_ -._ ._

Honorable A. E. Hickerson

County Auditor,Montgomery County Conroe, Texas

Dear Mr. Hickerson; Opinion No. O-926 Re: Whether or not the County Rospi,tal

Board of Managers is authorized to issue and sellmonthly hospitalisation servicepolicies.

With further reference to your letter of June 2, kindly be advised that your request f~oran opinion as contained thereinhas received the attention of this department. The questions asked by you are as follows:



### Vi. Would the enclosed agreement if put in effect by the Montgomery County Hospital (Iwill say, which is owned and operatedby Montgomery County) and sold only to residents of Montgomery County, comply with any statute whichmay exist.

"2. If so, is there any statute covering the amount of expensewhich the Montgomery County Hospitalmay expend in selling these agreements and overhead in general caused the hospital by virtue of inaugurating the plan.



### "3. Based upon informationby hospitals using;suchplan, we understand that it Is not necessary to secure a charter, that so long as Montgomery County Hospital issues the agreement only to citizens of Montgomery County, that this is all that is necessary. Is this correct?"Hon. 

### A. E.Hickerson, page 2 

### o-926

We observe fromyour letter that the Montgomery County Hospital is owned and operated exclusively hy Montgomery County, and we necessarilypresume that s'ame was constructed and establishedunder the rovisions of Chapter 5, Title 71, Articles 

### 4478 to 

### 98 inclusive, c4

Revised Civil Statutes of 1925 and amendments thereto.

Anticle 44.78 provides:

"The commissionerscount of any county shall-havepower to establish a countyhospital and to enlarge any existinghospitals for the
care and treatment of persons suffering from any illness,disease or injury, subject to-the pro-. visions of this chapter. At intervals of not' less than twelv.8 .months.ten uer cent of the quald$*d -.-tax ~aying'voters of a county may petit.ionsuch court to provide for the establishing or enlarging of a countyhospital, in which event said court within the time designated in such petition shall submit to suchvoters at a special or regular election the proposition of issuingbonds in such aggregate amount as maybe designated in said petition for the establishdng
or enlarging of suchhospital. Whenever any such proposition shall rece1ve.amajority of the votes of the qualifiedproperty taxpayers voting at such election, said commissioners court shall establish and maintain such hospital and shallhave the followingpowers:

"1. To purchase and lease real property therefor, or acquire such real property, and easement6 therein,by condemnationproceedings.

"2. To purchase or srect allnecessary buildings,make all necessary improvementsand repairs and alter any existingbuildings, for theuse of said hospital, The plans for such erection, alteration,or repair shall first be approvedby the State *ealth Officer, if his approval is requested by the said commissioners court.



### “3. To cause to be assessed, levied and collected, such taxes upon the real andpersonal property owned in the county as it shall deemHon. A. E.B&ckerson, Page 

### 3 o-926

necess&ry to provide the funds for the maintenance thereof, and for all other necessary expenditurestherefor.



## “4. To ;issuecountybonds to provide funds-for the establishing,enlarging and ~_ equipping of saidhospital and for all other necessary permanent improvements in connection' therewith; to do all other things that may be requiredby law in order to render said bond3 valid.

"5. To appoint a board of managers for said hospital.



### "6. To accept andhold in trust for the county, any grant or devise of land, or any gift or bequest of money or otherpersonal property or any donation to,be applied,principal
or income or both, for thebenefit of said hospital, and apply the ssme in accordancswith the terms of thegift. (Acts

### 1913,p. 711."

Article 

### 4479,as amendedby the Acts of the 40th Legislature 1927, pertaining to theboard of managers for saidhospital, provides that the term of office for 8Wh member of said Board shallbe two years, except that in making the first appointments after this Act takes effect threemembers shall be appointedfor one year and three m8mberS for twoyears 30 that thereafter threemembers of said board till be appointed every two years. The managers shall receiveno compensation for their services but the Act provides that they shallbe allowed their actual and necessary traveling and other expenseswithin this state to be audited and paid by the commissioners court in the same manner as other expenses of thehospital. This Article further provides that anymanager after being citedmay at any time for causebe removed from office by said court.

Article 

### l&80,pertaining to the powers of the Board of Managers, provides in part that the Board shall have the general management end control of the said hospital, grounds, buildings, officers and anployees thereof; of the inmates therein and of allmatters rel
eting to the government,discipline, contracts and fiscal co - terns thereof; and make such r~11es and regulations asmay. .

Hon. Aa E. Hickerson, page 4 

### o-926

seem to themnecessary for carrying out thepurposes of suchhospital.

pnovisions

Your attention is further.calledto .theother of Chapter 3 pertaining to the admission of patients, and that no discriminationshallbe made in the accommodations,care or treatment of any patients because of the fact that the patient or his relatives contribute to the cost of his maintenance, in whole or in part, and thatwhere a patient is able to pay for his maintenance thehospital shall not charge any greater sum than the averageper capita cost of maintaining such patlent including
a reasonable allowance for the intereston the cost of the hospital.

The above statutes are called to your attention for the purpose of showing the Legislaturehas treated the subject of erecting, establishing,operating andmaintaining such hospital with considerabledetail.

The commissd,oners court is given the authority to acquire real property for such purpose; to erect all necessary buildings, and to levy and collect taxes for the maintenance thereof. We do not construe such contracts as-authorizedto be made'by the countyboard of managers as granting to said board any greater power or authority ,to make and enter into contract for the maintenance of saidhospital than would be authorized to be made by the commissionerscourt in the absence of a board of managerL. We deem it unnecessary to go into the provisions of the policy form aspresented~along with your request in view of the authoritieshereinafter cited.

"'The commissioners court is a creature of the state constitution and its powers are limited and controlledby the constitution end the laws
aspassed by the legislaturel. Article 5, Section 

### 18 of the Constitution of Texas; Baldwin v. Travis County, 40 Tex. Civ. App. 

### 199,88 SW 480; Seward
V. Falls County (Tex. Civ. App. ) 2 

### 6 SW 

### 728; Bland v. Orr, 90 Tex. 492, 39 SW 55!b I(-- Commissioners Court v. Wallace, 15 9. W. (2d) 

### 535.Hon. A. E. E:ckerson,page 5 

### O-926

It is a well settledprinciple of law that the commissionerscourt does not have any authorityexcept that which is expressly or impliedly-conferred upon it by law. Edwards Countyv. Jennings, 

### 33 S W 

### 385;15 Cor. Jur. 

### 457, Sec. 103; 15 Car.-Jur.p. 

### 537, Sec. 221.

"Where a power is granted and themethod of its exeroise is prescribed, the prescribed method excludes all others, andmust be followed." Lewis' Sutherland Statutory Construction, Vol. 2, par. 572, 527, 828, 

### 631.,

We quote from 15 Corpus Jurisp. 

### 537 as follows:

"In ac&ordancewith .the,general rule heretofore stated, that countyboards or county courtshave.kno

powers other than those conferred expressly or by necessary implication, such courts
or boards have no power to rent or lease property
or franchisesowned bythe county, in the absence of statutory authority so to d."

We quote from the case of Edwards County v. Jennings, 

### 33 SW p. 

### 585, as follows:

"Counties are political or civil divisions of the state, created for the purpo~se of bringing governmenthome to the people and supplying thenecessary means for executing the wishes~bf the people, end bringing'into exercises the machinerynecessary to the enforcement of local government. Counties,being componentparts of the state,have no powers or duties except those clearly set forth and defined in the constitution and statutes. 1 Dill. Mun. Corp. (par.25). The statutesof Texas have clearly defined the powers, prescribed the duties, and imposed the liabilities of the commissionerscourt, the~mediumthrough. which the different counties act, and from those statutesmust oome all the authorityvested in the counties. It is provided in the constitution that the county commissioners so chosen, with the county judge, as presiding officer, shall compose the county commissioners court, which shall exercise suchpowers and jurisdictionsover all countyHon. b. E. Kickerson, page.6 

### o-926

buslneaep as is conferredby this constitution and the laws of this state, or asm&y be here-, afterprescribed. 8, sec. 18. Constitution,Article 5, par.

Looking to the powers grantedby the Legislature by virtue of the above cohstitutional provisions,we find that no authority is given the commissioners court to enter into such contract8 as the one sued on in this case. Revised Statutes,Art. 

## 1514. It is clear that the attempted contractwas beyong the power and authoritydonfided in the county commissioners."

We find that in 1927 HonorableH. Grady Chandler, Assistant Attorney General of Texas, wrote a conference opinion rendered to Era E. P.!Watts, then CountyAuditor, of Wichita County,Wichita Falls, T&as, in which this department held that the commissionerscourt of Wichita County did not have authority to lease the countyhospital. This ruling, we think, lends support to our view that such authority, expressed or implied, for raising tinds for maintaining a county hospital by means of sellingpolicies of insurance is not round in the laws of tMs state.

In view of the above authorities,you are, therefore, respectfully advised thatit as the opinion of this
ii epartment that the.~l~ontgomery County Hospital Board of snagers doesnot hav,eauthority to sellpolicies of lnsurante for hospital serviceunder a membershipplan as ameens of financing the county hospital affairs.

Our answer to your questionNo. 1 renders it unnecessary for us to answer questions two and three of your letter.

Yours very truly

ATTORNEY GEEERAL OF TEXAS

BY Wm. J. R. Ring

Assistant
WmlCrBT--pam APPROVED 

### JUL lh 1939 W. F. MOORE FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE BY WRK, CHAIREAR