***-l-roEINE ’** **Y aziENERr%L** 

Honorable Bradley Miles .County,Attorney -Taylor County Abilene , Texas Dear Mr. Miles: July 11, 1962 Opinion No. WW- 1373 Re: Group Life Insurance for County .Officials and Employees.

Your predecessor in office has requested an opinion ofthis office relating to group life insurance for County officials and employees, and we quote the following excerpt,from that request:

“Taylor County, in March of 1959, entered into a Group ~Life Insurance Policy with a Company ~byand through its Commissioners’ Court. All the necessary requisites as to the provisions ofthe policy, the beneficiaries, etc., were met. My~question was whether or not Taylor County could enter into a contract ~fora group ofits Officials and Employees.? ‘I The pertinent provisions ofthe Texas Insurance Code are the following portions ofArticles 3.50 (Group Life Insurance) and 3.51 (Group Insurance ,for Employees ofState and Its Subdivisions and College and SchooLEmployees).

Article 3.50:

“Sec. 1. Definitions. - No policy of group life insurance shall be delivered in this State unless it conforms to one ofthe following descriptions:

“(,a) apolicy,issued to an employer, . , . which employer . . . shall be deemed the policyholder, ,to~insure employees ofthe employer for the benefit ofpersons other than the employer, . . .

‘1. . .

“(3) A policy~issued to any association of employees ofthe UnitedStates **Government** nor’. **. .**  any association of

. . . county employees, and any association of anyHon. Bradley Miles, page 2, (WW- 1373)
combination of state, county~or city, town or village employees. . . to insure the . . . members of any ass,ociation of . . . county . . . employees . . .I1 Article 3.51:

“Sec. 1. (a) The State of Texas and each ofits political, governmental and administrative subdivisions . . , are authorized to procure contracts insuring their respective employees . . . under apolicy or policies of group health, accident, accidental death~and dismemberment, and hospital, surgical, and/or medical expense insurance . . .

“Sec. 2. ,All group insurance contracts effected pursuant hereto shall conform andbe subject to all the provisions of any,existing or ~futurelaws concerning group insurance. ‘I Although a county is an ‘employer’ with respect to its ‘employees’ it is not so with respect to its ‘officials~‘;‘in any event the.general language ofArticle ~3.50 is limited by the specific language in Article 3.51, limiting ~the types of group insurance for which a county is authorized to contract. Article 3.51 does not, it should be noted, include life insurance.

Inaddition to this apparent prohibition in Articles 3.50 and 3.51 against acounty!s entering into such acontract for life insurance, there is no specific affirmative grant of the power to make such a contract in either the Constitution or the statutes of Texas, and the powers of a county are, of course, limited to those specifically granted or necessarily implied from other powers specifically granted.

Finally, aside from its, status as amunicipal corporation itis unlikely that there exists in the absence of statute an insurable interest in its officials and employees on the part ofthe County. See, e,.g. , ‘Cheeves v. Anders, 07 Tex. 207, 28S. W. 274 (1894).Hon. Bradley Miles, page 3 (WW-1373)
SUMMARY A County is not authorized to contract for group life insurance onthe lives of its officials and employees. Yours very truly, WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas

CG:lmc APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE: W. V. Geppert, Chairman Dhdley D. McCalla Howard Mays Winston Crowder J. C. Davis REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: Leonard Passmore