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# The Attorney General of Texas
August 31, 1982 MARK WHITE Attorney General

Supreme Court

Building P. 0. BOX 12546 Austin. TX. 76711. 2546 5121475.2501 Telex 91Ol674.1367 Telecopier 51214750266

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An Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer HonorableHenryWade CriminalDistrictAttorney 601 Elm Street Dallas, Texas 75202 OpinionNo.MW-509 Re: Longevity pay for deputy sheriffs
DearMr. Wade: Your question concerns article 3912f-7,V.T.C.S., which provides in pertinentpart as follows:

(a) The commissionerscourt of each county in this state with a population of not less than 150,000... shall provide longevity pay for each commissioneddeputy of the sheriff'sdepartment in accordancewith thisAct. (b) Each commissioneddeputy shall receive, in addition to his regular compensation, longevity pay of not less than $5 permonth for eachyear of service in the department. Years of service in excess of 25 do not count for the purposes of this subsection.
You informus that thepolicy of theDallas County CommissionersCourt is to calculatea deputy sheriff's "longevitypay" on thebasis of his latest period of continuous employment in the department. You ask whether this policy is permissible, or whether article 3912f-7 requirespay to be computed on the basis of the total number of years inwhich a deputy is employed in the department. Article 3912f-7 states that "longevitypay" shallbe provided "in accordancewith this Act." "[Tlhis Act" provides that the amount of suchpay shallbe "not less than $5 permonth for eachyear of service in the department." (Emphasis added). This language is quite straightforward. Applied literally, it would preclude the policy in effect in Dallas County. You in effect contend,however, that the phrase "for eachyear of service in the department" should not be construed literally, but should be treated as if it reads as follows: "for each year of [continuous]service [during the most recent period of employment] in

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the department." Essentially, you argue that: (1) the purpose of article 3912f-7 is not merely to provide deputies with additional compensation, but is to reward continuous employment and thereby create an incentive for deputies to remain in the same sheriff's department; and (2) the legislature'schoice of theword "longevity," which is defined in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary as "long continuance; esp. seniority," indicates that it had continuous, and not total service in mind when it enacted the statute. Webster's New CollegiateDictionary 678 (5thed. 1977). For the following reasons, we conclude that there is in this instance no legitimatebasis for departing from the literal language of the statute. As the Texas Supreme Court stated in Sweeny Hospital Districtv. w, 378 S.W.Zd 40 (Tex. 1964), courts will rewrite statutes only "when necessary to give effect to legislative intent, provided the intent... is clearly disclosed by the remainder of the statute." (Emphasis added). See State v. ShoppersWorld, Inc., 380 S.W.Zd 107 (Tex. 1964). In this instance, we are not persuaded that the legislature's intent in enacting article 3912f-7 must have been to reward only continuous employment. It could just as plausibly have been to reward deputies for their total experience in a department, whether acquired on a piecemeal basis or not, in order to encourage experiencedofficers to return to service. Since the statutedoes not "clearly disclose" that the legislature's intent was to reward only continuous employment, we decline to add to the statute the words which would be "necessary to give effect to that intent." Sweeny Hospital Districtv. Carr,a. Your second argument places too much emphasis upon the word "longevity"and not enough upon the other words in the statute. Even if we assume arguendo that "longevitypay" usually suggestspay based upon uninterrupted seniority or length of continuous service, it does not follow that the term has this meaning in all contexts. When construing statutes,one must look not just to isolatedwords, but to the entire act. Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977);Ex parte Roloff, 510 S.W.2d 913 (Tex. 1974). When article 3912f-7 is considered in its entirety, it becomes clear that in the context of this statute the term "longevity"has been definedby the legislature toean a prescribed amount of money "for each year of service in the department"withoutmodification. Ithas been suggested thatAttorney GeneralOpinionMW-100 (1979) requires a different result. However, that opinion merely addressed the question of whether a period of military service which comes between two periods of service with the state is to be counted for longevitypurposesunder article 6813d,V.T.C.S. Neither itnor other opinions of this office, see, e.g., Attorney General Opinions M-250

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(1968); M-886 (1971). even touch upon the question of whether two interrupted periods of employment are to be combined for longevity purposesunder either article 6813d or article 3912f-7.
You also ask whether article 3912k,V.T.C.S.,which provides that county commissionersshall fix the amount of compensationfor deputies paid wholly from county fund, controls over article 3912f-7. Article 3912k was adopted at the Sixty-second Legislative Session, while article 3912f-7 was adopted at the Sixty-third Legislative Session. Since article 3912f-7 is themore recent andmore specific statute, it controlsarticle 3912kwhere the two conflict.
In summary,we conclude that article 3912f-7,V.T.C.S., requires that deputy sheriffs be given "not less than $5 per month for each year of service in the department," whether or not such service is continuous. See Taylor v. Firemen's and Policemen's Civil Service Commission, 616.W.Zd 187 (Tex. 1981). SUMMARY Article 3912f-7,V.T.C.S., requires that deputy sheriffsbe given "not less than $5 per month for each year of service in the department,"whether or not such service is continuous. Very trulyyours,

MARK WHITE Attorney General of Texas JOHNW. FAINTER,JR. FirstAssistantAttorney General RICHARD E. GRAY III ExecutiveAssistantAttorney General Preparedby Jon Bible AssistantAttorney General APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE SusanL. Garrison, Chairman Jon Bible Rick Gilpin PatriciaHinojosa BruceYoungblood

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