Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1953 )

December 4, 1953
Horn. C, H. Cavness Opinion No. S-114
State Auditor
Capitol Station Re: Counting by State Auditor
Austin, Texas of semester ho,urs of which
approval is made by Texas
Education Agency after
Dear Mr. Cavness: November 1.
Section 2 of Article IV of Chapter 81, Acts
of the 53rd Legislature, 1953, page 126, 306 (the General
Appropriations Act for the current biennium) provides in
part:
",The Texas Central Education Agency
shall determine whether each eligible Public
JuniorCollege has complied with all the pro-
visions of this section; shall determine
each College's list of co'urses on which
participation herein is to be based; and
shall certify its findings and such lists
to the~State Auditor not later than November
1st of each year."
Yo'u ask if yo'u must count for apportionment pur-
poses the semester hours in those courses approved by
the Texas Education Agency later than November 1, 1953.
"Statutes that regulate and prescribe
the time within which officers shall perform
specified duties are ordinarily regarded
as merely directory insofar as the time is
concerned. Tho,ugh.the officer neglects to
act within the time prescribed, if he acts
afterwards the public will not be permitted
to suffer by the delay." 34 Tex. Jur. 456,
P,ublic Officers, Sec. 77. See also Truehart
v. Addicks, 2 Tex. 217 (1847); State v.
Fox, 133 S.W.2d 987 (Tex.Civ.App. 1939
error ref.); Att'y Gen. Op. O-6708 (1945)*
Hon. C. H. Cavness, page 2 (S-114)
Consequently, the State Auditor must count
semester hours in courses approved by the Texas Educa-
tion Agency after November lst, 1953, since the Legisla-
ture did not intend to restrict the apportionment to any
Public Junior College because its courses were not ap-
proved by the Texas Ed,ucation Agency within the time
directed. The date of November lst, as used in the Ap-
propriation Act, is merely directory, rather than manda-
tory.
SUMMARY
The State Auditor is a,uthorized by the
current Appropriation Act to count for Public
Junior College apportionment purposes the
semester hours in courses certified to him
by the Texas Education Agency even though the
certification is made after the date specified
in the Act.
Yours very truly,
APPROVED: JOHN BEN SHEPPERD
Attorney General
J. C. Davis, Jr.
C~ounty Affairs Division
Mary K. Wall BY
Reviewer
Robert S. Trotti
First Assistant
BEL:am