Honorable GeorgeW. Cox

State Health Officer Texas State Board of Health Austin, Texas
Dear Sir: OpinionNo. O-5525 Re: Whether the State Health Officer can legally employ a physician as Consultant in a Venereal Disease Clinic,who at the same time is drawing a salary from the State for teaching courses of medicine in a medical school. Your request for our opinion in the hereinabove captionedmatter has been receivedby this department. We quote from your letteras follows:

"In connectionwith the Venereal Disease Program that we are now carrying on all over the State ofTexas, it has become necessary inmany instancesto employ local physiciansas Consultants for the clinic. In many instances it is impossibleto securepersonnel to operate these clinicsunless these local physiciansmay be employed. Their position is more or less part time, in that they act only in the advisory and consultant capacity. "The questionhas now been brought to our attention as to whether a physicianwho is teaching courses of medicine in a medical schooland drawing a salary from the State for those services,play

at the same time receive compensationfrom this department for acting as Consultant in a Venereal Disease Clinic.
"Due to present conditions,a number of the venereal disease clinicsmust be closedand these servicesdenied the public if such is not legal. Because of the shortageof doctors, it is almost impossibleto findmen that my serve in this consultant capacity that do not have, at the same time, other connections. "Therefore, I would appreciateknowingwhether I may legally employ a person as Consultantwho, at the same time, may be drawing a salary from the State."Honorable GeorgeW. Cox, page 2

Section 33, Article XVI, of the State Constitution,reads, in part, as follows:

"TheAccounting Officers of this State shallneither draw nor pay a warrant upon the Treasury in favor of any person, for salary or compensationas agent, officer or appointee,who holds at the same time any other office or position of honor, trust or' profit, under this State or the United States, except as prescribed in this Constitution.
. ~ ." The physicianmentionedby you holds a position of honor, trust and profit under the laws of this State as a teacher of courses of medicine in a State supportedmedical school. If saidphysicianwere to be employed by the State Health Officer as a Consultant in a Venereal Disease Clinic, he would be holding two positions or a doubleposition,which is expressly prohibitedby the terms of the above quoted section.

In OpinionNo. O-4433 this departmentheld that the State Comptroller could not pay public schoolteachers any compensationfor teaching dBurses in the Department of Education of Texas Technological College.The reasons ,$orsuch conclusionare contained in a copy of that opinionwhich we are herewith enclosing.

On September 22, 1913, in an opinionaddressed to the Board of Regents of the University of Texas, Austin,Texas, this departmentheld that a public officer of this State couldnot at the same time hold a position as professor in the University of Texas. See Legal Opinions,Attorney General of Texas, 19l2-1914,pages m-882, inclusive.

In view of the foregoing, it is the opinion of this department that the State Health Officer cannot legally employ a physician as Consultant in a Venereal Disease Clinic,who at the same time is drawing a salary from the State for teaching courses of medicine in a medical school. APPROVED AUG 23, 1943 Gerald C. Mann Attorney General of Texas Yours very truly, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

JkD:'db:hep Enclosure APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE BY R.W.F CHAIRMAN BY s/ J. C. Davis, Jr. J. C. Davis, Jr, Assistant