The Honorable Tom Hamilton

District Attorney 64th Judicial District Halt County Courthouse Plainvicw, Texas Opinion No. M- 872 Re: Distribution offines collected in District Court for violation of the Texas Motor Carrier Act, Article 911b, V.C.S., and Article 1690b, V.P.C.
Dear Mr. Hamilton:
You have requested an opinion ofthis office as to the disposition offines assessed and collected under the Texas Motor Carrier Act, collectively Article 911b, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, and Articles 1690b and 1690f, Vernon’s Penal Code. There are a variety offines or penalties which may be assessed and collected for violations of the Texas Motor Carrier Act. Subsection (a) of Article 1690b and Article 1690f. Vernon’s Penal Code, provide for fines to be assessed as misdemeanor criminal penalties. Subsections (b) and (c) of Article 1690b set out the civil sanctions imposed for violations ofthe Texas Motor Carrier Act. While your letter refers to only those fines collected as civil penalties we think that under Section 17, Subsection (c), of Article 911b, the disposition ofall fines and penalties should be the same. This Section of the Motor Carrier Act provides as is here pertinent:

1,

. all fines and penalties collected under the provisions ofthis Act shall be payable to the State Treasurer at Austin, and credited to the fund to be known and designated as the

‘Motor Carrier Fund’, which fund is appropriated for the purpose ofcarrying out the terms of this Act.

.” Quite clearly by this language the Legislature has specifically spelled out the disposition and purpose offines collected under the Texas Motor Carrier Act. WCfeel that this legislative mandate should be followed and should

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control here. just as was held in Attorney General’s Opinion No. M-560 (1970) over the more gcnernl provisions ofArticlc 1007, Vernon’s Code of Criminal Procedure. Several opinions have been issued by this office on the subject ofretention of fees or commissions by local officials out of ”fines or penalties collected for the State by such official. Attorney General Opinion No. O-48 (1939) considered the question ofthe responsibility ofthe Justice ofthe Peace to deduct 10per cent ofthe fines collected under Article 1690b and pay that amount into the officer’s salary fund ofhis county. This opinion concluded that under Article 950 ofthe 1925 Code of Criminal Procedure and Article 3912e, Sections 3, 4and 5, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, aJustice ofthe Peace had the duty to deduct 10per cent of fines collected under Article 1690b and pay the same into the officer’s salary fund ofhis county and, further, that upon his failure to accomplish this the same amount could be deducted from the salary of such officer. Attorney General Opinion No. O-360 (1939) considered the question of what disposition should be made offines collected by aJustice of the Peace for violations ofthe Motor Carrier Act and merely concluded that all fines collected for violation ofthe Motor Carrier Act should be deposited with the State Treasurer at Austin after deducting commissions as allowed by law. The “commissions as allowed by law” referred to in this opinion were apparently those provided inArticle 950 ofthe 1925 Code ofCriminal Procedure, namely, 10per cent and 5per cent to be retained by the District Attorney and District Clerk, respectively, out offines collected for the State by such officers. Later in the same year Attorney General Opinion No. O-1258 (1939) was issued considering the same question and concluded that Section 17(c) ofArticle 911b directly answered the question with the result that “all fines and penalties which are collected for violations ofthe provisions of this Act must be paid to the State Treasurer at Austin and credited to the Motor Carrier Fund.” Finally, 4ttorney General Opinion No. M-560 (1970) considered the right, by virtue of Article 1007 ofthe 1965 Code of Criminal Procedure, of aDistrict Attorney to retain 10per cent of civil penalties collected by him in suits brought under Article 7621d- 1, Vernon’s Civil Statutes. Article 950 (referred to in the two preceding opinions) was the predecessor ofArticle 1007 referred to in this opinion. This latter opinion concluded that Article 7621d-1 contained specific provisions dealing with the disposition of fines

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Honorable Tom Hamilton, page 3(M- 872)

collected under that Article and, thcrcfore, controlled over the more general provisions of Article 1007 of the Code of Criminal Proccdurc. Therefore, a District Attorney did not have the right to retain aperccntagc ofmoneys collected as civil penaltics on behalf ofthe State.
We therefore follow and affirm Attorney General Opinions Nos.O-1258 and also M-560, wherein the applicable principle ofstatutory construction was declared that the specific prevails over ageneral statute, and we overrule Opinions Nos.O-48 and O-360, r-caching the conclusion that neither the District Attorney nor the District Clerk may retain any percentage ofthe moneys collected as fines, forfeitures, or penalties recovered inactions brought for violation ofthe Texas Motor Carrier Act.
SUMMARY Article 911b, Section 17(c), Vernon’s Civil Statutes, requires that all fines and penalties collected thereunder shall be paid to the State Treasurer, and contains the specific provisions dealing with the proper distribution or allocation offines and penalties collected under the provisions of the Texas Motor Carrier Act; this provision controls over the more general provisions of Article 1007, Vernon’s Code ofCriminal Procedure. Neither the District Attorney nor the District Clerk may retain apercentage ofany penalty or fine collected in any suit brought on behalf of the State ofTexas for violations of the Texas Motor Carrier Act. Attorney General Opinions Nos. O-1258 and M-560 are affirmed and Nos. O-48 and O-3 ,P re overruled.

Prepared by James M. Mabry Assistant Attorney General

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APPROVEI): OPINION COM-&lITTE E
Kerns Taylor, Chairman W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman
James H. Cowden Ben Harrison James Quick S. J. Aronson
MEADE F. GRIFFIN Staff Legal Assistant ALFRED WALKER Executive Assistant
NOLA WHITE First Assistant

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