THEA~TORNEYGENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN. Tmx~s 78711 

May 19, 1977 

Honorable W. E. Snelson, Chairman Opinion No. H-995 

Committee on Intergovernmental 

Relations 

Senate of the State of Texas 

Austin, Texas 

Re: Status of the offices of 

Inspector of Hides and Animals, 

and of Public Weigher in Harris 

County. 

Dear Senator Snelson: 

The Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee is 

considering separate bills to abolish the office of public 

weigher in Harris County and also the office of inspector of 

hides and animals in that county. You ask whether article 

16, section 64 of the Texas Constitution requires that each 

county have an office of inspector of hides and animals, and 

whether article 16, section 65 requires that each county have 

an office of public weigher. 

Both those constitutional provisions, added in 1954, expressly mention the office of Inspector of Hides and Animals, 

and section 65 of article 16 expressly mentions Public Weighers 

also, but neither of them purports to establish such offices or 

to require that each county in the state maintain them. Article 

16, section 64 specifies a term of four years for the inspector 

of hides and animals specifically, and for county and precinct 

officers generally. Article 16, section 65 regulates the transition from two year to four year terms for various offices. 

Attorney General Opinion WW-1110-A (1962) indicated that 

the offices of inspector of hides and animals and public 

weigher existed in only a few counties even though their terms 

were mentioned in the Constitution. That opinion construed 

article 16, sections 64 and 65 as merely intending to increase to four years the terms of certain constitutional and 

statutory offices which article 16, section 30 of the Constitution had theretofore limited to two years. Thus, itis our 

opinion that neither office is mandated by article 16, sections 64 or 65 of the Constitution. 

p. 4128 
Honorable W. E. Snelson, Chairman - page 2 (H-995) 

You also ask if article 13.08(c) of the Texas Election 

Code establishes either office or requires that each county 

hold elections for them. 

Article 13.08 of the Election Code governs the conduct 

of primary elections. Subsection (c) thereof sets out the 

schedule of fees which a candidate must pay in order to have 

his name placed on the ballot for the office he seeks. It 

specifically lists fees for inspectors of hides and animals 

and for public weighers, but, again, the statute does not purport to establish such offices. 

With respect to the office of inspector of hides and 

animals, you ask two additional questions: 

Does Chapter 130, Acts of the Sixteenth 

Legislature, Regular Session, adding Harris 

County to the counties in which all laws 

relating to acts encouraging stock raising 

and for the protection of stock raisers, 

abolish the Office of Inspector of Hides 

and Animals in Harris County? 

Does the inclusion of Article 7306 in 

Title 124 of the 1911 Codification of 

the Texas Revised Civil Statutes, [now V.T.C.S. 

art. 70061 operate to negate the provision 

of Article 7305 [now V.T.C.S. art. 70051 

of that same Act? Article 7305 exempts 

many counties, among them being Harris 

County, "from the provisions of this 

chapter, and from all laws regulating inspection of hides and animals." 

Virtuallv identical questions were answered by the 

Amarillo Court of Civil Appeals in Boyd v. Dillard, 127 

S.W.2d 963 (Tex. Civ. Aoo. -- Amarillo 1939, writ ref'd). 

In that case Boyd was e&ted inspector of hides and animals 

for Lubbock County but Dillard, the county judge, refused to 

allow him to qualify or to enter upon the duties of the office. 

The court first characterized the question to be decided as 

"whether or not the office of hide and animal inspector exists 

in Lubbock County," and then traced the background of the' office, at page 964: 

P. 4129 
‘ . 

Honorable W. E. Snelson, Chairman - page 3 (H-995) 

The Constitution, Art. 16, Sec. 23, 

Vernon's Ann.St., provides that: "The 

Legislature may pass laws for the regulation of live stock and the protection 

of stock raisers in the stock raising 

portion of the State, and exempt from 

the operation of such laws other portions, sections, or counties: and shall 

have power to pass general and special 

laws for the inspection of cattle, stock 

and hides and for the regulation of 

brands; provided, that any local law 

thus passed shall be submitted to the 

free-holders of the section to be affected thereby, and approved by them, 

before it shall go into effect." 

This provision was included in the Constitution as it was adopted in 1876. Soon 

after the adoption of the Constitution, 

the Legislature passed a comprehensive act 

for the protection of stock raisers, the 

principal elements of which are now included in Chapter 7, Title 121, R.C.S. 

1925, embracing Arts. 6972 to 7004, inclusive. 

Article 6972 establishes the office of Inspector of 

Hides and Animals and requires that such an officer be elected 

in "[elach organized county, not expressly excepted herein." 

The excepted counties are listed by article 7005. Like Harris 

County, Lubbock County was not one of those excepted in the 

original 1876 act. Harris County was added to the excepted 

list by the Sixteenth Legislature in 1879 and Lubbock County 

in 1917. As the Boyd v. Dillard court explained: 

In 1909 the 31st Legislature enacted 

what is now Arts. 7006, 7007 and 7008 

which provide substantially that whenever twenty-five qualified voters of 

each justice precinct in any county, or 

a majority thereof, shall petition the 

commissioners' court for an election to 

determine whether such county shall have 

a hide and animal inspector, the court 

shall order such election to be held 

after thirty days notice. 

P. 4130 
- . 

Honorable W. E. Snelson, Chairman - page 4 (H-995) 

I&at 964. 

The,Boyd V. Dillard court held that the legislative inclusion of Lubbock County in the article 7005~list of excepted 

counties abolished the office of inspector of hides and animals 

in Lubbock County notwithstanding that Lubbock County had previously voted to have such an officer for the county inasmuch as 

it exempts such counties "from all laws regulating the inspection of hides and animals," including article 7006. Id. at 964. 

The court observed at page 965: 

- 

That Art. 7006 is a law regulating the 

inspection of hides and animals, and 

that it is such a law as is contemplated by Art. 16, Sec. 23 of the Constitution in which the Legislature is 

given authority to exempt counties from 

the operation of laws passed by it regulating the inspection of hides and 

animals, cannot seriously be questioned. 

Article 7006 does not apply to Harris County because 

article 7005 and its predecessors exempt HarrisCounty from 

its operation. Boyd v. Dillard, supra. See also Attorney -- 

General Opinions O-7242 (1946); O-508 (1939); 53 Tex. Jur. 2d, 

Stock Laws § 20 at 370. Therefore, it is our opinion that 

chapter 130, Acts of the 16th Legislature, abolished the office 

of Inspector of Hides and Animals in Harris County. 

In connection with the office of Public Weigher you ask: 

If no local option election has been 

held creating the office of Public 

Weigher in Harris County, does such 

an office exist? 

The office of public weigher is an elective office "[iIn 

all counties other than Travis County in which there are no 

city or cities in which the Secretary of State is authorized 

to appoint public weighers." V.T.C.S. art. 5683. The 

Secretary of State is authorized "and required" to appoint 

five persons as public weighers in every city which receives 

annually one hundred thousand bales of cotton on sale or for 

shipment; in every city and town which receives any other 

commodities in large quantities "it shall be lawful" for him 

to appoint public weighers. V.T.C.S. art. 5681. Houston 

P. 4131 
. . 

Honorable W. E ‘. Snelson, Chairman - page 5 (H-995) 

is such a city ', and therefore there is no statutory provision for the election of a public weigher in Harris County, 

but the Secretary of State is required by law to appoint 

public weighers for ~certain cities. See V.T.C.S. art. 5692; 

Attorney General Opinion M-122 (1967)TGenerally see 61 Tex. 

Jur. 2d, Weights and Measures S 2 at 71. - 

SUMMARY 

~The offices of inspector of hides and 

animals and of public weigher are not 

established by article 16, sections 64 

or 65 of the Texas Constitution for each 

county of the state, nor does article 

13.08 of the Texas Election Code establish 

such offices. The offices are otherwise 

statutorily established, but the office 

of inspector of hides and animals .in Harris 

County has been statutorily abrogated and 

the office of public weigher in Harris 

County is an appointive office, not an 

elective office. 

truly yours, 

Attorney General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

B-=--v& 

t Assistant 

Opinion Committee 

km1 

P. 4132