ATTORNEY GENERALOF TEXAS 

GREG ABBOTT 

August 182005 

The Honorable Leticia Van de Putte, R. Ph. 

Chair, Committee on Veteran Affairs 

Opinion No. GA-0347 

and Military Installations 

Texas State Senate 

Post Office Box 12068 

Austin, Texas 787 1 l-2068 

Re: Correct interpretation of the Texas 

citizenship requirement in Education Code 

section 54.203 (RQ-0309-GA) 

Dear Senator Van de Putte: 

You ask how to correctly interpret the Texas citizenship requirement in Education Code 

section 54.203.’ 

Section 54.203(a) requires an institution of higher education’s governing board to exempt 

the following persons from the payment of all dues, fees, and charges, 

including fees for correspondence courses but excluding property 

deposit fees, student services fees, and any fees or charges for 

lodging, board, or clothing, provided the persons seeking the 

exemptions were citizens of Texas at the time they entered the 

services indicated and have resided in Texas for at least the period of 

12 months before the date of registration: 

(1) all nurses and honorably discharged members of the 

armed forces of the United States who served during the SpanishAmerican War or during World War I; 

(2) all nurses, members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary 

Corps, members of the Women’s Auxiliary Volunteer Emergency 

Service, and all honorably discharged members of the armed forces 

of the United States who served during World War II . . . ; 

(3) all honorably discharged men and women of the armed 

forces of the United States who served during the national emergency 

‘See Letter from Honorable Leticia Van de Putte, R. Ph., Chair, Committee on Veteran Affairs and Military 

Installations, Texas State Senate, to Honorable Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General (Jan. 10, 2005) (on file with the 

Opinion Committee, also avaiZubZe at http://www.oag.state.tx.us) [hereinafter Request Letter]. 
The Honorable Leticia Van de Putte, R. Ph. - Page 2 (GA-0347) 

which began on June 27,1950, and which is referred to as the Korean 

War; and 

(4) all persons who were honorably discharged from the 

armed forces of the United States after serving on active military duty 

. . . for more than 180 days and who served a portion of their active 

duty during: 

(A) the Cold War. . . ; 

(B) the Vietnam era . . . ; 

(C) the Grenada and Lebanon era . . . ; 

(D) the Panama era . . . ; 

(E) the Persian Gulf War . . . ; 

(F) the national emergency by reason of 

certain terrorist attacks that began on September 11, 

2001; or 

(G) any future national emergency declared in 

accordance with federal law.* 

TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 4 54.203(a)3 (Vernon Supp. 2004-05) (emphasis added). Under subsection 

(d), “every applicant claiming the benefit of an exemption” must prove that he or she “fulfills the 

necessary citizenship and residency requirements.” Id. 4 54.203(d). 

You indicate that institutions and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (the 

“Board”) “interpret the criterion of Texas citizenship to mean residing in Texas for 12 months 

immediately prior to entering the military.” Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1; see also FISCAL 

NOTE, Tex. S.B. 392,79th Leg., R.S. (2005) (stating that eliminating the statutory “requirement that 

a military veteran be a resident of Texas at the time of enlistment . . . will cost higher education 

institutions revenue beginning in fiscal year 2006 and the state beginning in fiscal year 2008”); 

SENATE SUBCOMM. ON HIGHER EDUC., BILL ANALYSIS, Tex. S.B. 392, 79th Leg., R.S. (2005) 

(stating that, “[hlistorically,” the Board has interpreted the statutory citizenship requirement “as a 

12-month residency period prior to entering the military”). You question the correctness of this 

‘We use the term “veteran” to encompass members of the United States armed forces as well as nurses and 

members of the women’s auxiliaries who are included under section 54.203(a)(1)-(2). See TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. $ 

54.203(a)(1)-(2) (Vernon Supp. 2004-05). 

‘The Seventy-ninth Legislature, by the passage of House Bill 503, renumbered the previous subsection (F) as 

subsection(G) and inserted a new subsection(F). The bill was signed into law and became effective May 20,2005. See 

Act of May 10, 2005, 79th Leg., RX, H.B. 503, 5 1 (to be codified at TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 9 54.203(F)-(G)). 
The Honorable Leticia Van de Putte, R. Ph. - Page 3 (GA-0347) 

interpretation. You believe it significant that section 54.203 requires “both Texas citizenship and 

residency,” which may indicate, you continue, “that lawmakers viewed citizenship and residency as 

distinct requirements.” Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1. According to your argument, the distinct 

citizenship and residency requirements may have been “conflated because” the statute does not 

expressly define the phrase “citizen of Texas.” Id. 

As you suggest, section 54.203 does not define the phrase “citizen of Texas.” See id.; see 

also TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 3 54.203 (Vernon Supp. 2004-05). Although several other statutes refer 

to “citizens of Texas” or “citizens of this state,” only the Alcoholic Beverage Code defines it: “In 

this code . . . ‘[clitizen of Texas’ and ‘citizen of this state’ mean a person who is a citizen of both 

the United States and Texas.” TEX. ALCO. BEV. CODE ANN. 3 1.04(20) (Vernon 1995); see, e.g., 

TEX. AGRIC. CODE ANN. 3 55.002(b)( 1) (V emon 2004) (stating that an incorporator of a cooperative 

credit association must “be a citizen of this state”); TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 0 58.002(a)(l)(B) 

(Vernon 1996) (limiting the term “resident physician” to citizens of Texas); TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 

5 306.004(a) (Vernon 1998) (limiting the public disclosure of communication between “a citizen of 

this state” and a member of the legislature or the lieutenant governor). While a definition from the 

Alcoholic Beverage Code does not necessarily apply in the context of the Education Code, we 

believe the definition is helpful in clarifying that a citizen of Texas must be a United States citizen. 

Otherwise, the Alcoholic Beverage Code is tautological, defining the term “citizen of Texas” as a 

citizen of Texas. 

This office observed in Attorney General Opinion WW-575, in the context of construing a 

statute relating to a person’s eligibility for public welfare benefits, that “a citizenship requirement 

is more restrictive than a mere residence requirement.” Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. WW-575 (1959) 

at 7. And in Attorney General Opinion H-481, this office considered the phrase “citizen of this 

State” in the statute setting out eligibility standards for appointments to the position of notary public, 

under which only “a citizen of this State” was eligible for appointment. See Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. 

H-48 1 (1974) at 2. Opinion H-48 1 concludes that a citizen of Texas is “a citizen of the United States 

and a resident of Texas.” Id. at 3. 

We believe Opinion H-481’s construction applies to Education Code section 54.203(a) as 

well. This construction maintains a distinction between section 54.203(a)‘s citizenship requirement 

and the requirement that the veteran have “resided in Texas for at least the period of 12 months 

before the date of registration.” TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 5 54.203(a) (Vernon Supp. 2004-05). 

Consequently, on its face, section 54.203(a) exempts from the payment of higher-education tuition 

and certain fees a veteran who (1) was a United States citizen and a Texas resident at the time he or 

she entered the service and (2) has resided in Texas for at least 12 months “before the date of 

registration.” Id. The phrase “[tlhe date of registration” refers to the date of the veteran’s 

registration in an institution of higher education. See id. 5 54.009 (prohibiting an institution of 

higher education from raising tuition once a student has registered for a semester or summer term); 

see also Tex. Att’ y Gen. Op. No. O-4200 (1941) at 3 (construing the statutory predecessor to section 

54.203(a) to require a veteran to have lived in the state for 12 months before registering in a 

particular institution of higher education). Only the residency requirement is attached to a 12-month 

requirement; the statute does not specify any particular length of time that a veteran must have been 

a Texas citizen at the time he or she entered the service. 
The Honorable Leticia Van de Putte, R. Ph. - Page 4 (GA-0347) 

SUMMARY 

The phrase “citizen of Texas” in section 54.203(a) of the 

Education Code refers to a person who is a United States citizen and 

who resides in Texas. Thus, on its face, section 54.203(a) exempts 

from the payment of higher-education tuition and certain fees a 

veteran who (1) was a United States citizen and a Texas resident at 

the time he or she entered the service and (2) has resided in Texas for 

at least 12 months “before the date of registration” in an institution of 

higher education. 

BARRY R. MCBEE 

First Assistant Attorney General 

DON R. WILLETT 

Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel 

NANCY S. FULLER 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Kymberly K. Oltrogge 

Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee