DAN MORALES 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

QBffice of tfp $ZM.mwp Qhneral 

Qtate of IEexae 

January 31,1992 

Honorable Bob Bullock 

Lieutenant Governor of Texas 

P. 0. Box 12068 

Austin, Texas 7871 l-2868 

Honorable Mike Moncrief 

Chairman 

Interim Committee on 

Health and Human Services 

Texas State Senate 

P. 0. Box 12068 

Austin Texas 7871 l-2968 

Opinion No. DM-85 

Re: Authority of the Texas Department of Health and the Texas 

Department of Mental Health and 

Mental Retardation to inspect private 

psychiatric facilities (RQ-269) 

Gentlemen: 

You request an opinion on the authority of the Texas Department of Mental 

Health and Mental Retardation (TDMHMR) and the Texas Department of Health 

(TDH) to inspect private psychiatric facilities to ensure compliance with state law 

and standards. The six questions you ask require us to consider several provisions 

relevant to hospital licensing, regulation, and inspection. These are as follows: 

Health & Safety Code ch. 222, subch. B, which places certain 

limits on the inspection of health care facilities by state agencies; 

Health & Safety Code ch. 241, the Texas Hospital Licensing 

Law; 

Health & Safety Code ch. 571; (nonsubstantive recodification of 

general provisions of Texas Mental Health Code, formerly 

codified at V.T.C.S. arts. 5547-l through 5547-21); 

Health & Safety Code ch. 577 (nonsubstantive recodification of 

Texas Mental Health Code provisions on licensing private 

mental hospitals, formerly codified at V.T.C.S. arts. 5547-88 

through 5547-99). 

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In addition, some of these statutes refer to titles XVIII a&l XIX of the Social 

Security Act, the federal laws that respectively establish the medicare and medicaid 

programs. Medicare provides for health insurance for aged and disabled persons, 42 

U.S.C. 0 1395 et seq., while medicaid provides for grants to the states for medical 

assistance programs for needy individuals, 42 USC. 9 1396 et seq.; 59 TEX. JUR. 3d 

Public Aid and We&zre 3 4 (1988). The Department of Human Services is the state 

agency designated to administer the medical assistance program. Hum. Res. Code 

ch. 32; 59 TEX. JUR. 3d, supra, $17. 

You inquire about the authority of TDH and TDMHMR to inspect certain 

hospitals that have already obtained a license. You state that TDMHMR and TDH 

have construed subchapter B of chapter 222 as significantly limiting their authority 

to inspect hospitals and other facilities subject to its provisions. They rely primarily 

on section 222.024 of the Health and Safety Code, which provides as follows: 

(a) A hospital licensed by the Texas Department of Health 

or the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation is not subject to additional licensing inspections under 

Chapter 241 (Texas Hospital Licensing Law) or by the licensing 

agency while the hospital maintains: 

(1) certification under Title XVIII of the Social 

Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1395 et seq.); or 

(2) accreditation from the Joint Commission on 

Accreditation of Health Organizations, the American 

Osteopathic Association, or other national accreditation 

organization for the offered services. 

(b) An agency licensing a hospital exempt from a licensing 

inspection under Subsection (a) shall issue a renewal license to 

the hospital if the hospital annually remits any applicable fees 

and submits a copy of the most recent inspection results report 

from the certification or accreditation body. 

Section 222.024 thus deals with “licensing inspections” and the procedure for 

renewing licenses of hospitals either certified as a medicare provider’ or accredited 

‘To retain certitication as a medicare provider, a hospital must be inspected every 12 months. 

42 C.F.R. $5 488.3,48&u). 

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by a private accrediting association. 2 According to your letter, TDMHMR reads 

section 222.024 as providing that, if a hospital licensed under chapter 577 is 

medicare certified or accredited by an appropriate national organization, 

TDMHMR may enter and inspect it to enforce state law or standards only based on 

a complaint. TDH contends that subchapter B deprives it of the authority to 

conduct an inspection of a hospital the agency licenses, with or without a complaint, 

after the hospital obtains an initial license under chapter 241, if the hospital is 

medicare certified or accredited by an appropriate national organization. 

The argument is also raised that the words “additional licensing inspections,” 

in section 222.024 refer to all inspections by the regulatory agencies for any purpose, 

including an inspection to evaluate the hospital’s compliance with laws and rules 

conducted at a time when the license is not up for renewal. This argument is based 

on the view that a compliance inspection is essentially an inspection for compliance 

with the conditions of licensing. If violations are discovered, the hospital’s license 

might be suspended or revoked. Thus, compliance inspections could certainly affect 

a hospital’s licensing status. 

You believe, however, that “additional licensing inspections” refers only to 

those inspections required as a condition precedent to granting an initial or renewal 

license, and does not refer to inspections made to enforce state law and standards. 

The answers to your specific questions depend in large part on how the phrase 

“additional licensing inspections” in section 222.024 is construed. An examination of 

the prior versions of this provision will help us ascertain its meaning. 

When the predecessor of section 222.024 was first adopted in 1977, it read in 

part: 

All hospitals licensed by.. . [TDH] which have been certified under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act. . . , or which 

have obtained accreditation from the Joint Commission on 

Accreditation of Hospitals or. . . the American Osteopathic 

Association shall not be subject to licensing inspections under 

the Texas Hospital Licensing Law by the agency so long as such 

certification or accreditation is maintained. Such hospitals shall 

*Institutions accredited as hospitals by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare 

Organizations or the American Osteopathic Association are deemed to meet all of the Medicare 

conditions of participation for hospitals, except conditions referenced in section 488.5 of title 42 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations. 42 C.F.R. 9 488.5. 

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only be required to annually remit the statutory licensing fees in 

order to be issued a license by the licensing agency. 

Acts 1977,65th Leg., ch. 387,s 4(a), at 1055. 

Thus, the restriction initially applied only to one agency and only to licensing 

inspections under one statute. After the above provision was adopted, TDH could 

not act under the Texas Hospital Licensing Law to inspect a hospital as a condition 

of licensing or license renewal if the hospital was appropriately accredited or 

certified. See Health & Safety Code 5$241.023(a) (licensing of hospitals), 241.051 

(inspection of hospitals). A hospital would no longer be subject to two annual 

inspection procedures -- one for licensing as a Texas hospital, and the other for 

certification for medicare. The purpose clause of the 1977 enactment demonstrates 

the legislature’s intent to prevent such duplicate inspections: 

The purpose of this Act is to require that state agencies, 

including the Texas Department of Health Resources [TDH], 

the Department of Public Welfare, and those agencies with 

which each contracts, who perform surveys, inspections, and 

investigations of health care facilities, do not duplicate their 

procedures or subject such health care facilities to duplicitous 

rules and regulations. 

Id. $1 (now codified as Health and Safety Code section 222.021). The purpose of 

the legislation is to prevent duplicative inspections, not to remove all authority to 

inspect. 

The predecessor of section 222.024 was amended in 1983. Agencies other 

than TDH had acquired responsibility for licensing hospitals, and coordination 

among these agencies was necessary to prevent duplication of effort. See generally 

House Comm. on Public Health, Bill Analysis, H.B. 2271, 68th Leg. (1983). The 

amended provision applied to hospitals licensed by TDH, TDMHMR, or by the 

Texas Commission on Alcoholism, now providing that hospitals with the appropriate 

accreditation or medicare certification would “not be subject to additional licensing 

inspections under the Texas Hospital Licensing Law.. . or by the licensing agency 

so long as such certification or accreditation is maintained.” Acts 1983, 68th Leg., 

ch. 1025, !$ 1, at 5458. Thus, the three named agencies could not perform “licensing 

inspections” of hospitals in addition to those necessary for the hospital to be 

certified for medicare or accredited by the accrediting associations. 

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Other provisions of chapter 222, subchapter B, implement the legislative 

purpose of ensuring “that agencies that perform inspections of health care 

facilities . . . do not duplicate their procedures or subject health care facilities to 

duplicative rules.” Subchapter B implements this purpose in various ways. See 

Health & Safety Code 58 222.023(b) (a state agency is to accept an on-site 

inspection by another state agency if it substantially complies with first agency’s 

inspection requirement),3 222.025(a) (Texas Department of Human Services, 

TDMHMR, and TDH to establish procedures to eliminate or reduce duplication of 

functions in certifying or licensing hospitals, nursing homes, or other facilities under 

their jurisdiction for payments under medicare and medicaid programs), 222.025(b) 

(TDH to coordinate licensing or certification procedures). The prohibition in 

section 222.024 against the performance of “additional licensing inspections” must 

be read in the context of the rest of the statute, which is directed at coordinating the 

activities of two or more agencies that have some jurisdiction over .the same 

hospital. 

“Inspection” is defined for purposes of subchapter B as including “a survey, 

inspection, investigation, or other procedure necessary for a state agency to carry 

out an obligation imposed by federal and state law, rules, and regulations.” Id. 

3 222.022(b). This definition contemplates that an inspection may be performed to 

carry out any of the obligations imposed on the regulatory agency by federal and 

state law, rules, and regulations. Section 222.024 involves a much narrower class of 

inspections than the class identified in the definition. “Licensing” has been defined 

as “the issuance of permits evidencing the licensee’s legal right to do what would 

otherwise be unlawful.” Lipsey v. Terar Dep’t of Health, 727 S.W.2d 61, 65 (Tex. 

App.--Austin 1987, writ refd n.r.e.). Issuance of such permits is only one of the 

obligations imposed on state agencies by federal and state laws, rules, and 

regulations concerning health care facilities, and it is the only obligation affected by 

section 222.024. Its provision for license renewal on submission of the most recent 

inspection report shows that it refers to the annual inspection undertaken to 

determine if the license shall be continued for another year. 

If section 222.024 were read to bar all inspections by TDH and TDMHMR, 

they would be unable to discover and correct problems that might arise at any time 

during the year. Unsafe conditions in a hospital might persist undetected until the 

license was up for renewal. The hospital would be accountable for compliance with 

the law only during the annual inspection for license renewal. If the legislature had 

3Whether an on-site inspection substantially complies with another agency’s inspection 

requirements is a question of fact. Attorney General Opinion JM-652 (1987). 

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intended to place such a drastic limit on the enforcement power of TDH and 

TDMHMR, we believe it would have done so expressly. We conclude that 

“additional licensing inspections” refers only to inspections required as a condition 

of receiving or renewing a license entitling the licensee to operate a hospital. 

Your questions one through four are as follows: 

1. During the period after a hospital governed by Chapter 241 

obtains its initial license, is TDH authorized to conduct a 

random, unannounced inspection or program evaluation of the 

hospital to ensure compliance with state laws or TDH 

standards? 

2. During the period after a hospital governed by.Chapter 577 

obtains its initial license, is TDMHMR authorized to conduct a 

random, unannounced inspection or program evaluation of the 

hospital to ensure compliance with state laws ‘or TDMHMR 

standards? 

3. During the period after a hospital governed by Chapter 241 

obtains its initial license, is TDH authorized to conduct an 

inspection or program evaluation of the hospital based on a 

complaint of a violation of state law or TDH standards? 

4. During the period after a hospital governed by Chapter 577 

obtains its initial license, is TDMHMR authorized to conduct an 

inspection or program evaluation of the hospital based on a 

complaint of a violation of state law or TDH standards? 

These questions inquire about hospitals that have already obtained an initial license. 

Thus, the inspections you inquire about are not licensing inspections. Section 

222.024 of the Health and Safety Code, and its restrictions as to licensing 

inspections of hospitals certified for medicare participation or accredited by a 

national accrediting organization, is not relevant to these questions. You also ask 

about program evaluations. We assume that a program evaluation means an 

evaluation of the delivery of a particular category of hospital services, rather than of 

the hospital operation in its entirety. Defined in this way, “program evaluation” 

would be a type of inspection. 

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Chapter 241 of the Health and Safety Code, administered by TDH, governs 

the licensing of hospitals. Its purpose is “to protect and promote the public health 

and welfare by providing for the development, establishment, and enforcement of 

certain standards in the construction, maintenance, and operation of hospitals.” 

Health & Safety Code 5 241.002; see id $241.003(4), (6) (11) (defining “hospital”). 

It does not apply to a facility licensed under chapter 577 of the Health and Safety 

Code (formerly articles 5547-88 through 5547-99, V.T.C.S.), or to one maintained or 

operated by the federal government, the state, or an agency of the federal or state 

government. Id. $241.004. 

Licensing procedures are set out at sections 241.021 through 241.025, in 

subchapter B of chapter 241. Section 241.026 provides that the Board of Health, 

with the advice of the Hospital Licensing Advisory Council, shall adopt and enforce 

rules and minimum standards to further the purposes of chapter 241. ‘The rules and 

minimum standards may relate only to” the following subjects: 

(1) minimum requirements for staffing by physicians and 

nurses; 

(2) hospital services relating to patient care; and 

(3) fire prevention, safety, and sanitary provisions of hospitals. 

Id. 3 241.026(a). In addition, the board’s standards may not exceed the minimum 

standards for certification under title XVIII of the Social Security Act. Id. 

9 241.026(b); see also id. $241.027 (minimum standards for patient transfers). 

Enforcement provisions are found in subchapter C. Section 241.051 provides 

the following: 

An officer, employee, or agent of the department may enter 

and inspect a hospital at any reasonable time to assure 

compliance with or prevent a violation of this chapter. 

This authority to enter and inspect exists “at any reasonable time,” not merely when 

the hospital’s license is issued or renewed. The department may begin action under 

the enforcement provisions when the hospital’s noncompliance is discovered, and 

need not wait until its license is up for renewal. Thus, the department “may deny, 

suspend, or revoke a hospital’s license” if the hospital has failed substantially to 

comply with chapter 241 or rules adopted thereunder. Id. Q 241.053(a)( 1) (emphasis 

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added). It may also seek a “temporary restraining order to restrain a continuing 

violation if the department finds that the violation creates an immediate threat to the 

health and safety of the patients of a hospital.” Id. $I 241.054(c) (emphasis added). 

The provisions authorizing inspection and enforcement enable TDH to act when 

action is needed to protect the health and safety of patients. 

We answer your first and third questions in the affirmative. During the 

period after a hospital governed by chapter 241 has obtained its initial license, TDH 

is authorized by section 241.051 to conduct a random, unannounced inspection of 

such a hospital to ensure compliance with state laws or TDH standards, and to 

inspect such a hospital in response to a complaint of a violation of state law or TDH 

standards. Of course, the inspection must be made at a reasonable time, and TDH 

must determine that making the inspection is necessary to carry out its duties under 

chapter 241 or other relevant state and federal laws, rules, and regulations. See id. 

55 222.023,241.054. 

We will now address your second and fourth questions, concerning the 

authority of TDMHMR to inspect hospitals governed by chapter 577 of the Health 

and Safety Code. Chapter 577 is part of the Texas Mental Health Code, adopted in 

1957. Acts 1957, 55th Leg., ch. 243, at 505; see also Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 47, at 

211 (substantive revision of Texas Mental Health Code). The Texas Mental Health 

Code, originally codified as articles 5547-l through 5547-103, V.T.C.S., has been 

recodified as title 7, subtitle C, of the Health and Safety Code. See Health & Safety 

Code chs. 571-77. Its purpose is, in part, as follows: 

The purpose of this subtitle [Texas Mental Health Code] is 

to provide to each person having severe mental illness access to 

humane care and treatment by: 

(1) facilitating treatment in an appropriate setting; 

. . . . 

(7) safeguarding the person’s legal rights so as to 

advance and not impede the therapeutic and protective 

purposes of involuntary care; and 

(8) safeguarding the rights of the person who 

voluntarily requests inpatient care. 

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Id Q 571.002. The provisions of the Mental Health Code are relevant to both courtordered and voluntary hospitalization. See Health & Safety Code chs. 572 

(Voluntary Inpatient Mental Health Services), 574 (Court-Ordered Mental Health 

Services). 

Chapter 577 provides that no’person or political subdivision may operate a 

mental hospital without a license issued by TDMHMR or TDH. Health & Safety 

Code 5 577.001(a); see also id. 5s 577.001(b), 577.009 (referring to mental health 

facilities licensed by TDMHMR or TDH). A mental hospital is defined as a 

hospital: 

(A) operated primarily to provide inpatient care and treatment for persons with mental illness; or 

(B) operated by a federal agency4 that is equipped to 

provide inpatient care and treatment for persons with mental 

illness. 

Id. Q 571.002(13).5 

Section 577.005 states that TDMHMR “shall conduct an investigation as 

considered necessary after receiving the proper license application.” This 

investigation is a “licensing inspection” of the kind referred to in section 222.024. 

The Board of Mental Health and Mental Retardation “shall adopt rules and 

standards the board considers necessary and appropriate to ensure the proper care 

and treatment of patients in a private mental hospital or mental health facility 

required to obtain a license under this chapter.” Id. 5 577.010; see id. § 571.003( 12) 

(defining mental health facility). TDMHMR may also require a license holder to 

make reports and to keep records that “the department considers necessary to 

ensure compliance with this subtitle and the department’s rules and standards.” Id. 

8 577.011. Section 577.013 provides for investigations as needed to determine 

whether hospitals are complying with the law and the department’s standards: 

(a) The department may make investigations it considers 

4A mental health facility operated by TDMHMR or a federal agency is exempt from licensing 

under chapter 577. Health Sr Safety Code 0 577.02. 

sA “general hospital,” in contrast to a mental hospital, is a hospital operated primarily to 

diagnose, care for, and treat physically ill persons. Health Sr Safety Code 0 571.002(7). 

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necessary and proper to obtain compliance with this subtitle and 

the department’s rules and standards. 

(b) An agent of the department may at any reasonable time 

enter the premises of a private mental hospital or mental health 

facility licensed under this chapter to: 

(1) inspect the facilities and conditions; 

(2) observe the hospital’s or facility’s care and 

treatment program; and 

(3) question the employees of the hospital or facility. 

(c) An agent of the department may examine or transcribe 

any records or documents relevant to the investigation. 

The department or its agent may administer oaths, receive evidence, and examine 

witnesses in conducting an investigation. Id. 5 577.014; see aLso. id. $5 577.015 

(department’s subpoena power), 577.016 (department may deny, szupend, or revoke 

a license for noncompliance with laws or department rules). Thus, during the 

period after a hospital governed by chapter 577 obtains its initial license, 

TDMHMR has authority to conduct a random, unannounced inspection to ensure 

compliance with state laws and its standards, or to do so in response to a complaint 

about a violation of state law or the department’s regulations. 

Your fifth question is in three parts. The first part, question 5(a), is as 

follows: 

Does Chapter 571 authorize TDMHMR to adopt standards with 

which private psychiatric facilities located within hospitals 

subject to Chapter 241 would be required to comply? 

Chapter 571 defines “mental health facility” to include: 

(C) that identifiable part of a general hospital in which 

diagnosis, treatment, and care for persons with mental illness is 

provided. 

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Id 5 571.003( 12) (emphasis added). Section 571.006 authorizes the department to: 

(1) adopt rules as necessary for the proper and efficient 

treatment of persons with mental illness; 

(2) prescribe the form and content of applications, 

certificates, records, and reports provided for under this subtitle; 

(3) require reports from a facility administrator relating to 

the admission, examination, diagnosis, release, or discharge of 

any patient; 

(4) regularly visit each mental health facility to review the 

commitment procedure for each new patient after the last visit; 

and 

(5) visit a mental health faciliv to investigate a complaint 

made by a patient or by a person on behalf of a patient. 

(Emphasis added.) 

Since a “mental health facility” includes a psychiatric facility located within a general 

hospital, TDMHMR has authority under chapter 571 to adopt rules setting out 

standards for the “proper and efficient treatment of persons with mental illness” 

applicable to such psychiatric facilities. 

Question 5(b) is as follows: 

If the answer to (a) is “yes,” does Chapter 571 authorize 

TDMHMR to enter and inspect such a facility in response to a 

complaint to determine whether a violation of state law or 

TDMHMR standards occurred or regularly to review the 

facility’s commitment procedures? 

Section 571.006(4) and (5) authorize the department to “visit” mental health 

facilities for the above purposes. In this context, “visit” means to inspect. See 

WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2557 (3d ed. 1966). Thus, 

TDMHMR has authority to enter and inspect a psychiatric facility in a private 

hospital to review the commitment procedure on a regular basis or to investigate a 

complaint. 

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Question 5(c) is as follows: 

If the answer to (b) is “yes,” is either TDH or TDMHMR 

authorized to impose sanctions or take other enforcement action 

against such a facility if a violation of state law or TDMHMR 

standards is found? If either or both agencies have such 

authority, what sanctions may the agency or agencies impose and 

what other enforcement actions may that agency take? 

Private psychiatric facilities located within a hospital licensed by TDH under 

chapter 241 of the Health and Safety Code are not subject to sanctions that 

TDMHMR may apply to licensed mental hospitals. See Health & Safety Code 

8 577.016 (denial, suspension, or revocation of license for substantial failure to 

comply with department rules or the Texas Mental Health Code). We find no 

authority in chapter 571 for TDMHMR to impose sanctions or take other 

administrative action against a facility inspected pursuant to section 571.006. 

Criminal penalties are provided by section 571.020 for certain conduct causing the 

unwarranted commitment of a person to a mental health facility, and for knowing 

violation of the Texas Mental Health Code. In addition, .the limitations of liability 

found in section 571.019 show that the legislature had in mind that individuals 

harmed by violation of the Mental Health Code could sue the responsible parties 

for damages. See James v. Brown, 637 S.W.2d 914 (Tex. 1982) (suit for negligent 

misdiagnosis-medical malpractice in connection with involuntary hospitalization); 

Ramsay v. Santa Rosa Medical Center, 498 S.W.2d 741 (Tex. Civ. App.-San Antonio 

1973, writ refd n.r.e.), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 938 (1974) (denial of freedom to 

communicate with persons outside hospital). 

As already stated in answer to your questions on the inspection of hospitals 

under chapter 241, TDH may enforce the provisions of that chapter and its rules 

and standards adopted thereunder by denying, suspending, or revoking a hospital’s 

license, Health & Safety Code 9 241.053, or seeking injunctive relief, id. $241.054. 

However, TDH may not enforce TDMHMR standards adopted under section 

571.006, unless it has adopted those standards as its own. Section 241.026(a), which 

authorizes TDH to adopt rules and minimum standards relating to staffing by 

physicians and nurses, hospital services relating to patient care, and fire prevention, 

safety, and sanitary provisions of hospitals, is broad enough to authorize the 

adoption of specific standards for the care of the mentally ill. Whether TDH would 

have authority to adopt any particular standard adopted by TDMHMR would have 

to be decided on a case-by-case basis. 

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Your final question is as follows: 

6. Is TDH authorized to adopt and enforce standards regarding 

patient care, treatment and rights governing those portions of 

general hospitals licensed under Chapter 241 which provide 

treatments to persons with mental illness? If the answer is “yes,” 

would such standards be considered to exceed the minimum 

Medicare standards in violation of Section 241.026(b) if 

Medicare statutes or rules adopted under those statutes are 

silent regarding the matters governed by such TDH standards? 

We have already stated, in answer to question 5(c), that TDH would have authority 

under section 241.026(a) to adopt standards regarding patient care applicable to the 

portions of general hospitals that treat persons with mental illness. Whether a 

particular standard could be adopted under the rule-making authority in section 

241.026(a) would have to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Valid standards could 

be enforced pursuant to sections 241.053 and 241.054. 

Your final inquiry, which concerns section 241.026(b), cannot be answered as 

a matter of law on the basis of the information provided. Whether a particular 

standard would exceed the minimum standards for certification for Medicare would 

have to be decided on a case-by-case basis, and would require a comparison of the 

language and effect of a particular rule to the relevant provisions of title XVIII of 

the Social Security Act and the rules promulgated thereunder. Accordingly, we are 

unable to advise you on your last inquiry. 

SUMMARY 

Section 222.024(a) of the Health and Safety Code, which 

places limits on “additional licensing inspections” of a hospital 

licensed by TDH or TDMHMR, applies only to inspections 

required as a condition for receiving or renewing a license. It 

does not prohibit those agencies from conducting inspections to 

ensure compliance with state laws or agency standards. 

Chapter 571 of the Health and Safety Code authorizes 

TDMHMR to adopt certain standards applicable to the part of a 

general hospital in which diagnosis, treatment, and care for 

persons with mental illness is provided. TDMHMR may enter 

such facilities to review the commitment procedure or to 

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investigate, a complaint, but it has no authority to enforce those 

standards against general hospitals. TDH could enforce the 

TDMHMR standards if it were to adopt them as its own 

pursuant to section 241.026(a). Whether it may do so with 

respect to a particular standard can only be answered on a caseby-case basis., 

DAN MORALES 

Attorney General of Texas 

WILL PRYOR. 

First Assistant Attorney General 

MARY KELLER 

Deputy Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY (Ret.) 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RENEA HICKS 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

MADELEINE B. JOHNSON 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by Susan L. Garrison 

Assistant Attorney General 

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