QBffice of tfie !Zlttornep @eneral 

State of Qexarr 

February 27,199l 

Honorable Amy Ayers Adams 

District Attorney 

Parker County 

One Courthouse Square 

Weatherford, Texas 76086 

Opinion No. DM-7 

Re: Whether the Parker County Committee 

on Aging is a governmental body under the 

Open Meetings Act, article 6252-17, V.T.C.S. 

(RQ- 6) 

Dear Ms. Adams: 

You ask whether the Parker County Committee on Aging (hereinafter referred to as 

the “PCCOA”) is a governmental body subject to the Open Meetings Act, article 6252-17, 

V.T.C.S. 

You state that the PCCOA is a nonprofit corporation created under the Texas NonProfit Corporation Act, article 1396-1.01, a, V.T.C.S. Its purpose, as set forth in its bylaws, is to 

serve the special needs of residents of Parker County, Texas who are 

sixty (60) years of age or older by assisting them in obtaining help 

through existing community resources and by providing additional 

services and facilities to meet needs which are not being adequately 

served by existing resources. 

You further advise that the PCCOA provides services to senior citizens. These 

services include maintaining a center where meals are served and social activities occur, 

providing transportation, providing home-delivered meals, and providing for certain 

medical needs. You state that the activities of- the PCCOA are financed by private 

donations and by loans and grants from state and federal government sources. The affairs 

of the PCCOA are conducted by a board of directors chosen in accordance with its bylaws. 

Members of the board are not selected by city or county officials. You advise that the 

PCCOA does not exist for the benefit or on behalf of any county or city government. 

Nothing in the facts that you have presented to us suggests that the PCCOA has any official 

status beyond that of an ordinary nonprofit corporation. 

In Attorney General Opinion JM-596 (1986), we concluded that nonprofit water 

supply corporations are not governmental bodies within the meaning of the Open 

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Honorable Amy Ayers Adams - Page 2 ( DM- 7 1 

Meetings Act, and are not subject to its requirements unless subject to certain specific 

provisions of the Water Code which require some nonprofit water supply corporations to 

comply with the Gpen Meetings Act. We find no statute outside the Gpen Meetings Act 

that would require the PCCGA to comply with the Gpen Meetings Act. 

The Open Meetings Act applies to a “governmental body” as that term is defined in 

section l(c) of the act. That definition reads as follows: 

‘Governmental body’ means any board, commission, department, 

committee, or agency within the executive or legislative department of 

the state, which is under the direction of one or more elected or 

appointed members; and every Commissioners Court and city council 

in the state, and every deliberative body having rule-making or quasijudicial power and elassi6ed as a department, agency, or political’ 

subdivision of a eotmty or city; and the board of trustees of every school 

district, and every county board of school trustees and county board of 

education; and the governing board of every special district heretofore 

or hereafter created by law. 

The PCCGA is clearly not “within the executive or legislative department of the 

state.” k Attorney General Opinions JM-1185 (1990); JM-596 (1986); JM-340 (1985). 

Nor is it the governing body of a city or county. It is obviously not the board of trustees of a 

school district, a county board of school trustees or a county board of education. It has no 

rule-making or quasi-judiciaI power. It has no authority to exercise delegated 

governmental powers. & Attorney General Gpinion JM-794 (1987). It has no duty or 

authority to conduct investigations and draw conclusions in any official capacity. See Putter 

V. Andem 601 S.W.2d 73,76 (Tex. App. -Dallas 1980, writ refd n.r.e.). 

In SierraClub- Studv Policv Ad ‘SON Comm., 746 S.W.2d 298 

(Tex. App. - Austin 1988, writ denied) the court considered the term “special district.” It 

quoted the following dictionary definition of special district: 

A limited governmental structure created to bypass normal borrowing 

limitations, to insulate certain activities from traditional political 

infhrence, to allocate functions to entities reflecting particular 

expertise, to provide services in otherwise unincorporated areas, or to 

accomplish a prhnarily local benefit or improvement, a parks and 

planning mosquito controL sewage removaL 

BlacKs Law Dictionary 1253 (5th ed. 1986). 

p. 39 
Honorable Amy Ayers Adams - Page 3 0X-t-7 1 

The PCCOA was created pursuan t to the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act, but 

was not specifically created “by law.” While it is designed to accomplish a primarily local 

benefit, it cannot be said to be a governmental structure. It has no power to supervise or 

control public business or to deliberate or act on a matter of public policy. & Attorney 

General Opiion JM-1185 (1990) and authorities cited therein Accordingly, the PCCOA 

is not a “governmental body” as defined in section l(c) of the Open Meetings Act, and is 

not subject to the requirements of that act. 

SUMMARY 

The Parker County Committee on Aging is not a “governmental 

body” as detined in section l(c) of the Open Meetings Act, and is 

not subject to the requirements of that act. 

DAN MORALES 

Attorney General of Texas 

WILL PRYOR 

First Assistant Attorney General 

MARY KELLER 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY (Ret) 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RENEAHICKS 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

SUSAN GARRISON 

Acting chairman, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by John Steiner 

Assistant Attorney General 

p. 40