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TEE ATIYORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUEWXN 11. TEXAn WILL BVILSON

Honorable Joe Resweber CountyAttorney Harris County Houston 2. Texas. OplnlonRo. WW-130 Re:Can a former elected official. now an apoolntive county employee;add his prlor service as an elected official to his service as a county

Dear Mr. 1957, In employee for the purpose of receiving a county Resweber‘. pensIon? This Oplnlon Is in reply to your request of May 2, which you ask the following question: “Cana former elected official,now an appolntlveCountyEmployee, add his prfor service as an elected official to his sopvice as a County Bnplogee ftr the purpose of recefvlng a County pension? Section 62 (b),Article XVI of the Constitution of Texas provides in part:

‘Each county shall have the right to provide for and administer a Retfrement, Dlsabllltg and Death CompensatfonFund for the appolntlve ofclcers and employees of the county. . . a Section 62 (a)ofArticle XVI of the Constitution of Texas provides in part:

“The Legislature shall have the right to levy taxes to provide a Retirement, Disability and Death CompensationFund for the appointlve of;ficers and employees of the State;
. . . Pursuant to this constitutionalauthorlzatl,on, the Legislature provided for a retirement system for state employees inActs of the 50th Legislature,Regular Session, ch. 352, p..

697, which, as amended, appears as ArticleHonorable Joe Resweber, page 2 ww-130

6228a, Vernon's Civil Statutes.

In Farrar, et al v. Board of Trustee Retirement System of Texas, et al, 150'Tex. 5 8 (1951) th C Article 6228a, t in dealingwith the pr

ipe% of Section 62 (a),Article XVI of the Constitution of Texas and says:

"Construingthat amendment In the light of fts purpose,we have no doubt that, just as theyhad already done for the teachers, the peoplemeant to limit the beneffts of that fund to appointed officers and employees of the state;

. 0 a The provfsionsof subsectfons (a)and (b) of Section 62, Artfcle XVI of the Constitution of Texas are Identical Insofaras theyboth provide that the Legislature shallhave the right to levy taxes to provide for the retirement plan for the appointive officers and employees of the respective politicaldivfslons. Therefore,when the Supreme Court of Texas holds that the beneffts of the retirement plan, as to state employees,are to be limited to appointed officers and employees, it is our opinion that the statementmay be cited as authority In regard to county employeesas well.

In addftfon to the opinion fn the Farrar case, the clear ommlsion of any reference to electlveoff"icialsIn the constitutfonalamendment, coupledwith the express reference to appointfve offfcials fn the same amendment, requiresus to hold that in our opfnlon a former elected official,who is now an appolntive county employee,may not add his prior service as an elected offielal to his service as a county employee for the purpose of receivinga county pensfon, FOP this reason your questionmust be answered in the negative. SUMMARY A former elected offioial,now an appolntive county employee,may not add his prior service as an elected official to his service as a county employee for the purpose of receivinga county pension,Honorable Joe Resweber, page 3 ww-130

Your8 very truly, WILL WIIsOFl Attorney General 

# BY
Ansfstant WCR:jlsrh APPROVED: OPINIONCOMMITTEE: H. Grady Chandler,

Chairman JamesW. Wilson Ralph R. Rash FredWerkenthfn REVIEWEDFORTREATTOR??EYGENERAL Byr Gee. P. Blackburn