Railroad Commission

of Texas Austin,Texas
Gentlemen: Attention of Mr. C. F. Petet Opinion

No. O-1951 Re: (1) Does the law governing the State Rangers in effectOctober, 1936, and still in effect, permit State Rangers located at a point where s legal strike ia in effect to accept paymentof money from an officer of a railroad

as salary or money to cover their expenses

1 (2) If not, what is the penalty snd to whom should charges be filed to correct such conditions?

We are in receipt of your letter of recent date, requesting the opinion of this depsrtment, touching

the above stated questions‘. We were subaequently informed

by you that the State'Rangers involved

were special rangerspertaining to whom,~

only, you requested our opinion. %,ection

5 of Article 4413 (ll), Vernon's

Annotated

Civil Statutes (Acts 1935, 44th Leg., p. 444, ch. 181, Ill), provides: "(5). SpeciaL ?,,'

;ers: The'Commiss:~x

(Public Safety Commission) ( :xreiithesis

ours) shall have authority to appointsuch number of specialrangersas may be deemed advisable, not to exceed Three B-mdred (300) in number; such rangersshall not have any connection with any Ranger Company or Hi&way Motor Patrol;but~'they‘sh&ll at ally times be subject to the orders of the Commission and the Governorfor specialduty to the same extentas the other law enforcing'

officers

provided

for in this Act; such specialrangers, however, shall not have the authority to enforceany lawa except those designedto protect life and property, and such rangers are es-?ecially

denied the authority to enforce

any laws regulating the use of the State highways by motor truck and motor buses and other motor vehicles. Such rangers shsll not receiveany compensation from the State for their services, ond before the issuance of the commission

each such ranger shall enter into a good and sufficent bond executed

by a Surety Company authorized to do business in Texas in the sum of Twenty-five Hundred ($S,>OO.OO) ,Dollars,~

approved

byRailroadCommission of Texas, Page #2 (O-1951)

the Director,indemnifying all personsagainstdamagesaccruing as th; :.r::ult

of any illegal

or unlawful

acts on the pert of such specialranger. All specialranger commissiona shall expire on January .lst

of the odd year after appointment, and the Director

can revoke any specialranger commission at any time for cause, and su?h officershall be designated in the commission

as Special Rabd;er

. "Provided

furtherthat the Commission shall not issuemore then ten commissiona

to special

rangers for employment by any one person, firm or corporation at any one time, except during an emergency, when in the opinionof the Commission it is necessaryin.the interest

oP the public justiceto permit the employment 'ar more than ten."
It ia observed

that this statute,

specifically

contemplates

the emproyment of specialrangers

by persons,

firms or corporations.The right to such private employment, in the absenceof any enactment to the contrary, would authorlee

such specialrangers to acceptpayment of money as a salary or for expenses, by a railroadcorporation. The statutealso provides,

as will be observed from a reading thereof, that suoh special rangers shell not receiveany compensation from the State for their services.

You are, therefore, respectfully

advised that SpecialRangers may accept payment of money, as salary or to cover expenses, from a railroadcorporation. This, of course, applies only to Special Rangers,and not to the regularTexas Ranger Force, the members of which are compensated by the State. Accordingly, it becomesunnecessary to answeryour second question.

Yours very truly,



### zcs : arr/ldw

APPROVED

FEB. s/W. F. RMRR 21, 1940
FSR3T Acl&U.Trn

. ATTORNEY CEXERAL
APPROVEDO?l3ION

COMMITTEE BY B. W. B. CHAIRMAN s/ Zollie C. Steakley

.ByZollie C. Steakley

Assistant