Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Honorable T. H. !%bb Assistant State Highway Engineer Texas Highway Department Austin, Texas Dear Sirr Xe eoknowledge th our letter or July 18, 1940, in which yo inion of this department as to whether i ation of any of the provisions of the Ne the State Highway Department to reta Robert Greer as a junior reside Grew has been a State Highway 0 , provides as follows: te or any ofiioer y',preclnot, school pal subdivieion or this member,oi any State, , sohool distriot or. or judge of any court, er authority of any general or related within the seaond degree by arfinity or within the third degree by ooneanguinity to the person so appointing or so voting, or to any other member of any suoh board, the Legislature, or court of whloh such person so appointing or . . 7l-I , .. Hon. T. H. Webb, page 2 /! voting may be a member, when the salary, fees, or oompensation of such appointee 1s to be paid ror, direotly or lndireotly, out of or from public rmas or fees 0r office or any kind or character whatsoever.e As stated in a previous opinion, No. O-667, giren by this department, "A oareful reading of said Artiole 432 shows that same relates only to the situation existing at .the time of the appointmentor employment." Obviously, Mr. D. C. Greer was not State Highway Engineer at the time Mr. S. Robert Greer was appointed to his.position, In 1935. Not only is this true, but in your letter of July 30, 1940, in which you set forth additional Information on this oase, you write as follows: "For your information there is attached :L.~..photostatiooopy of Form No. 102 used by the Highway Departmsnt for requesting approval of new employees or Ohang6 Of status 0) present 6mplOyf'6S. This form aotually oov6rs the last ohangelln status of S. Robert Greer. kou will not.0that the form is exeouted by the Assistant Distriot Engineer of Distriat 18 at Dallas and has been approved by Mr. E. J. Am6y for the Per- sonnel Division and by Mr. T. H. 'Vebb,Assistant State Highway Engineer. This form does not go to the Highway Engineer for any purpose. Pay rolls oovering payment 0r salaries 0r all field employees ar6 prepared by the district otfi.06 and forwarded to th6 auditing division or the Highway Department at Austin, where they are oheoked and approv.edby the ohist auditor, from whom they go to the Assistant Highway Engineer for his approval, thenoe to the Highway Con&a- sion where they must be approved and signed by th6 Chairman and on6 other member of the Highway Commission. Pay rolls are not submitted to or approved by the Highway Engineer." Aooording to your letter, then, not only was Mr. Robert S. Greer employed five years ,beforeMr. D. C. Greer was appointed State Highway Engineer, but even now 712 Hon. T. H. Webb, page j in his oapaolty as Stat6 Highway Engineer Mr. D. C. Greer has nothing whatever to dowith appointing or retaining, signing the pay roll, reoommending promotions, or other- wise exeroising any powers whatsoever over the employment of his brother by the State Highway Commission; In view or the raots as set forth in your two letters, and In line with this department's 6onsistent in- terpretation of the Nepotism Law, you are respectfully ad- vised that It la the opinion of this department that Mr... S. Robert Greer may b6 retained in his oapaoity as a junior resident engineer without any violation of any part of tha '\ Nepotism Law. 'Very truly yours APPROVED AdWST 1, 1940 . ATTORNEY . GRRRRAl OF TEXAS sm By walter(flign;~~ ATTORNEY GiNERAL Assistant WFErjm APPROVED OPINICN C(IMMI'lTE BY B. W. B. OHAIRMAN