OFFICE OFTHEATTORNEY GENERALOFTEXAS
AUSTIN
OROVERSELIER8
*l-rom4Ev
OmJERAL
Honorable John Ii.Winters
Executive Director
State Department of Pub1ic Welfare
Austin 3, Texas
bear Mr. Winters: Opinion X0. O-7543 y
Rer Whether the~Texae,Denartment
of Public Pleliare aan’-aontitnne to
pay the salary of~dn.~emploZee rho
will be aevetinx her time to Child
Welfare aerviaesin the State of
! Texas, but.~whoseoffice would,be
/ la Arkansaer ~.~
Your request Poran opinion upen the above entitled
subject matter is aa,helloWa:
,
,,‘~
;’ ,’
:
[ 'We woa1.dl'iketo sabimit for,~v&r consldera-
tlon and opinion ‘the followfng facts.
I / ,,
i
~*~"These Is situated In B&e County in Tex-
! p&ma ,a .ChlldWelfare Worker who is an employee
( of’/the State.Department of'Public Welfare. The
! ~,Stateof Arkansas alao~haa a Child Welfare Worker
ID *exarkana who Is a resident of Arkansas. As
j81uknow, the state line divides the city of
I Toharkanajtfidone side of the main street In Tex-
ark-a fsin.Arkansas and the other is in Texas-
Underthe present plan, children who are residents
of Arkansas and who are apprehended on the Texas
side of the city are referred to the Arkansas
Child Welfare Worker and oioe versa. There are
two offices, one maintained in the State of Arkan-
saw and one maintained in the State of Texas.
'shoe these two employees work so aloselv to-
rether and the citizewy and public official s Peel
that the work could he nerformed more effioiently
Honorable John H. Wlntere - page 2
if better offlOe faoilltles were made avel\abYot
plana are ??einR: Considered whereby cne offioe
will be nrevided for the two employees.
*In the event that the offiae space Is Dro-
rided hy the local citizenry on the Arkansas
&do of the eltv of Texarkana, will It be nosnl-
ble for the Texas Department of Public Welfare
to continue paying the salary of the employee
who will be d6votlnR her time to Child Welfrre
servioen In t.he State of Texas but whose offfee
uould be in Arkanae?'
It Is elementary that the jurfsdiotlon of a state
Worernment 1s limited to the territory within itn boundaries.
A Oorellary to this, equally fundamental in the eOOnOQt~ of
our Government, im that the powers of State offiaern are
limited to the same territorv. The same prlnoiple abplies
to mlaipal offloers. In the exeroise of their powern thev
are timlted to the territory within the munlolpaI boundaries.
i)fcourse, there are certain exooptlons, notably the members
of t.heCanprom, but these are exceptions under eonstltutica-
al authority. All of the State's offlcer~ and employeee
possess onlv the powern oonferred upon them bv low, Andythere
is no lnw suthorl;sln~,either expressly or by impticahicn~
the ntatSoninc of one of our child welfare workers beyond the
state horders, worthy and even oommendable aa the mOtlVe kay
he. X?XW the Cavernor of the state arosses the state 'linethe
hi& yowortvof the Chief JZxeoutlvecease, and he wires the
I.lout?nantOovmnor, in order that government may go on as
unwll . Evep when a loos1 neaoo offioor crosnos the stat.0
line he lays aside his gun.
There are faotual situations rhere ronpeat for mathe-
matiaal state lines has llttlo to oommend it, and your situa-
tion is one of them. Nevertheless, Stato lines ore yat real in
government,,and the limitations upon the powers of ,gOVemm%TIt
and governmental offYaia1~ from the lowest to the hlgheat 3luRt
be respected.
If one of our child welfare workers opens an offlob
across our horders, she is out of bounds, whether it be at
Texarkana or El Paso, and 7lkewise Off the pay roll. Of course,
we are not t,aI*rinx
about thoee out-of-state trips on state busi-
neea authorized hv law.
Honorable John If.Wnters - ?iWe 3
We trust that ifhatwe have said sui!fiOientlg ans*ers
your InquirY.