.

JIM MATTOX Attorney General
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# The Attorney General of Texas November 9. 1983

Ms. Edna A. Parsons Executive secretary OpinionNO.JM-89 Texas Board of ChiropracticExaminers 1300E. AndersonLane Building C, Suite 245 Austin, Texas 78752 Re: Expiration date of terms of members of Board of ChiropracticExaminers

DearMs. Parsons: You have askedwhether the expirationdate of the terms of office for the members of the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners Is determined by the date of the first appointment. the legislative enactmentdate, or the recent legislativeextensiondate. The Texas Board of ChiropracticExaminers [board]was createdby the Fifty-first Legislature when House Bill No. 721 became effective April 27, 1949. Four months later, on August 4, 1949, the first members to serve on the board were appointed. Since that time, the board has recognizedAugust 3 as the expiration date of the terms of itsmembers. Some twenty years later, Attorney General Opinion M-338 (1969) held that [t]he commencement date of the term of office of

an individual serving on a board, agency, commission or committee of the State of Texas, createdby a statutoryor constitutionalprovision which is silent to the commencement date of such terms of office, is fixedby the effectivedate of the legislative enactment or constitutional provision creating such office . . . . During the Sixty-seventhLegislature. the life of the board was extendedby Senate BillNo. 753. Thisbill became effective September 1, 1981. The State Auditor, following Attorney General Opinion M-338 (19691,has previously recognizedApril 26 as the expiration date of the terms towhich theboard’smemberswere appointedbecauseApril 27 was the effective date of the original statute. He Is now uncertain

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as towhich date shouldbe the expirationdate (I.e.April 26,August 3. or August 31). We believe that the expiration date of the terms shouldbe determinedby the effectivedate of the legislationcreating theboard. Therefore, the expirationdate shouldbe April 26. Although there have been a number of Attorney General's Opinions that take the position that the terms of office should commence upon the date of the first appointment of the first board member, this position is appropriate only when the commencement date of the term cannotbe determined from the languageof the enactment. SeeAttorney General Opinion M-338 (1969). Article 4512b, section 3(a).V.T.C.S.. stated: A Board to be known as 'The Texas Board of

Chiropractic Examiners' is hereby created. No member of said Board shall be a member of the faculty or Board of Trustees of any chiropractic school; and all appointments to said Board shall be subject to the confirmationof the Senate. The Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which hereinafter may be referred to as 'The Board,' shall be composed of nine (9)members whose duty it shallbe to carrv out the ournoses and enforce the provisions of this Act, *andthe Governor of Texas shall, upon the taking effect of this As appoint nine (9) graduate chiropractors to constitute such a Board, who shall have been .

residents of this State, actually engaged in the practice of chiropractic as defined in this Act, for at least five (5)years immediatelypreceding the passage of thisAct . . . . (Emphasisadded). See Acts 1949, 51st Leg., ch. 94, p. 160. Since this statute called for the governor to appoint the board members "upon the taking effect of this Act," the intention of the legislaturewas for the term to begin on April 27, the effectivedate of the act. In addition. Attorney General Opinion M-338 (1969) overruled prior opinions as they were in conflict with its holding that the commencement date of a term of office is fixed by the effective date of the legislative enactment. As Attorney General Opinion M-338 stated! ]I]t would appear that a board . . . created by

s . . . statutory enactment of the Legislature would come into existenceon the effectivedate of the . . . statutory enactment. In turn, it would likewise seem to follow that any appointive positions upon a board , . . would come into

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existence on the effective date of the statutory enactment . . ., unless otherwise provided. (Emphasisadded). Attorney GeneralOpinionM-388 set forth two rules, the first ofwhich stated that where the enactment that created the board provided for staggered terms for the members of the board, then the legislature, absent any indication to the contrary, intended the commencementdate of the term to be the effective date of the enactment creating the position. This was the holding of Attorney General Opinion M-296 (1968) and was reaffirmed by Attorney General Opinion M-338. Therefore, it has long been the opinion of this offfce that the term of a position commences on the date of the legislative enactment, absentany indicationto the contrary. The third expiration date in question arises as a result of the sunset legislation by the Sixty-seventh Legislature, effective September 1, 1981. These amendments shouldnot change the appointment date in question, sinceas stated inAttorney GeneralOpinionM-338,

an amendment to the statutory . . . provision creating . . . a board . . . does not change the commencement date of the terms of office of the members of such . . . board . . . unless such amendment clearly has as its purpose such a change. (Emphasisadded). The legislationdoesnot expressa "clearpurpose." The BillAnalysis to Committee SubstituteSenateBill No. 753, statesunder purpose:

[ulnder the Texas Sunset Act (Article 5429k, V.T.C.S.) the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners is scheduled to be abolished unless continued by Legislatf,veaction. C.S.S.B. 753 would continue the Board of ChiropracticExaminers as the policymaking. examiningand licensingbody for chiropractic. (Emphasisadded). BillAnalysis to SenateBillNo. 753,prepared for Senate Committeeon Government Organization, filed in Bill File to S.B. No. 753 (bill extending the life of the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners), LegislativeReferenceLibrary. Therefore, it is clear that the intent of the Sixth-seventh Legislature was only to "continue" the board. Since this legislation only "continued" the board and in no way "re-created" it the requirement set forthby Attorney General Opinion M-338 is notmet.

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SUMMARY The terms of the members of the Texas State Board of Chiropractic Examiners are to expire on April 26, ns determined by the enactment date of the legislationthat created theboard.

J I-M MATTOX Attorney General of Texas TOM GREEN FirstAssistantAttorney General DAVID R. RICHARDS ExecutiveAssistantAttorney General Preparedby Rick Gilpin AssistantAttorney General APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Rick Gllpin, Chairman Jon Bible David Brooks Colin Carl SusanGarrison Jim Moellinger Nancy Sutton

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