THE ATTOIWEY GENERAL OF TEXxU.4 mty24,1988

Honorable Jack Skeen, Jr. Opinion No. (JM-909) Criminal District Attorney Smith County Courthouse Re: Whether a member of a Tyler, Texas 75702 board ofdirectors of awater control and improvement district must reside inthe district (RQ-1134)
Dear Mr. Skeen:
You have asked whether aperson must reside within the territory encompassed by the Smith County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 (the District) tobe eligible for election as adistrict director. The District was created in 1961 pursuant to article XVI, section 59, ofthe Texas Constitution. Water control and improvement districts are general lawdistricts governed by chapter 51ofthe Water Code. Provisions regarding qualifications and election of district directors are found in subchapter Cof chapter 51 of the Water Code.
Inaccordance with section 51.073 of the Water Code, the District elects five directors to serve staggered terms. Section 51.072 of the Water Code provides as follows:

Tobequalified for election asadirector, a person must be a resident of the state, own land subject to taxation inthe district, and be at least 21years ofage. (Emphasis added.) Thus, with respect to residency ofdirectors, the Water Code requires only that they be residents of the state.
You ask, however, whether the residency requirements P found in section 141.001(a)(5) of the Election Code apply to

candidates for director of the District. Your question specifically concerns the applicability inthis context of the requirement that aperson reside inthe territory from which the office is elected -- inthis case, the water district.

p.4514Honorable Jack Skeen, Jr. -Page 2 (J&909)

Section 141.001 of the Election Code states inrelevant part: (a) Tobe eligible tobe acandidate for,

or elected orappointed to, apublic elective office inthis state, aperson must: (1) be aUnited States citizen; (2) be 18years~ of age or older on the first day of the term tobe filled at the election . . . ; (3) have not been determined mentally incompetent by afinal judgment ofacourt: (4) have not been finally convicted of a felony from which the person has not been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disabilities; (5)have resided continuously inthe state for 12months and inthe territory from which the office is elected for six months immediately preceding the [candidates' filing deadline]:

. . . . (6) satisfy any other eligibility requirements prescribed by law for the office. (b) A statute outside this code supersedes Subsection (a)to the extent of any conflict. (c) Subsection (a)does not apply to an office forwhich the federal or state constitution or a statute outside this code prescribes exclusive eligibility reguirements. (Emphasis added.) Subsection (b) of section 141.001 provides that a statute outside the Election Code, such as the Water Code, supersedes subsection (a)to the extent of any conflict. Thus, the question wemust decide iswhether the Water Code's specific provision that tobe qualified for election asa director ofa water district aperson must be a resident of the state, conflicts with the Election Code's general provision that to be elected to apublic office a

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.- person must have resided continuously in the state for

twelve months and inthe territory from which the office is elected for sixmonths.
Under one view, the Election Code provision does not conflict with the Water Code, but merely supplements it. An example of such reasoning is found inBrown v. Patterson, 609 S.W.2d 287 (Tex. Civ. App. -Dallas 1980, nowrit). In Brown the court reconciled the Election Code's general six-month durational residence requirement with a specific statute governing the election of school trustees. While the specific statute required residency in the school district, ithad nodurational requirement. The court found no conflict, harmonized the two provisions, and imposed the Election Code's durational residence requirement. If similar reasoning were applied to the question of residency requirements forwater district directors, the result would be that inorder tobe adirector, aperson would not only have tobe aresident of the state, asrequired by the Water Code, but hewould also have tohave been aresident of the state for twelve months prior to the candidates' filing deadline, as required by section 141.001(a)(5) of the Election Code.
In our view, however, the reasoning of Brown is inapposite to the question of whether aperson must be a resident of the district, asdistinguished from how long he must have resided inthe state. Inestablishing a district residency requirement, the Election Code does not merely supplement the Water Code, but instead conflicts with it. The express mention of one person, thing, consequence, or class isequivalent toan express exclusion of all others. State v.Mauritz-Wells Co., 175 S.W.2d 238, 241 (Tex. 1943). Put another way, a statute's inclusion of specific limitations excludes all other limitations of the same tvoe. Guinn v. State, 696 S.W.2d 436, 438 (Tex. APP. - Houston [14th Dist.] 1985, nowrit).
When the legislature provides inaspecific statute for aresidency requirement and in ageneral statute for the duration of a residency requirement, as in Brown, the general statute can be read as supplementing the special statute. However, when the legislature addresses residency limitations byproviding ina specific statute only that a person must be a resident of the state, then a general statute that requires residency in adistrict must be read asconflicting. Moreover, when the requirement that a director need only be aresident of the state is followed by arequirement that the director own land inthe district,

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Honorable Jack Skeen, Jr. -Page 4 (JM-909)

that juxtaposition suggests that the legislature rejected a district residency requirement.1 Having found that section 51.072 of the Water Code supersedes section 141.001(a) of the Election Code, we must determine whether section 51.072 violates article XVI, section 14, of the Texas Constitution, which requires that all district officers shall reside within their districts. The short and easy answer isno. Article XVI, section 14, i'snot applicable to officers ofdistricts created under the authority of article XVI, section 59, of the Texas Constitution. Walton v. Brownsville Naviaation District, 181 S.W.2d 967, 969 (Tex. Civ. App. -San Antonio 1944, writ ref'd); Kaufman Countv Levee Imnrovement District No. 10 v. Natiom1 Life Insurance Co 171 S.W.2d 188, 189 (Tex. Civ. APP. -Dallas 1943, writ &la).
SUMMARY The district residency requirement of section 141.001(a)(5) of the Election Code conflicts with section 51.072 of the Water Code. Pursuant to section 141.001(b) of the Election Code, the Water Code therefore supersedes the Election Code. A candidate for the office of director of the Smith County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1need not be aresident of the district.

1. One brief provided tous reviewed the acts of the 69th legislature and the 70th legislature. Those two legislatures enacted laws authorizing creation of three general law districts and over seventy conservation and reclamation districts. In each instance specific director qualifications were provided, some indirect conflict with those of the Election Code. The variations in director qualifications suggest that the legislature sometimes tailors qualifications todifferent situations. In doing so, the legislature continues onoccasion touse district property ownership asan alternative todistrict residency as adirector qualification. See, e.s., Acts of 1987, ch. 993, §7(d). As a practical matter, some districts must have non-resident landowner directors at the outset because there are few or no residents living in the undeveloped district.

p.4517JIM MATTOX Attorney General ofTexas Honorable Jack Skeen, Jr. -Page 5 (JM-909)

MARY KELLER First Assistant Attorney General
LOUMCCREARY Executive Assistant Attorney General
JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY Special Assistant Attorney General
RICK GILPIN Chairman, Opinion Committee Prepared by F. Scott McCown Assistant Attorney General

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