December 31, 1953 

Wm. B. B. Sapp 

Dlwctor and Executive SecretarT 

Teacher Retirement System of Texan 

Auet Lo, Texas 

Opialon NO. s-119 

Re: %mployineut of retired 

members of the Teacher 

Retirement System in 

Dew Mrs. Saw: the pnbllc schools. 

You have requested an oplnlon on the conetltutionality of Chapter 423, Acte of the 53rd Laglalature, 1953, 

vhlch amends Subeectlon 1 of Section 5 of Article 2922-1, 

Vernon’s Civil Statutes (Teacher Retirement Act) laeofrr a.8 

it eliminates from this subsection the following provision: 

II 

. . . Any member who has accepted retirement benef-its under--the ,-terms of the Teacher Re- 

~tlremeat System of Texas may be employed la the 

Public Schools of Texas; provided howevap, that 

during eald time a rtt&red .aember Is 80 employed, 

ret iremeat benefit. paywent tihat vould otheFaise~ 

have -been paid to said retired member ahal. be 

suepended and shall be rueumed again when said retired m&bar l-eaves nald employment; provided fur- 

~thur, that during the t&ma said retired ,member Is 

~.so~arployed that no retlrsment ~deductlons shall be 

made f-m hie salary, and that retirement benef Its 

to be paid to eald ret%& member after employment 

is diecontinued and ret~kement benefits are resumed 

ehall be paid In the same amount as were paid to 

said retired member on the original retirement; 

provided further, that during the time that said 

retired member is 80 employed both the membership 

annuity payments and the prior serv.ice annuity 

payments to which said retired member would have 

bean entitled had he not 80 returned to emplomt , 

shall be transferred to the State Memberahlp ACCUmulation Fund of Teacher Retirement System of Texas.” 
. -. . 

Mrs. B. B. Sapp, page 2 (S-119) 

The title of Chapter 423, as here applicable, reads: 

“An act amending Subsections 1 . . . of Section 5 of . . . Article 2922-l of Vernon’s Revised 

Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, to provide for compulsory retirement of members of the Teacher Retirement System upon reaching a certain age under 

certa~ln conditions; . . .” 

section 35 of Article III of the Constitution of 

Texas requires that the subject of a laglslatlve bill be, expressed in ita title. As often stated, the purpose of this 

requirement is to give notice to the members of the Leglslature and the people of the scope of the subject matter of the 

proposed law. “The title must be such as to reasonably apprise 

the public of the interests that are or may be affected by the 

statute .n 

966 (1945). 

Gulf Ins. Co. v. James, 143 Tex. 424, 185 S.Y.2d 

The general rules for determining the sufficiency of 

the title of an amendatory act are summarieed in the following 

quotation from 39 Texas Jurisprudence, Statutes, 8 48: 

“In addition to the statement of a purpose to 

amend a given law or provision, a title may specify 

the nature of the amendment, and when it does so 

the body of the act must, conform. A title that 

speclfles the part lcular field an amendment 1s to 

cover or states 8 purpose to make a certain change 

in the prior law, and that 1s not merely descrlptlvo of the matters to which the lav relates, 

llmlts the amendatory act to the making of the 

change designated and precludes any additlonal, 

contrary or different madmeat. Thus a title 

that expresses a purpose to change a prior law by 

aadlng or extending a provision or conferring a 

right does, not warrant -an amendment that omits or 

restricts a provision,of the original act or destroys ~a previously existing right. . . . 

“A title expressing a purpose to amend a statute in a certain particular is deceptive and mlsleading in so far as the body~of the act purports 

to amend the prior law in other particulars. The 

amendatory act is void to the extent that its provisions go beload express limitations or the scope 

of the title. 
.*, . 

i 

Mrs. B. B. Sagp, page 3 (S-119) 

The title of an amendatory act which 

specify the particular field of amendment must 

undertakes to 

give notice of 

in the statute 

_- 

changes resulting from omissions and deletions 

being amended. Hard Cattle & Pasture Co. v. Carpenter, 109 

Tex. 103, 200 3.m (1918); Lone Star Gas Co. v. Birdwell, 

74 S.W.2d 294 (Tax. Civ. App. 1934). 

Subsection 1 of Section 5 of Article 2922-1, as it 

existed prior to the enactment of Chapter 423, dealt not only 

with compulsory retirement after a member reached 70 years of 

age, but also with voluntar y retirement prior to that age and 

with re-entry into active service after a member had accepted 

retirement benefits. This subsection as emended in tiapter 

423 reads exactly as the prior law, except that the provisions 

relating to re-employment after retirement are omitted. It 

is seen that the caption of Chapter 423 is not merely descrlptive of the matters to which the law relates, as even in its 

amended form Subsection 1 relates to a broader field than 

compulsory retirement. It states a purpose to make certain 

changes in the prior statute. The caption of the bill lndlcated that ths change in Subsection 1 dealt only with compulsory retirement. It failed to give notice that the amendment changed the existing law affecting the re-employment of 

members who had accepted retirement benefits. Accordingly, 

the attempted deletion of this portion of Subsection 1 was 

void, and it continues in force as it existed prior to the 

enactment of Chapter 423. 

SUMMARY 

The attempted deletion of the portion of Subsection 1 of Section 5, Article 2922-1, V.C.S. 

(Teacher Retirement Act) regulating employment of 

members of the Teacher Retirement System after retirement is not expressed in the title of the 

smendatory act (Chapter 423, Acts 53rd Leg., 1953) 
-0.. 

Mrs. B. B. Sapp, page 4 (S-119) 

and ie void. Tax. Coast. Art. III, Sec. 35. Consequently, these provisions as enacted in 1951 are 

still in effect. 

APPROVED: Yours very truly, 

John Atchison 

Revlewr 

JORN BEN SREPPERD 

Attorney General 

Eugene Brady 

Reviewer 

Robert 3. Trottl 

First Assistant 

By-rMary K. Wall 

Assistant 

John Ben Shepperd 

Attorney General