April 23, 1963 

Honorable Bob Johnson, Chairman 

Committee Pursuant to H.S.R. No. 236 

House of Representatives 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Mr. Johnson: 

@in ion No. C-60 

Re: Authority of a member 

of the Legislature to 

sell printed matter 

prepared at State expense. 

Your request for an opinion reads as follows: 

'Pursuant to H.S.R. 236, a Committee Is presently studying the charge and 

allegations made in speeches before the 

House on March 4, 1963, the same being 

printed in the House Journal of said date, 

pages 480-486. Copies of H.S.R. 236 and 

the House Journal of such date are enclosed. 

"As Chairman of this Committee I hereby respectfully request the assistance of 

your office in determining whether or not 

there exist rules, regulations, or laws 

which prohibit a member of the Legislature 

from selling printed matter prepared at 

state expense. 

"I believe that a brief study of the 

Resolution and the House Journal will give 

you sufficient background to help us in 

this matter. Your prompt attention would 

be greatly appreciated in as much as the 

Committee has but a brief time in which to 

file a report of such investigation." 

House Simple Resolution No. 236 of the 58th Legislature provides: 

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Hon. Bob Johnson, page 2 (C-60) 

"WHRREAS, On March 4, 1963, two Members 

of the House of Representatives made and 

leveled certain charges regarding the propriety of the activities of each other in 

connection with their service on an interim 

committee of the previous Session of the 

Legislature; and 

"WHEREAS, The charges and allegations 

are printed in the House Journal for Monday, 

March 4, 1963, and question the propriety of 

the use of House facilities for the printing 

and dissemination of the printed materials 

and further questions the propriety of the 

reimbursement of the Members for expenses allegedly incurred; and 

"WHEREAS, Such charges and allegations, 

cast a reflection upon the dignity, integrity, 

and honest of each interim committee of the 

Fifty-seventh Legislature and the entire House 

of Representatives of the Fifty-eighth Legislature; and 

"WHEREAS, The Members of the Fifty-eighth 

Legislature have shown that they wish the 

public to have access to all the facts and 

circumstances attendant to the operation of 

all levels of government to the end that the 

public confidence in government will be preserves and enhanced; now, therefore, be it 

"RESOLVED by the House of Representatives 

of the Fifty-eight Legislature, That the Speaker 

be, and he is hereby authorized to appoint a 

Committee of five Members of the House to conduct an investigation into the alleged acts 

above referred to as well as any other matter 

relating thereto and report back to this House 

within thirty days; and, be it further 

"RESOLVED, That said committee shall have 

power to formulate its own rules of procedure 

and evidence, and to meet at such times and 

places as it may deem best and shall elect its 

own Chairman." 

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Hon. Bob Johnson, page 3 (c-60) 

A careful study of the Constitution and statutes 

of this State reveals only one Article providing for the 

distribution of printed matter of the Legislature prepared at State expense. Article 5429d, Vernon's Civil 

Statutes, provides: 

"Section 1. The Presiding Officers of 

the House of Representatives and Senate shall 

appoint one (1) of their employees to perform 

the duty of distributing the Journal for each 

House respectively. 

"Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of such 

appointee to distribute to the Governor, to 

each Member of the Legislature and upon request, to heads, of departments, a copy of 

the printed Journals of both Houses." 

Article 5429f, Vernon's Civil Statutes, known as the 

Legislative Reorganization Act of 1961, provides for the 

functions, of various committees of the Legislature and the 

conducting of hearings. Subsection (3) of subdivision (b) 

of Section 8 of Article 5429f provides: 

"The Committee shall keep a record of 

its proceedings, and it shall have the power 

to hold such meetings as it may deem necessary and at any plaEe in the State of Texas. 

The Committee shall also have power to issue 

process to witnesses, at any place in this 

State, to compel their attendance, and the 

production of all books, records and instruments, to issue attachments where necessary 

to obtain compliance with subpoenas or other 

process, which may be addressed to and served by either the Sergeant-at-Arms appointed 

by said Committee or by any peace officer of 

this State; and to cite for contempt, and 

cause to be prosecuted for contempt, anyone 

disobeying the subpoenas or other process 

lawfully issued by it in the manner and according to the procedures provided in this 

Act and by any other provisions of General 

Law. The Chairman of the Committee shall 

issue, in the name of the Committee, such 

subpoenas as a majority of the Committee may 

direct. The Committee is hereby authorized 

to request the assistance of the State Auditor's Department, the Texas Legislative 

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‘ . 

Hon. Bob Johnson, page 4 (C-60) 

Council, the Department of Public Safety, 

the Attorney General's Department and all 

other State agencies and officers, and it 

shall be the duty of said departments, 

agencies and officers to assist the Committee when requested to do so. The Committee shall have the power to inspect 

the records, documents and files of every 

State department, agency and officer, and 

of all municipal, county or other political 

subdivisions of the State, and to examine into their duties, 

ties." 

responsibilities and activi- 

(Emphasis added). 

Nowhere in Article 542gf is any provision made for 

the distribution to the public of a transcript of committee proceedings. Article 5429f, above quoted, obviously 

does not apply to the printed matter referred to in your 

request. 

In view of the foregoing, we have reached the conclusion that there is no provision providing for distribution of transcripts of committee hearings to the public. 

Therefore, a member of the Legislature may not, at State 

expense, sell copies of a transcript to the public. If 

such copies are prepared at State expense, preparation of 

such copies must be for a governmental purpose, and not 

a private purpose. If an individual member sells such copies 

to the general public, such fact is evidentiary that the 

copies were not prepared for a governmental purpose, but for 

a private purpose, which is not authorized by law and is 

contrary to public policy. As stated above, however, we know 

of no provision, either in the Constitution, statutes or 

existing rules of the Legislature, which specifically regulates the activities of individual members of the Legislature in distributing printed matter prepared at State expense. Therefore, in such instances the question is whether 

the printed matter was prepared for a governmental or public 

purpose, or was prepared for a private purpose. If prepared for a private purpose, such preparation is contrary to 

law and the public policy of this State. 

SUMMARY 

A member of the Legislature is not 

authorized to prepare, at State expense, 

printed matter he intends to sell to the 

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- . 

Hon. Bob Johnson, page 5 (c-60) 

public, for the reason that printed 

matter prepared at State expense must 

be used for governmental or public purposes and not for private purposes. 

Yours very truly, 

WAGGONER CARR 

Attorney General 

John Reeves 

Assistant 

JR:ms 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Bill Allen 

Ben Harrison 

Pat Bailey 

APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By: Stanton Stone 

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