Honorable Robert S. Calvert 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

Capitol Station 

Austin, Texas 

Opinion NO. w-679 

Re: Questions relating to 

amounts due retired 

Texas Ran ers under 

Section 6 8 Article XVI, 

Texas Consiitution, and 

Senate Bill 53, Acts 

56th Legislature, Regular 

Dear Mr. Calvert: Session, 1959. 

We have received your request dated July 7, 1959, 

in which you present the following questlons: 

"(1). Please advise the amount of 

money which should be paid to persons 

eligible under the Senate Bill 53, for 

the month of August? 

Y(2). Please advise the amount of 

money to be paid to a person for the month 

of September, who became eligible for Ranger 

benefits on the 15th day of September." 

Section 66 of Article XVI of the Constitution of 

Texas reads as follows: 

"The Legislature shall have authority 

to provide for a system of retirement and 

disability pensions for retiring Texas 

Rangers who have not been eligible at any 

time formembership In the Employees Retirement System of Texas as that retirement 

system was established by Chapter 352, Acts 

of the Fiftieth Legislature, Regular Session, 

1947, and who have had as much as two (2) 

years service as a Texas Ranger, and to their 

widows; providing that no pension shall exceed 
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 2 

Eighty Dollars ($80) per month 

such Texas Ranger or his widow 

. . ._ __ 

(w-679 1 

to any 

provided 

._ . that sucn widow was legally marrlea prior 

to January 1, 1957, to a Texas Ranger 

qualifying for such pension." 

Section 2 of Senate Bill 53, Acts 56th Legislature, 

Regular Session, 1959, Chapter 283, Page 629, reads in part 

as follows: 

II 

. . . Full monthly payment shall be 

made for each month commencing with the month 

in which the completed application Is filed 

and ending with the month In which the reciplent dies." (Emphasis added). 

Senate Bill 53 will become effective August 11, 

1959, and will authorize a pension payment to be made for 

August, 1959. 

If the abdve quoted provisions of Senate Bill 53 

were interpreted to require payment for the full amount of 

the pension for August when the legislatlve authorization 

did not become effective until August 11, such would contravene Section 16 of Article I of the Constitution of Texas, 

which prohibits such a retroactive effect. It Is well 

established that a statute should be construed so as to 

effectuate its purpose and in a manner to support its presumed constitutionality. 

Therefore, in our opinion , eligible pensioners may 

receive only that proportionate part of the August payment 

represented by the period in August subsequent to the effective date of the Bill. 

Your second question, In our opinion, is controlled 

by when the properly completed application is filed. We shall 

assume the person “who became eligible” for the benefits on 

the 15th day of September also filed a completed application 

before the end of the month. 

It is olear that the Legislature intended the 

recipient to receive the full amount of the monthly benefits 

starting with the month In which the properly completed applloatlon is filed. The Courts give liberal construction to 

such provisions in order to effectuate the purpose Intended 

in statutes euch as this. 

Duokworth, 260 S.W. 2d 632 t 

See Teacher Retirement System v. 

Clv.App. ,, a rmed an 
/ - 

Honorable Robert S. Calvert, Page 3 (w-679) 

o inions adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas, 264 S.W. 2d 

'$). Furthermore, we believe that If the complete application 

is filed during the month of September, the recipient is to 

receive full payment for the calendar month beginning September 

1 and ending September 30. Such seems to be the construction 

intended by the terms of the statute. (See Long v. City of 

Wichita Falls, 142 Tex. 202, 176 S.W. 2d 936‘). 

SUMMARY 

Under Section 66, Article XVI of the 

Constitution and Senate Bill 53, Acts 

56th Legislature, Regular Session, 

1959, recipients are to receive only 

that portion of the August, 1959, payment represented by the period of 

August subsequent to the effective date 

of the Bill; subsequent monthly payments are to be made on the basis of a 

full monthly payment for the calendar 

month in which the completed application 

is filed. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

Tom I. McFarllng 

Assistant 

TIM:mfh:mg 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTED 

Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman 

Robert T. Lewis 

C. K. Richards 

J. Milton Richardson 

Zellner J. Turlington 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By: Leonard Passmore