_ . . _ I_ --f 

THE LtTTORNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

June 24, 1957 

Honorable R. D. Halt, M.D. 

Chairman of the Board 

Board of Vocational Nurse Examiners 

904 Lavaoa Street 

Austin 1, Texas 

Opinion No. WW-175 

Re: Method of Selecting a 

Director of Training for 

Vocational Nurse Rxaminers under provisions of 

H.B. 99 (V.C.S. Art. 

Dear Dr, Holtg 452&z, Section 4 (c) ). 

In your letter of June 19, 1957, you have requested 

an opinion from this office as to whether it is necessary 

that the Director of Training, to be seleoted to fill the 

vacancy created by'the recent death of the incumbent, must be 

a Registered Nurse; or may the Director of Training be either 

a Registered Nurse or a Licensed Vocational Nurse, at the 

option of the Board. 

House Bill 99, Acts 55th Legislature, Re ular Session 1957, chapter 47, page 95 (V.C.S., Art. 452 c, Sec. 

"fo!L~; b 

8 

eaame effective on April 5, 1957, and reads as 

"The Board shall employ a full-time Director 

of Training, who shall have had at least five 

years experience in teaching nursing in an accredited stihool of nursing or an accredited training 

program. During the first five (5) years after 

the effective date of this Act, the Director Of 

=Y 

shall be a Registered Nurse, licensed by 

the Sta e Board of Nurse Examiners. Thereafter, 

the Board mav select either a Licensed Vocational 

Nurse or a Registered Nurse as the Director of 

The duties of the Director of Training 

to visit and inspect all schools for the 

training of Vocational Nurses at least once a 

year and to confer with superintendents of hospitals and superintendents of nursing schools as to 

the system of Instruction given and as to accomodations and rules governing said schools in reference 
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Honorable R. D. Holt, Page 2, (W- ) 

to its students. The Board shall orescribe such 

methods and rules of visiting, and-such methods of 

reporting by the Director of Training as may in its 

judgment be deemed proper." (Emphasis added) 

Prior to the above quoted amendment, Article 4528c, 

Section 4 (c) V.C.S. (Acts 52nd Legislature; 1951, chapter 

118, page 1973 reads as follows: 

"The Board shall employ a full time Visitin 

Secretary, who shall have had at least five + 

years experience in teaching nursing in an accredited school of nursing or an accredited training 

program. During the first five (5) years after the 

effective date of t,his Act, the Visiting Secretary 

shall be a Registered Nurse, licensed by the State 

Board of Nurse Examiners. Thereafter. the Board may 

select either a Licensed Vocational Nurse or a Registered Nurse as the Visiting Secretary. The duties of 

said Secretary shall be to visit and inspect all 

schools for the training of Vocational Nurses at 

least once a year and to confer with superintendents 

of hospitals and superintendents of nursing schools 

as to the system of instruction given and as to accomodations and rules governing said schools in 

reference to its students. The Board shall prescribe 

such methods and rules of visiting, and such methods 

of reporting by said Secretary as may in its judgment 

be deemed proper." (Emphasis added) 

An examination of Section 4 (c) of Article 45280, 

V.C.S., both in its original form as enacted in 1951, and in 

its present form as amended in 1957, reveals that the only 

difference in the two acts is the title of the official. The 

qualifications and duties ,are the same. In fact, the caption 

to the 1957 amendment (House Bill go), refers to this change 

bn the following language: 

"An Act amending por,tions of Chapter 118, Acts 

of the Fifty-second Legislature, 1951, which is 

codified as Article 4528~ of Vernon's Texas Civil 

Statutes and is sometimes known as the Vocational 

Nurse Act; amendinp Section 4, subdivision (c), by 

changing the title of PVisiting Secretary' to 

'Director of Training'; q D -".(Emphasis added) 

In 39 Tex. Jur.,page 257, 258, the following rules 

of statutory construction are laid down: 

I, 0 0 0 An amendment will be construed and 
_... - 

Honorable R. D. Holt, Page 3, (Wharmonized with the act that it amends or to which 

it is added, and of which it forms a part. The 

court may look to the body of the amendatory act, 

its title and emergency clause, the existing facts 

or conditions at the time of the amendment, and the 

body of the act amended . e e 

1, 

. . . original provisions appearing in an 

amended act are to be regarded as having,,been the 

law since they were first enacted, . . m 

To the same effect are Markwell v. Galveston County, 

186 S.W.2d 273 (Civ. App. 1945, error ref.); American Surety 

Co. of New York v. Axtell Co., 120 Tex. 166, 3b S.W.2d 715 

1931) and Walker et ai v.. Money, 132 Tex. 132, 120 S.W.2d 

428 (1938). 

It is a familiar rule that the court in construing 

an act of the Legislature, must ascertain the intention of 

the Legislators in the framing'and passa 

8 

e of the law. 

Cernoch et ux v. Colorado County et al, 8 S.W.2d 470 (Civ. 

APP. 1932). 

It being apparent that the.Legislature Intended by 

the 1957 amendment to Article 4528c, Section 4 (c) (House 

Bill 99, Acts 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, chapter 

47, page 95) to change only the title of the office, as shown 

by the caption of the amending act, and that such office has 

been in existence since it was first created in 1951, the five 

year period during which the Board was restricted to Registered 

Nurses in making its selection of a Visiting Secretary or 

Director of Training has now expired; and the Board may now 

fill the vacancy with either a Licensed Vocational Nurse or a 

Registered Nurse, who has the other necessary qualifications. 

SUMMARY 

The Director of Training for Vocational Nurse 

Examiners may be either a 

Licensed Vocational Nurse or 
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Honorable R. D. Holt, Page 4, ,(WW- 1 

a Registered Nurse. 

Very truly yours, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

Riley Eukene Fletcher 

Assistant 

REF:jl 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE: 

H. Grady Chandler, Chairman 

Larry Jones 

Milton Richardson 

Joe Rollins 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: 

Geo. P. Blackburn