E ATT~EWEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

December 13, 1949 

Honorable L. D. Ransom 

Executive Secretary 

Texas Real Estate Commission 

Austin, Texas Opimon No. V-964 

Re: The authority of the Texas 

Real Estate Commission 

to require that applicants 

for licenses pass an examination to determine their 

Dear Sir: competence. 

Your request for an opinion states in part: 

“The Texas Real Estate Commission has been 

presented with the question of whether or not it is 

authorized or permitted under the Real Estate Dealers License Act - Article 6573a, revised civil statutes, as amended by Senate Bill No. 28. 51st Legislature - to require that each and every applicant 

for a license as a real estate dealer or salesman 

pass an examination in order to determine the rompetency of such applicant, 

“Opinion No. O-6252 of your department, October 

10, 1944, discusses this question and concluded that 

under the statute as written at that time no authority 

to require an applicant to take either an oral or written examination exists. The question had arisen under 

Sections 8 and 9 of the Act, 

“Section 8 required that: ‘Application for a real 

estate dealer”s or real estate salesman’s license shall 

contain such other information as to the applicant, in 

addition to the above described as the Administrator 

of the Securities Division of the office of the Secretary 

of State shall require. The Administrator of the Securities Division of the office of the Secretary of State 

may require such other proof through the application 
Hon. L. D. Ransom, Page 2 (Opinion V-964) 

or otherwise as its officers shall deem desirable 

with due regard to the paramount interest of the 

public as to the honesty, truthfulness, integrity, and 

compe,tency of the applicant.’ 

“Section 9 provided that: ‘If the Administrator 

of the Securities Division of the office of the Secretary of State is satisfied that the applicant for 

real estate dealer”s or real estate salesman’s license is of good business, repute and that the business will be conducted in an honest, fair, just, and 

equitable manner, and upon complying with all other provisions of law and conditions of this Act, a 

license shall thereupon be granted by the Administrator of the Secmrities Division of the office of 

the Secr,etary of State to the successful applicant 

therefor as a real estate dealer or real estate salesman, and the applicant, upon receiving possession 

of license, is authorized t,o conduct the business of 

a real estate dealer or real estate salesman in this 

State.* ” 

The exact question presented is whether the Texas Real 

Estate Commission is authorized or permitted to require an applicant for license to pass an examination in order to determine 

his competency. 

We are of the opinion that the Texas Real Estate Commission is not authorized or permitted under Article 6573a, V.C. 

S., as amended by Acts 51st Leg., R,S. 1949, Ch. 149, p^ 304, to 

require that an applicant for a license as a real estate dealer or 

salesman pass an examination in order to determine the competency of such applicant. 

inion O-6252, with which you are familiar, states in 

part that Op. 

““If the Legislature had intended that applicants 

for a dealer”s or salesman’s license under “The Real 

Estate Dealers License Act’ were required to take 

an oral or written examination before receiving a license, the Legislature could have said so in plain 

language; this it has not done, with reference to applicants for a dealer”s or a salesman”s license under 

said Act.” 
Hon. L. D. Ransom, Page 3 (Opinion V-964) 

The 1949 amendment, like the prior act, does not provide for 

the examination of applicants. Sections 8 and 9(a) have been 

re-enacted in the identical words used in the ,prior statute 

and which was in force at the time the above opinion was written, except that the name of the administrator has been changed. 

Our conclusion that no authority to give examinations 

to applicants exists is based on the rule of statutory construction stated in 7. Sutherland Statutory Construction (3rd Edition) 

523, 525. It is there stated that 

“Where a statute has received a contemporaneous 

and practical interpretation and the statute as interpreted is re-enacted, the practical interpretation is 

awarded greaterI,- weight than it ordinarily receives, 

and is regarded as presumptively the correct interpretation of the law. The rule here is based upon the 

theory that the legislature is acquainted with the contemporaneous interpretation of a statute, especiaIly 

when made by an administrUive body or executive officers charged with the duty of administering or enforcing the law, and therefore impliedly adopts the interpretation upnn re-enactment . . . 0 Likewise, legislative 

action by amendment or appropriations with respect to 

a law which has received a contemporaneous and graclLical construction may indicate approval of interpretations given the unchanged parts of the law.” 

The Texas Real Estate Commission has no authority under exilting statutes to require applicants for 

licmses to pass an examination to determine their com- 

~petence, Art. 6573a, V.C.S. 

Yours very truly, 

ATTORNEY GENERAL :OF TEXAS 

FIRST AssISTANT lcihazc if* W& 

ATTORNEY GENE~RAL By Walter F. Woodul, Jr., 

Assistant 

WFW:v