DocketNumber： S-114
Judges： John Ben Shepperd
Filed Date： 7/2/1953
Status： Precedential
Modified Date： 2/18/2017
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