Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1975 )

TEEEATTORNEY GENERAL
ow TEXAS
AULITIN,T-s 787ll
January 13, 1975
The Honorable A. G. McNeese, Chairman Opinion No. H- 492
University of Texas System
Board of Regents Re: The time of expiration
P.O. Box 2629 of the terms of members of
Houston, Texas 77001 the Board of Regents of the
University of Texas System.
Dear Mr. McNeese:
You have asked our opinion on two questions relating to the
expiration of the terms of the members of the Board of Regents of the
University of Texas System. Your questions are:
1. Does the term of office of the three regents
whose terms expire on January 14, 1975, expire
with the convening of the Legislature at 12 o’clock
noon on that date?
2. ff in response ~to the first question posed
above, you hold that the term of office of the three
regents whose terms expire on January 14, 1975,
does not expire until the convening of the Legisla-
ture at 12 o’clock noon on that date, and if the
Governor appoints three successor regents prior
to the adjournment of the Sixty-Fourth Legislature,
wil.1 those appointees have to be confirmed by the
Senate before they can take their oaths and assume
their office as regents?
Your predicate that the terms of the regents appointed in, 1969
expire on January 14, 1975, is based on Attorney General Opinion M-371
(1969). That opinion concluded that the regents’ terms begin and end on
p. 2222
The Honorable A. G. McNeese page 2 (H-492)
the date of the convening of the regular session of the Legislature. A
similar result was reached in an Attorney General Opinion in 1925.
Attorney General Opinion No. 2583 (to Senators Murphy, Wirtz, Holbrook,
Moore and Russek, February 9, 1925, Book 60, p. 237). In 1933 another
opinion rejected the conclusion reached in the 1925 opinion, and although
it did not designate a specific date on which the terms concluded, it
suggested it was other than the date of the convening of the Legislature.
Attorney General Opinion No. 2908 (to ,Honorable R. S. Sterling, January
16, 1933, Book 65, p. 104).
The first Board of Regents&r the University of Texas was established
in 1881. Tex. Laws 1881, 17th Legis., ch. 75,81. This Board consisted
of eight members who served eight year overlapping terms. The eight
year term was in conflict with article 16, section 30 of the Texas Constitu-
tion, and the Supreme Court so held in a similar situation. Kimbrough v.
Barnett, 55 S. W. 120 (Tex. Sup. 1900). Subsequently the regents were
appointed to two year terms.
In 1912 the people adopted article 16, section 30a, of the Constitution
which permits the Legislature to establish six year terms for certain
boards. In 1913 the Legislature provided that the University of Texas
Board of Regents would consist of nine members appointed for six year
overlapping terms. Acts 1913, 33rd Legis. ch. 103, p. 191. That act
provides:
Section 1. The Board of Regents of the University
of Texas shall be composed of nine persons, who shall
be qual.ified voters; the Board of Directors of the
Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas shall be
composed of nine persons who shall be qualified voters;
the State Board of Regents of the Normal Colleges shall
be composed of six persons, who shall be qualified
voters; the Board of Regents of the College of Industrial
Arts for Women shall be composed of six persons, three
of whom may be women; the Board of Managers of the
Blind Institute, the Deaf and Dumb Institute, the Deaf,
Dumb and Blind Institute for Colored Youths, the
pa 2223
The Honorable A. G. McNeese page 3 (H-492)
Confederate Home, the Confederate Woman’s Home,
of each of the InsaneAsylums, the Epileptic Colony and
the Orphans Home, shall each be composed of six
members, who shall be qualified voters.
Sec. 2. The members of the governing board of each
of the State institutions of higher education mentioned
in Section 1 shall be selected from different portions of
the State, and shall be nominated by the Governor and
appointed by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate. In event of a vacancy on said board, the
Governor shall fill said vacancy until the convening of
the Legislature and the ratification by the Senate. The
members of each of said boards who who [sic] shall be
in office at the time this Act takes effect shall continue
to exercise their duties until the expiration of their
respective terms, as shall be determined according to
requirements of Section 3 of this Act, and additional
members shall be appointed in the manner prescribed
herein to fill out the membership herein provided for.
sec. 3. The following members of the several
governing boards shall be divided into equal classes,
numbered one, two and three, as determined by each
board at its first meeting after this Act shal~l become
a law, these classes shall hold their offices two, four
and six years respectively, from the time of their
appointment. And one-thi,rd of the membership’of
each board shall hereafter be appointed at each regular
session of the Legislature to supply the vacancies made
by the provisions of this Act and in the manner provided
for in Section 2, who shall hold their offices for six
years, respectively. The duties of the several govern-
ing boards shall, be determined by law heretofore enacted
or that may hereafter be enacted, no changes in the said
duties being made by this Act.
p. 2224
The Honorable A. G. McNeese page 4 (H-492)
Attorney General Opinion M-371 (1969), conceding that the above
statute was not clear as to the precise date on which the, regents terms
begin and expire, considered at least five possible dates before concluding
that the date of the c,onvening of the Legislature was the time that regents’
terms expire.
Where the meaning of a statute is ambiguous the consistent and long-
standing construction given it by the executive agency charged with its
administration is entitled togreat weight. Texas Employers’ Insurance
Association v. Holmes, 196 S. W. 2d 390 (Tex. Sup. 1946); Koy v. Schneider,
221 S. W. 880 (Tex. Sup. 1920); Heaton v. Bristol, 317 S. W. 2d 86 (Tex.
Civ. App. --Waco 1958); writ ref’d app. dism’d, 359 U.S. 999 (1959);
Neff v. Elgin, 270 S. W. 873 (Tex. Civ. App. --San Antonio 1925, writ
ref’d); Broussard v. Cruse, 1.54 S. W. 347 (Tex. Civ. App. --Galveston
1913, writ ref’d). This policy is particularly strong when the Legislature
has acquiesced in the construction. Moss v. Gibbs, 370 S. W. 2d 452(Tex. Sup.’ 1963); Koy V. Schneider, supra; Neff v. Elgin, supra.
There was no consistent policy governing the beginning and ending
of the terms of early appointees under the, 1913 Act. Senate Journal,
39th Legis. R. S., p. 365 (1925). However, during the last 36 years a
clear interpretation by the Governor and Senate has developed.
We have examined the Election Registers in the Secretary of State’s
Office to ascertain the date of the expiration of the terms of members
appointed to the boards of regents of the University of Texas, Texas A&M
Un,iversity, Texas Woman’s University and the State Senior College System.
The terms of the members of all of these boards or their predecessor
boards were established in the same 1913 Act. Of the 274 appointments to
these four boards since 1939, the terms of 268 of these were listed as
expiring on Jan,uary 10. The only six exceptions were the appointments
of the University of Texas and Texas A&M University regents in 1973.
Those regen~ts were appointed on January 9, 1973, the day the Legislature
convened, to a term to expire on January 8, 1979. However, they took
the oath of office and qualified prior to the time the Legislature went
into session, and thus their appointment lends no support to the view
that the Governor may not act to fill the positions until the instant the
po 2225
- .
The Honorable A. C. McNeese, page 5 (H-492)
Legislature convenes. ,The three University of Texas regents whose terms
expire in 1975 were appointed to a term which, according to appointment
record.9 and the Governor’s transmittal letter to the Secretary of State, was
to expire January 10, 1975. Actions have been taken, rights have been
acquired, and obligations have been incurred by the University of Texas,
T,exas A&M University, Texas Woman’s University, and the state senior
colleges all in reliance on the validity of the long standing appointment date.
It is not clear why the January 10 date was chosen,, It will always occur
on or very near the second Tuesday in January, which is the date on which
the Legislature convenes. The convening of the Legislature will fall no
earlier than January 8 and no later than January 14 in any year. Unlike
a term tied to the beginning of the Legislature, terms ending on January 10
will be of the precise six year length established in the Constitution and
statutes.
Given the virtually unbroken administrative and legislative use of the
January 10 date, we feel that the better view is to accept that construction.
Due to our answer to your first question, it is unnecessary to consider
your second question.
SUMMARY
The terms of members of the Board of Regents of
the University of Texas System expire on January 10.
Very truly yours,
Attorney General of Texas
C. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman
Opinion Committee
p. 2226