibits the
holding of more'than one offloo; A Justice
Hon. C. B. C*Gesr - Page 3 (V-740)
of Pease may hold another civil offioe WI-
der Section 40 and be paid under Section
33 of Artiole XVI for his servicer a8 a
8tate officer or empl.ogse. Section 3'3 ex-
empt8 from its application those office8
also exempt elsewhere in the Constitution,
including Section 40. (No question of in-
compatibility involved,)
The accounting officers of this State
may not pay a state employee from the
Treasury who holds at the same time a posi-
tion of honor, trust, or profit with the
u. 9. Government. If the U, 9, Weatherman
in quertion holds such a position he should
not be paid for his state employment. If
he is rimply an unpaid observer, who holda
no appointment, Section 3.3has no applica-
tion, and he may be paid for his state em-
ployment. Art. XVI, Sec. 33,
Yours very tNlg,
ATTOFNEX Gl37ElW QF TEXti
08;era:wb
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Combined Opinion