Can a Texas county make the district clerk hand out juror checks instead of the treasurer?

Plain-English summary

State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr., asked on behalf of the Cameron County Treasurer whether a district clerk could be put in charge of delivering juror checks. The Cameron County Commissioners Court had voted to have the district clerk deliver all juror checks: under the plan, the treasurer would still write and sign each check, but the district clerk would mail it to the juror. Until then the treasurer had been the one mailing completed checks.

The Attorney General concluded that a district clerk may not deliver juror checks and that the county treasurer must. The reasoning rested on the idea of a "core" function. Under Commissioners Court of Titus County v. Agan, a duty the Legislature specifically assigns to the treasurer is a core function, and a commissioners court cannot reassign a treasurer's core functions to another county officer. Section 113.042(b) of the Local Government Code says the county treasurer "shall, on the presentation of [a] warrant, endorse the warrant and deliver it to the payee," and section 113.041 requires the treasurer to disburse all money belonging to the county. A juror's reimbursement check is a county warrant like any other, and nothing carves it out of that general duty. A district clerk may draw a check on the jury fund under Government Code section 61.001(e), but the treasurer must endorse it before it can be paid. The opinion noted this conclusion lined up with three earlier opinions of the office reaching the same result.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2000. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion turned on the division of duties among county officers and the limits on what a commissioners court can rearrange. A commissioners court runs much of county government, but it cannot strip another elected county officer of a duty the Legislature gave that officer directly. The Texas Supreme Court drew that line in Commissioners Court of Titus County v. Agan, distinguishing a treasurer's "core" functions (those specifically assigned by statute, which the court cannot reassign) from other tasks.

Two statutes supplied the specific assignment here. Local Government Code section 113.042(b) directs that the treasurer, on presentation of a warrant, "endorse the warrant and deliver it to the payee," and section 113.041(a) requires the treasurer to disburse all money belonging to the county. On the jury side, Government Code section 61.001(c) requires the commissioners court to set the daily reimbursement of expenses for jurors, paid out of the county jury fund, and section 61.001(e) lets a district clerk draw a check on that fund, but the treasurer must still endorse the check before payment. The opinion read these provisions together: delivering the juror warrant to the juror is the treasurer's statutory job, with no exception for jury checks. It also pointed out that the result matched the office's earlier opinions and that the older statutes those opinions relied on had since been codified without substantial change into the current Government Code and Local Government Code provisions.

Common questions

Who is supposed to deliver juror reimbursement checks in a Texas county?
The county treasurer. The opinion concluded that delivering the check to the juror is a core function the Legislature assigned to the treasurer.

Can the commissioners court hand that job to the district clerk?
No. The opinion concluded a commissioners court cannot reassign a treasurer's core functions, so it could not order the district clerk to deliver the checks.

What can the district clerk do with the jury fund?
Under section 61.001(e) of the Government Code, a district clerk may draw a check on the jury fund, but the treasurer must endorse the check before it can be paid.

What makes a duty a treasurer's "core" function?
Under Commissioners Court of Titus County v. Agan, a core function is one the Legislature specifically assigned to the treasurer. Delivering county warrants to payees is such a duty under section 113.042(b).

Citations

Statutes: Tex. Loc. Gov't Code Ann. § 113.042(b) (Vernon 1999); Tex. Loc. Gov't Code Ann. §§ 113.041(a), .042, .043 (Vernon 1999 & Supp. 2000); Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 61.001(c), (e) (Vernon Supp. 2000). The opinion also traced the lineage of these provisions through repealed predecessors: Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 2122(a) and arts. 1709, 1709a, and 2554.

Case: Commissioners Court of Titus County v. Agan, 940 S.W.2d 77 (Tex. 1997).

Prior Attorney General opinions discussed: H-982 (1977), H-590 (1975), and M-657 (1970).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/john-cornyn/jc-0176
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/2000/jc0176.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

February 2, 2000

The Honorable Eddie Lucio, Jr.
Chair, Committee on Border Affairs
Texas State Senate
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711

Opinion No. JC-0176

Re: Whether a district clerk may deliver juror checks (RQ-0153-JC)

Dear Senator Lucio:

You ask whether a district clerk may deliver juror checks. See Letter from Honorable Eddie Lucio, Jr., Texas State Senator, to Honorable John Cornyn, Attorney General of Texas (Nov. 24, 1999) (on file with Opinion Committee). We conclude that a district clerk may not deliver juror checks. Rather, the county treasurer must deliver juror checks.

You ask your question on behalf of the Cameron County Treasurer. See id. at 1. In a letter to you, the Cameron County Treasurer reports that the Cameron County Commissioners Court voted to have the district clerk deliver all juror checks. See Letter from Honorable Eddie A. Gonzalez, Cameron County Treasurer, to Honorable Eddie A. Lucio, Jr., Texas State Senator (Nov. 9, 1999) (on file with Opinion Committee). The county treasurer has further explained that, under the commissioners court's plan, checks that have been written and signed by the treasurer will be mailed to jurors by the district clerk. Telephone conversation with Honorable Eddie A. Gonzalez, Cameron County Treasurer (Dec. 22, 1999). Previously, the county treasurer states, it has been the treasurer who has mailed completed checks to jurors. Id.

If the duty to deliver juror checks to jurors is a "core" function of the county treasurer, the county commissioners court may not delegate the duty to another county officer. See Commissioners Court of Titus County v. Agan, 940 S.W.2d 77, 82 (Tex. 1997). A "core" function of the treasurer is a duty specifically assigned to the treasurer by the legislature. See id. A commissioners court cannot reassign the county treasurer's core functions. See id. at 80-82.

We conclude that the duty to deliver juror checks is a core function of the county treasurer's office that must be performed by the county treasurer. Generally, the duty to deliver a county warrant to a payee is a core function of the county treasurer that a commissioners court may not reassign to a district clerk. Applicable statutes specifically assign the duty of delivering a check to the payee to the county treasurer. Section 113.042(b) of the Local Government Code states that a county treasurer "shall, on the presentation of [a] warrant, endorse the warrant and deliver it to the payee." TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 113.042(b) (Vernon 1999) (emphasis added). Similarly, section 113.041 of the Local Government Code requires a county treasurer to disburse all money belonging to the county. See id. § 113.041(a) (Vernon Supp. 2000).

Nothing excepts the duty to deliver a reimbursement warrant to a juror from the treasurer's general duty to deliver county warrants to a payee. Section 61.001 of the Government Code requires a commissioners court annually to determine the "daily reimbursement of expenses for jurors," which shall be "paid out of the jury fund of the county." TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 61.001(c) (Vernon Supp. 2000). While a district clerk may draw a check on the jury fund, see id. § 61.001(e), the treasurer must endorse the face of the check "before it can be paid. [J]ury checks may be drawn by the district court clerk but should be signed by the county treasurer to be eligible for payment." Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. H-590 (1975) at 4.

Our conclusion accords with previous decisions of this office. This office has thrice concluded that the county treasurer is the proper official to deliver county warrants to payees, including jurors. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. Nos. H-982 (1977) at 3; H-590 (1975) at 3; M-657 (1970) at 1. This office twice has concluded that a district clerk may not deliver county warrants to jurors. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. Nos. H-982 (1977) at 3; H-590 (1975) at 3. The statutes upon which these opinions rely have been codified without substantial change. Compare TEX. REV. CIV. STAT. ANN. art. 2122(a), repealed by Act of May 17, 1985, 69th Leg., R.S., ch. 480, § 26(1), 1985 Tex. Gen. Laws 1720, 2048 and TEX. REV. CIV. STAT. ANN. arts. 1709, 1709a, 2554, repealed by Act of May 1, 1987, 70th Leg., R.S., ch. 149, § 49(1), 1987 Tex. Gen. Laws 707, 1306-07 with TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 61.001(c) (Vernon Supp. 2000) and TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE ANN. §§ 113.041(a), .042, .043 (Vernon 1999 & Supp. 2000).

SUMMARY

The duty to deliver juror-reimbursement checks is a core function of the county treasurer and must be performed by the treasurer. A county commissioners court may not reassign the duty to a district clerk.

JOHN CORNYN
Attorney General of Texas

ANDY TAYLOR
First Assistant Attorney General

CLARK KENT ERVIN
Deputy Attorney General - General Counsel

ELIZABETH ROBINSON
Chair, Opinion Committee

Kymberly K. Oltrogge
Assistant Attorney General - Opinion Committee