Texas Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Texas, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can one person serve on the boards of two overlapping local government entities, like a county hospital district and a regional transit authority, at the same time?
Probably not, when the two entities overlap geographically and their powers collide. The AG concluded that a court would likely find the common-law 'conflicting-loyalties' doctrine bars one person fro…
Can a Texas constable also serve as a municipal court judge in the same county at the same time?
No, the AG concluded the two cannot be held at once. Texas Constitution article XVI, section 40 bars holding more than one civil office of emolument, and both a compensated municipal judge and a const…
Can a Texas city council member also serve as a volunteer reserve police officer for the same city?
No, at least in Freeport. A man who was serving on the City of Freeport's police reserve force was then elected to the city council, and the Brazoria County Criminal District Attorney asked whether he…
Can a Texas county sheriff also serve as a city fire marshal at the same time?
Likely yes, the AG concluded. The Burleson County Attorney, on behalf of the county sheriff, asked whether the sheriff could also hold the job of fire marshal for the City of Caldwell without running …
Can a Texas appraisal district employee also serve on the school board of a district that participates in the appraisal district?
No, the AG concluded. Tax Code section 6.054 says an appraisal district may not employ a person who is an officer or an employee of a taxing unit that participates in the appraisal district. The quest…
Can one person serve as both city manager and police chief in a Texas home-rule city?
It depends on how the city sets it up, the AG advised. A district attorney asked, for the City of Ranger, whether one person could hold both the city manager job and the police chief job in a home-rul…
Can the same person be a Texas county judge and a school board trustee at the same time?
No, the AG concluded, at least where the county and the school district cover the same ground. The Webb County Attorney asked about a person who, while serving as a Jim Hogg County Independent School …
Can a Texas state legislator also work as the paid president of a municipal management district?
It depends on whether the legislator is an employee or an independent contractor, the AG advised, confirming an earlier opinion (GA-0386). Article XVI, section 40(d) of the Texas Constitution says no …
Can a Texas legislator be paid by a city or county to represent it before a state agency?
Generally yes as a contractor, but not as the local government's employee, the AG advised. No statute specifically stops a legislator from accepting compensation to represent a unit of local governmen…
Can a Texas school employee who serves on the city council be paid for council service?
Only if the employee is a schoolteacher, the AG concluded. A district attorney asked whether three Eagle Pass school district employees who serve on the city council, a counselor, an assistant princip…
Can the same person serve on a Texas city council and on the board of an overlapping library district at the same time?
A Tarrant County prosecutor asked whether one person could serve at the same time on the Forest Hill city council and on the board of the Forest Hill public library district, where the district sits i…
Can a Texas city police chief also hold the elected office of constable at the same time?
Hardin County Attorney Rebecca Walton asked the AG whether the City of Lumberton police chief, who had just won election as constable of the precinct where the city sits, could hold both positions at …
Can the same person serve as both a community college trustee and a county commissioner in Texas?
Brazos County Attorney Rodney Anderson asked the AG whether one person could serve at the same time as a Blinn College board trustee and a Brazos County commissioner, given a 2015 law that let the com…
Can a school board trustee also serve on a city planning and zoning commission in Texas?
Webb County Attorney Marco Montemayor asked the AG whether one person could serve at the same time as a trustee of an independent school district and as a member of a city planning and zoning commissi…
Can the same person serve as a Texas county sheriff and a school board trustee at the same time?
The AG concluded that, on the facts presented, a court would likely find the common-law incompatibility doctrine does not bar one person from serving at the same time as the Red River County Sheriff a…
Can a Texas school district police chief also serve as a county constable?
The AG concluded that yes, an independent school district's chief of police may hold the office of constable at the same time. Neither the Texas Constitution's ban on holding two civil offices of emol…
Can the same person serve on a Texas school board and a hospital district board at the same time?
The AG concluded no, at least where the two districts overlap and both can tax. Because the La Vernia Independent School District and the Wilson County Memorial Hospital District cover overlapping ter…
Can a suspended school board trustee run for and serve on a city council in the same district?
The AG concluded yes. After the Texas Education Commissioner installed a board of managers over the Beaumont Independent School District in 2014, the elected trustees' powers were suspended. The suspe…
Can a juvenile probation officer also serve on or chair the school board that helps fund their department in Texas?
The AG concluded that one person could both work as a juvenile probation officer for the Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan Counties Juvenile Department and serve as the presiding trustee of the Sweetwater I…
Can a Texas hospital district board member also hold another county office?
The AG concluded that because a Maverick County Hospital District board seat is unpaid, it is not an 'office of emolument,' so the Texas Constitution's ban on holding two paid civil offices did not st…
Can a Texas constable also serve as a commissioner of an emergency services district?
No. The AG concluded that Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution, which forbids holding more than one 'civil office of emolument' at the same time, stops a person from serving as both a con…
Can a Texas justice of the peace also work as a court-appointed investigator in felony cases?
No single law flatly forbids it, but the ethics question is for the judicial-conduct commission. District Attorney Micheal Murray asked the Attorney General whether a sitting justice of the peace coul…
How does Texas appoint and pay a temporary justice of the peace?
A county auditor asked five questions about temporary justices of the peace appointed under Government Code section 27.055. The AG concluded that a county judge may appoint only one qualified person a…
Can one person be both a water district's general manager and a city's city manager in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that the common-law doctrine of incompatibility does not prevent the general manager of a water district from also serving as the city manager of a home-rule city. The d…
Can a part-time municipal judge in Texas also serve on a drainage district board?
The Attorney General concluded that article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution, which forbids holding more than one civil office of emolument at the same time, bars a compensated part-time muni…
Can someone be a visiting county court judge and a county department director at the same time in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a person may serve at the same time as a visiting statutory county court judge in Bexar County and as the county's Director of Judicial Support Services. Article XV…
Can a Texarkana, Texas council member also be a paid firefighter across the line in Arkansas?
The Attorney General concluded that nothing in the two doctrines raised would generally bar a Texarkana, Texas city council member from also working as a paid firefighter for Texarkana, Arkansas. A ci…
Can a Texas general-law city manager also serve on the local school district's board of trustees?
Yes, at least under the conflicting-loyalties rule the question asked about. The common-law doctrine of incompatibility blocks one person from holding two positions only when both are public 'offices.…
Can a school principal also serve on the board of trustees of another school district in Texas?
Yes, on the facts presented. The Attorney General concluded that neither article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution nor the common-law doctrine of incompatibility bars one person from serving a…
Can a school district police chief also serve on a city council in the same area?
Yes, the Attorney General concluded. The common-law incompatibility doctrine bars one person from holding two public offices with conflicting duties, but it applies only when both positions are 'offic…
Can a Texas county commissioner also be paid as an employee of the county sheriff's department?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Local Government Code section 81.002(a), which requires a county commissioner to swear not to be interested, directly or indirectly, in a contract with or claim…
Can a Texas city council member also serve on a local water supply corporation's board?
Senator Jeff Wentworth asked whether a member of the Village of Wimberley City Council, and the mayor, could serve at the same time on the board of directors of the Wimberley Water Supply Corporation.…
Can a Texas justice of the peace also hold a county EMS or other county job at the same time?
Terrell County Attorney Marsha Monroe asked three questions about county officers holding more than one county position. First, the Attorney General concluded that a justice of the peace may also serv…
Can a former Texas judge become a prosecutor in the same county where she was a judge?
The Dallas County District Attorney asked about a former district judge, now an assistant district attorney in his office, who is prosecuting and supervising Child Protective Services cases in the sam…
If a Texas constable resigns by running for another office, what happens when his precinct is abolished?
The Attorney General concluded that a constable who automatically resigns by declaring candidacy for another office of profit or trust still must hold over in the constable's office until a successor …
Can the same person be a Texas county constable and a groundwater district board member?
No. The Attorney General concluded that article XVI, section 40(a) of the Texas Constitution, which bars anyone from holding more than one civil office of emolument at the same time, prevents one pers…
Can an acting city manager also serve on a metropolitan transit authority board in Texas?
Yes, in the situation presented. The Attorney General concluded that the common-law doctrine of incompatibility does not bar an acting city manager who serves under an employment agreement, at the ple…
Can a Texas assistant police chief also serve as the city administrator?
Not at the same time. The Attorney General concluded that League City's Assistant Chief of Police, who took a paid leave of absence to act as interim City Administrator, was not in a civil service pos…
Can a Texas teacher or school employee be paid to serve on a city council?
Generally not as a salary. Under article XVI, section 40(b) of the Texas Constitution, a person paid by the state can serve on a local governing body but cannot receive a salary for that service, with…
Can a Texas deputy district clerk also work part-time for a private law firm?
The Attorney General concluded that neither article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution (which bars holding more than one civil office of emolument) nor the common-law incompatibility doctrine p…
Can a part-time college instructor get paid to serve on a water district board?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution generally bars a state employee from drawing a salary for serving on a local governing body, but it makes an excep…
Can a Texas elected constable also work full-time as a deputy sheriff at the same time?
Fannin County's attorney asked whether an elected constable is barred from also serving as a full-time deputy sheriff. The Attorney General concluded there is no such bar. Article XVI, section 40 of t…
Can a Texas legislator also be paid as president of a municipal management district?
The House Civil Practices Committee chair asked whether the paid president of a municipal management district (created under Local Government Code chapter 375) could also sit in the Texas Legislature.…
Can a Texas home-rule city bar its municipal judge from also serving as a justice of the peace?
A state representative asked, on behalf of the City of Pleasanton, whether a home-rule city's charter rule against dual office holding could stop a municipal judge from also serving as a county justic…
Can a Texas county auditor also work as the accountant for a county emergency services district?
The San Jacinto County criminal district attorney asked whether the county auditor could also be hired as the accountant for the county's emergency services district (ESD), given the auditor's oversig…
Can two neighboring county attorneys appoint each other as assistant county attorneys?
The county attorneys of Jeff Davis and Presidio counties, each a one-lawyer office, asked whether they could appoint each other as unpaid assistant county attorneys so a neighbor could cover criminal …
Can a county commissioner also serve as a paid municipal judge in a city in the same county?
The Bell County Attorney asked whether a county commissioner could be appointed, for pay, as the municipal judge of a city in the same county and hold both jobs at once. The Attorney General concluded…
Can a Texas county sheriff also serve on the school board of a district in the same county?
State Representative Dennis Bonnen asked whether the Sheriff of Chambers County could also serve as a trustee of the East Chambers Independent School District, which sits in the same county. The Attor…
Can someone serve as both a Texas school district trustee and a director of an improvement district that covers the same area?
No. The opinion concluded that, because the East Montgomery County Improvement District's boundaries match the New Caney Independent School District's, and both bodies retain meaningful authority to t…
Can a Texas district attorney also work as a paid part-time teacher at a community college?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. Because a community college instructor does not hold a constitutional civil office of emolument, teaching is not the practice of law, and neither the appointment, …
Can a Texas county clerk also serve as a director of a river authority at the same time?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. Both jobs would normally count as a paid 'civil office of emolument,' which the Texas Constitution bars one person from holding two of at once, but Government Code…
Can a state university professor be paid for serving on a school board, city council, or water district board in Texas?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a professor or instructor at a state university is not a 'schoolteacher' under the 2001 amendment to article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution. That ame…
Can a Texas city council ban its own members from serving on the volunteer fire department?
The Attorney General concluded that a type A general-law city (Cockrell Hill) had no authority to adopt a resolution barring its mayor or council members from also serving in the city's volunteer fire…
Does a Texas city official have to resign to run for a political party precinct chair?
The Attorney General concluded no. The 'resign-to-run' rule in article XI, section 11 (and article XVI, section 65) of the Texas Constitution applies only when an officer becomes a candidate for anoth…
Can a Texas school board trustee also serve on the board of a small groundwater conservation district?
The Attorney General concluded the trustee could not, on the facts described. The Water Code rule that disqualifies a member of one political subdivision's governing body from serving as a groundwater…
Can the same person be a county treasurer and a school board trustee in Texas at the same time?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that one person could hold both offices at once. Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution bars holding two civil 'offices of emolument' (paid offices) at t…
Does a Texas state agency board member have to resign to run for the Legislature?
Not necessarily. The Attorney General concluded that a member of the Texas Department of Economic Development governing board did not hold a 'lucrative office,' because the member received only expens…
Can a city council member or county commissioner also serve on a Texas groundwater conservation district board?
The Attorney General concluded that no, in most cases. A person who already holds a compensated seat on the governing body of another local political subdivision (other than a county) could not also s…
Can a Texas state representative also work as an assistant county attorney?
The Attorney General concluded no. Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution bars a member of the Legislature from holding any other office or position of profit under the state. An assistant …
Can a Texas hospital district appoint its own board members to the board of an HMO it created?
The Attorney General concluded that a hospital district's board of managers could appoint its own members to the board of a health maintenance organization the district had created. The dual-office ba…
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Attorney general opinions in Texas are written by the Texas Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.