ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

GREG ABBOTT 

January 19,2005 

Mr. Gary L. Warren Sr. 

Executive Director 

Texas Commission on Fire Protection 

Post Office Box 2286 

Austin, Texas 78768-2286 

Opinion No. GA-0296 

Re: Whether the Texas Commission on Fire 

Protection may provide reimbursement for room 

and board as part of a Fire Department Emergency 

Program tuition scholarship for students who 

attend a training school (RQ-0255GA) 

Dear Mr. Warren: 

You ask whether the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (the “Commission”) may provide 

reimbursement for room and board as part of a Fire Department Emergency Program (the “FDEP”) 

tuition scholarship for students who attend a training school.’ 

Subchapter C ofchapter 419, Government Code, establishes the FDEP “to promote efficient 

tire protection for the residents ofthis state by providing to eligible local fire departments and public 

fire-fighting organizations scholarships and grants to better educate and train their members.” 

TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 4 419.052(2) (Vernon 1998). The Commission is directed to, inter alia, 

“administer the fire department emergency program as provided by this subchapter and commission 

rules [and] adopt rules for the administration of this subchapter.” Id. 5 419.053(a)(l), (3). “The 

rules adopted under Subsection (a)(3) must include rules establishing criteria to be used in the 

evaluation of applications for grants and loans with the assistance of staff.” Id. 5 419.053@). The 

FDEP “is created to provide scholarships, grants, loans, and other financial assistance to eligible 

local tire departments and other public fire-fighting organizations.” Id. 5 419.055. “A local tire 

department or other public tire-fighting organization may apply in writing to the commission for a 

scholarship, grant, loan, or other financial assistance.” Zd. 5 419.059(a). The Commission is 

required by rule to “prescribe the form of the application and the procedure for submitting and 

processing the application.” Id. 3 419.059(c). Section 419.054 provides for the establishment of a 

“funds allocation advisory committee. composed of six members,” three of whom are appointed 

by the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas, and three of whom are appointed 

by the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters. Id. 3 419.054(a). The function of the committee 

is to “review and evaluate all applications for financial assistance under this subchapter,” and to 

‘See Letter from Gary L. Warren Sr., Executive Director, Texas Commission on Fire Protection, to Honorable 

Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General (July 15,2004) (on tile with Opinion Committee, also available at http:l/www 

.oag.state.tx.us) [hereinafter Request Letter]. 
Mr. Gary L. Warren Sr. - Page 2 (GA-0296) 

“recommend to the commission which applications should be approved and which applications 

should be disapproved.” Id. $419.054(d). “Ifthe commission does not concur with the committee’s 

recommendation, the commission shall indicate to the committee the reasons that the commission 

did not concur with the recommendation and return the applications regarding which the commission 

did not concur to the committee for further review and evaluation.” Id. 

With regard to scholarships and grants for education and training, section 419.058 of the 

Government Code provides: 

(a) The commission may award scholarships and grants to an eligible 

local fire department or other public tire-fighting organization. A 

local fire department or other public fire-fighting organization may 

use a scholarship or grant awarded under this subchapter only to 

educate and train its members to more effectively meet the members’ 

fire-fighting responsibilities. 

(b) Thecommission byruleshallestablishguidelinesfordetermining 

eligibility for a grant or scholarship under this subchapter andfor 

determiningtheamount thatthecommission mayawardtoan eligible 

localfire department or otherpublicfire-fighting organization. To 

be eligible for a scholarship or grant, a local fire department or other 

public tire-lighting organization must establish to the satisfaction of 

the commission that without a scholarship or grant the local fire 

department would be unable to adequately train and educate its 

members. 

(c) The commission by rule shall determine the types of educational 

and training programs for which the commission may award a 

scholarship or grant under this subchapter. 

Id. 3 419.058 (emphasis added). In reviewing an application for a scholarship or other financial 

assistance, the Commission must consider, in addition to criteria established by its own rules, the 

following factors: 

(1) the purpose or purposes for which the applicant would use the 

scholarship, grant, loan, or other financial assistance; 

(2) the needs of that applicant as compared to the needs of other 

eligible applicants; 

(3) the financial need of the applicant for the money; 

(4) the availability of other money to the applicant: and 
Mr. Gary L. Warren Sr. - Page 3 (GA-0296) 

(5) the ability of the applicant tojinance its activities without a state 

scholarship, grant, loan, or otherfinancial assistance. 

Id. § 419.060 (emphasis added). Finally, section 419.063 imposes certain limitations on the 

Commission’s awarding ofscholarships, grants, loans, and other financial assistance, none ofwhich 

are applicable here. See id. 3 419.063. 

You indicate that the Commission awards scholarships 

in the form of a $600 grant, which provides reimbursement for 

tuition, and room and board to entities for their fire fighters who 

attend Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) annual tire 

fighting schools. The $600 amount is based on actual 2003 costs for 

an individual to attend the five-day TEEX Annual Municipal School 

training at the College Station campus. These costs include $350 for 

tuition, $150 for a dormitory room, and $100 for a cafeteria meal 

ticket at the TEEX facility. However, if the individual chooses to 

stay and eat at a place other than a TEEX facility, then FDEP will 

make a reimbursement for room and board receipts up to $250. 

Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1. You state that, because “[mlany of the fire fighters who are 

awarded these scholarships are volunteers who must leave their regular jobs to attend the schools,” 

the Commission has for several years regarded room and board as %n essential part ofproviding the 

education and training under this statute.” Id. You first ask whether the Commission is authorized 

“to include room and board reimbursement as part of an FDEP tuition scholarship for individual 

students attending a training school.” Id. at 2. 

A state agency may exercise only those powers expressly conferred, together with those that 

may necessarily be implied from the powers expressly granted. See Pub. Vtil. Comm ‘n v. City Pub. 

Serv. Bd., 53 S.W.3d 310,315-16 (Tex. 2001). Subchapter C of chapter 419 of the Government 

Code does not expressly authorize the Commission to include the cost of room and board as part of 

the scholarship awarded to fire fighters to attend the annual fire fighters training school, nor does the 

statute provide any guidelines for determining what expenses may be included. Rather, section 

419.058(b) directs the “commission by rule [to] establish guidelines. for determining the amount 

that the commission may award to an eligible local tire department or other public fire-fighting 

organization.” TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 5 419.058(b) (Vernon 1998). In our view, this provision 

implicitly authorizes the Commission to determine that the cost ofroom and board is an integral part 

of any scholarship. As you note, many of the scholarships are awarded to volunteer tire fighters who 

must leave their regularjobs to attend the program. We believe that the Commission may reasonably 

conclude that paying the cost of room and board would increase the number of tire fighters who 

attend the training program, and thus fulfill the statute’s mandate to promote “efficient tire protection 

for the residents of this state.” Id. fj 419.052. 

You also state that the Texas Forest Service (the “TFS”) provides tuition for some tire 

fighters to attend TEEX annual schools, but does not provide reimbursement to these tire fighters 
Mr. Gary L. Warren Sr. - Page 4 (GA-0296) 

for room and board. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1. You ask whether the Commission may 

“fund room and board for fire fighters who attend the TEEX annual schools under a TFS tuition-only 

scholarship.” Id. at l-2. 

In our opinion, the Commission may do so. As we have concluded, the Commission may 

pay the cost of room and board for those tire fighters to whom the Commission grants scholarships 

because room and board may be viewed as an integral part of training. But the Commission is also 

authorized to consider, among other factors listed in section 419.060 of the Government Code, “the 

availability ofother money to the applicant.” TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 5 419.060(4) (Vernon 1998). 

If the Commission may reasonably conclude, as we have stated, that paying the cost of room and 

board would increase the number of fire fighters who attend the training program and thus mltill 

the statute’s mandate to promote “efficient tire protection for the residents of this state,” see id. 

5 419.052, there appears to be no reason to deny the Commission the authority to pay for room and 

board where the cost of tuition is paid by an outside source. So long as the Commission determines 

that providing room and board is integral to providing access to training and education and that 

providing only for room and board would increase the number of fire fighters who attend the training 

program, the Commission is authorized to pay such costs. 
Mr. Gary L. Warren Sr. - Page 5 (GA-0296) 

SUMMARY 

The Texas Commission on Fire Protection is authorized 

to provide reimbursement for room and board as part of a Fire 

Department Emergency Program tuition scholarship for students who 

attend a training school. The Commission may, in addition, fund 

room and board for tire fighters who attend the school under a Texas 

Forest Service tuition-only scholarship. 

BARRY R. MCBEE 

First Assistant Attorney General 

DON R. WILLETT 

Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel 

NANCY S. FULLER 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Rick Gilpin 

Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee