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Hon. Ralph M. Hall Opinion No. M- 827 

Chairman, County, District 

& Urban Affairs Committee Re: Constitutionality of S.B. 

Senate Chambers, Capitol Bldg. NO. 213, 62nd Leg., R.S., 

Austin, Texas 78711 1971, providing for a 

county civil service system 

Dear Senator Hall: in certain counties. 

In your recent letter you inquired whether a.county 

civil service system could be established without a constitutional amendment. Senate Bill No. 213, 62nd Leg., R.S., 1971, 

would provide for such a system in certain counties. 

Section 2 of the Bill authorizes a county civil 

service system to cover only II . . . all pmcdovees of the 

county." Other provisions of the Bill clearly afford protection 

to the emolovees covered against demotions, suspensions or removals from their positions. (Emphasis supplied.) 

An employee is defined in Section 1 (3) as follows: 

II . . . any person who obtains his position 

by appointment and who is not authorized by statute 

to perform governmental functions in his own right 

involving some exercise of discretion, but does not 

include a holder of an office the term of which is 

limited by the Constitution of the State of Texas: 

88 . . . 

A question has been raised as to whether the coverage of employees by a county civil service system would conflict 

with the tenure limitations of Article XVI, Sections 30 and 65 

of the Constitution of Texas. The coverage afforded by the Bill 

extends only to employees and not to officers. Therefore, there 

is no conflict with these constitutional provisions. 

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Hon. Ralph M. Hall, page 2 (M-827) 

For your convenience we enclose herewith a copy of 

two Attorney General opinions dealing with the distinctions between employees and officers: they are opinions numbers O-304 

(1939) and C-527 (1965). 

The application of Senate Bill No. 213 to only counties 

of over 300,000 population raises the question of its constitutionality in view of the prohibition in Article III, Section 56, 

against certain local and special laws. 

In our opinion the bill is constitutional in this respect, there being a reasonable ground for the classification. 

City of Fort Worth v. Bobbitt, 121 Tex. 14, 41 S.W.2d 228 (1931); 

Bexar County v. Tvnan, 128 Tex. 223, 97 S.W.2d 467 (1936); Miller 

v. El Paso County, 136 Tex. 370, 150 S.W.2d 1000 (1941). 

SUMMARY 

Senate Bill No. 213 proposing to authorize 

the creation of county civil service systems in 

certain counties is constitutional. It does not 

contravene Article XVI, Section 30, limiting the 

term of certain offices to two years, for the 

reason that the bill by definition excludes from 

the system a holder of an office the term of which 

is limited by the Constitution. 

The bill is constitutional and not in violation of the prohibition of Article III, Section 56, 

of the Constitution, prohibiting certain local and 

special laws, the classification based on population 

being a reasonable one. 

Very truly yours, 

CRAWFORD C. MARTIN 

Attorney General of Texas 

BY 

NC&A WHITE 

First Assistant 

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Hon. Ralph M. Hall, page 3 (M-827) 

Prepared by James S. Swearingen 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Kerns Taylor, Chairman 

W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman 

J. C. Davis 

Roger Tyler 

Robert Flowers 

Houghton Brownlee 

MEADE F. GRIFFIN 

Staff Legal Assistant 

ALFREDWALKER 

Executive Assistant 

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