Judges: GREG ABBOTT, Attorney General of Texas
Filed Date: 10/24/2011
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
The Honorable Susan Combs Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Post Office Box 13528 Austin, Texas 78711-3528
Re: Whether the Medicaid and Public Assistance Fraud Oversight Task Force is an "advisory committee" within the meaning of chapter 2110 of the Government Code (RQ-0971-GA)
Dear Comptroller Combs:
You ask whether the Medicaid and Public Assistance Fraud Oversight Task Force (the "Task Force") is an "advisory committee" within the meaning of chapter 2110 of the Government Code.1
The Task Force was initially created2 in 1997 to "advise[] and assist[]" the Health and Human Services Commission ("HHSC") and the "commission's office of investigations and enforcement in improving the efficiency of fraud investigations and collections." TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. §
Chapter 2110 of the Government Code defines the term "advisory committee," for purposes of that chapter, to include a task force "that has as its primary function advising a state agency in the executive branch of state government."Id. § 2110.001 (West 2008) (emphasis added). You ask whether the Task Force is an "advisory committee" within the meaning of chapter 2110. Request Letter at 1. You suggest that the Task Force's enabling statute, chapter 531 of the Government Code, fails to designate the Task Force's "primary function." Id. at 2. *Page 2
In an earlier opinion, this office considered whether the Texas Crime Stoppers Advisory Council was subject to chapter 2110. Tex. Att'y Gen. LO-98-059. The opinion noted that the council's enabling statute, chapter 414 of the Government Code, prescribed five separate duties. Moreover, the opinion found that other provisions of chapter 414 added three additional duties.Id. at 2-3. Like the council described in that opinion, the Task Force has been prescribed several duties. For example, as we have noted, the Task Force's enabling statute requires that it "advise[] and assist[]" the HHSC and the "commission's office of investigations and enforcement in improving the efficiency of fraud investigations and collections." Moreover, the Task Force may require the office of inspector general of the HHSC to provide "additional information" pursuant to section 531.107(f).See TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. §
We conclude that the Medicaid and Public Assistance Fraud Oversight Task Force is not an "advisory committee," and as a result, chapter 2110 of the Government Code does not apply to the Task Force. *Page 3
Very truly yours,
GREG ABBOTT Attorney General of Texas
DANIEL T. HODGE First Assistant Attorney General
DAVID J. SCHENCK Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel
JASON BOATRIGHT Chair, Opinion Committee
Rick Gilpin Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee