## QBffice oftfie!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 isanonprofit corporation created under the Texas NonProfit Corporation Act, article 1396-1.01, a, V.T.C.S. Itspurpose, asset forth in itsbylaws,isto

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 byexisting 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 ofthe PCCOA are conducted by aboard ofdirectors chosen in accordance with itsbylaws. 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 inthe facts that you have presented tous suggests that the PCCOA has any official status beyond that ofan 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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Meetings Act, and are not subject to its requirements unless subject to certain specific provisions ofthe 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 tocomply with the Gpen Meetings Act. The Open Meetings Act applies to a“governmental body” as that term is defined in section l(c) ofthe act. That definition reads asfollows:

‘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 ofaeotmty or city; and the board oftrustees ofevery school district, and every county board of school trustees and county board of education; and the governing board ofevery special district heretofore or hereafter created bylaw. 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 isitthe governing body ofacityor county. Itisobviously not the board oftrustees ofa school district, a county board ofschool trustees or a county board ofeducation. 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 601S.W.2d 73,76 (Tex. App. -Dallas 1980,writ refd n.r.e.). In SierraClub- Studv Policv Ad ‘SONComm., 746 S.W.2d 298 (Tex. App. -Austin 1988,writ denied) the court considered the term “special district.” It quoted the following dictionary definition ofspecial 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).

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The PCCOA was created pursuan t to the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act, but was not specifically created “bylaw.” While it isdesigned 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 ofpublic 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 ofthat 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 ofthat act.

DAN MORALES Attorney General ofTexas 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 byJohn Steiner Assistant Attorney General

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