OFFICE OF THE A7TORNEY GENERAL OF ‘IX%=
AUSTIN
Honorable C. J. Wilde
c0wp iuait OT
Nuecee county
Corpus Christl, Texas
Dear Sir: Oplnion~No. O-3956
Re: Commissioners'Court may
hire a librarian for a county
law library.
Your request ror the opinion of this departmentas
to whr?theror not the Commissioners'Court has the authority
to hire a librarian to take charge of a oounty law library
to be establishedunder the terms and provisions of Rouse
Bill 1080, Acts of the 47th Legislature,is acknowledged.
House Bill 108C, supra, provides in part:
"seatlon 1. The CommissionersCourts of
all counties within this State, having a popu-
lation of not lees than eighty thousand (80,000)
inhabitantsnor more than two hundred and twenty-
five thousand (225 000)~inhabitants,according
to the last preOed&g Federal Census, ana in
which there is located no Court of Civil Appeals,
shall have the power ana authority, by first
entering an order for that purpose, to provide
for, maintain and establish a aounty law-library.
"sec. 2. For the Durpose of es,tablishing
'CountyLaw Libraries'after the Bntpy of such
order, there shall be taxed, 00ueOt9a ana paid
as other oosts the sum of One Dollar ($1) in
each oase, civil or criminal, exoept suits for
delinquent taxes, hereafter filed in every County
or district Court; provided however, that in
,noevent shall the county be liable for aafd
costs in any case. such coats &al& be col-
leated by'the Clerks bP the SLespWtlve Courta?
Honorable C. J. Wilde, Page 2
in said counties and gala by said Clerk to
the County Treasurer to be kept by said
'Treasurer in a separate fund to be known asp
the *CountyLaw Library Fund*. Such fund
shsll be administeredby said Courts for
the purchase and ma5nteuanceof a law library
in a oonvenientand accessible place, ana
said runa shall not be usea for any other
pumose.
'Sea. 3. &ii& COUrteiar0 6rMted all
necessarypower and authority to maka this
Aot effective to make reasonablerules in
regwa to said library and the use of the
books thereof, and to oarry out the terms and
provisione of thie Aot.
“. . .n
It clearly appears from Section 3 of the Aot, takea
in conjunotionwith the last aentenoe appearing in Seotion l?
thereof, that the Commissioners1 Court 5s given broad power
to establishand.maintainsuoh librar&i~sU the Comm5ee50nerst
Court, therefore, deteneinesthat a laxlibrary eahnot be
suoceeefully maintainsd w5thout hfring a~librariancharged
w5th the responeibil5tyof kosping and ptioteoting the books,
we think it alearly w5tM.n its power to hire a,llbrarianand
to provide ror h5a oompemation to be paid out of the Wounty
I,RWLibrary Fund* created by Section S of the above Aot.
Yours very tNly
Lloyd Amstrong
Assistant