Case Information
*1 * R-597 OFFICE OF AUSTIN. TEXAS JULY 15, 1947
PRICE DANIEL ,,rrORNEY GENLRAI. Hon. C. H. Cavness Opinion MO. V-303 State Auditor Capitol Building .
Re: Construtition of Arti- Austin, Texas cle 16, Sections- 33 and 4.0, Texas Consti- tution, as applied to an independent con- tractor.
Dear Mr. Cavness:
In your letters of June l&h 'and 3Gth, you state that Mr. Jac L. Gubbels is a full-time employee of the State Highway Department, holding the position of "Head Landscape Architect n a position created by that Department which is not &ted in the Appropriation Bill: His salary is paid'out of the State Treasury by warrant. During the time Mr. Gubbels was so employed, he‘entered into an agreement with the Austin Independent S&ho01 District. through its Board of Trustees, to:.conduot a survey oh the Austin school system, and to'make recom- mendations for the locations for new sdhool sites In 'connection with a program of develo ment through the' x year 1966, Under such contract, an while employed by the State Highway Department, Mr. Gubbels conducted the survey and made recommended locations for thirty-one school sites at an agreed fee of $750.00 per site. A check was issued to Mr. Gubbels on June 4, 1947, by the School Board in the sum of $23,250.00 for such services. You disclose that such check was paid from the proceeds of the sale of certain building-bonds issued "by the itzen Independent School District and/or the City of . .a You further state that: We have not ascer- tained as to whether any portion of Mr. Gubbels' School District duties were performed during working hours for tihicb he was being paxd as an employee of the State Highway Department."
Your question is whether Mr. Gubbelst employ- ment.by the Austin Inde endent School District, concur- rent wxth full-time P emp oyment by the State of Texas, comes within the prohibition of Section 33 of Article 16 of our State Constitution.
At common law (adopted as the law of Texas in Article 1, R. C. S., when not inconsistent with our statutes or Constitution),, Where is no limit to the number of offices which may be held simultaneously by the same person, provided that neither of them is in- compatible with any other; and this rule extends to offices of the highest grade, and which involve, for their adequate performance, the greatest expenditure of time and labor-v Throop, Public Officers, p. 33. It is stated in Vol. 2 (Rev.) McQuillin on Municipal Cor- porations, at page 144, that, "The same person may hold different offices which are not incompatible, unless forbidden by 1aw.v 43 Am. Jur. 153 recites that: "In the absence of express or implied statutory provision to the contrary, an officer who holds two or more-sepa- rate and distinct offices, not incompatible, is enti- tled to the compensation attached to each office." And in 46 Corpus Juris, page 941, it says, "At conrmon law the holding of one office does not of itself disqualify the incumbent from holding another office at the same' time, provided there is.no inconsistency in the func- tions of the two offices in question . . . The incon- sistency . . . does not consist in the physical impos- sibility to discharge the duties of both offices, but lies rather in a conflict of interest, as where one is subordinate to the other . . . or' has the power to're- move the incumbent of the other, or to audit the ac- -counts of the other." . .
Meechsm on Public Offices Fd Officers,' p. 269, announces the rule to be that: . . . the mere physical impossibility of one person's performing the duties of the two offices as from the lack of time or the inability to be in two places at the same moment, is not the incompatibility here referred to. It must be an inconsistency in the functions of the two of- fices, as judge and clerk of the same court, claimant and auditor', and the like."
Under Tekas cases, applying the common la% rule, various positions have been held incompatible; *hat is, city secretary and city recorder, State v. Brinkerhoff, 66 Tex. 45; school trustees and town al- dermen, Thomas v. Abernathy County Line Inde endent School District (Comm. App.) 290 S.1152; *a position with the Texas Employment Service and also private employment imposing the same duties, A. G. O- pinion O-2929; County Commissioner and trustee of a *3 I3 Hon. C. H. Cavness - Page 3, V-303 rural high school district, A. G. Opinion O-5145. See casenote by John W. Stayton, 12 Tex. Law Rev. 367.
Ap lying these tests, it was held in A. G. Opinion .
8 V- 3 (1947) that the offices of County Commissioner and trustee of an independent school district were not incompatible. That opinion quotes the following from Knuckles v. m of Education (Ky. 1938), 114 S.W.
7-n "1. . . Gcompatibility is recognized when- ever one is subordinate to the other . . . or is sub- ject to supervision by the other, or where a contrarity and antagonism would result in the attempt by one per- son to discharge the duties of both.. . . two offices are incompatible where the incumbent of one has the power to remove the incumbent of the other, . . . and it also exists where the incumbent of one office has the power of appointment as to the other office, or to audit the accounts of another, nor to exercise a super- vision over another.'"
But the position Mr. Gubbels held with the Highway Department of'the State .in.conuection with hi&wa tests 2: beautification is not incompatible,,under the
aid down by the common law,rules of decision, with that of locating school sites. The two have lit- tle or nothing in common. Neither is subordinate to the other. The incumbent of neither has a supervisory or appointive power over the other. There Is no in- consistency in the functions of either, as the word Vnconsistencyn is used in the common law.
All of these authorities rovide, in sub- stance, that eunless prohibited by P aw" a person may hold more than one position with the State, assuming no incompatibility. It therefore becomes necessary to see what prohibitions have been written into our law, and what changes have been made in the common law as applicable to Texas.
The.‘framers of our Texas Constitution made two exceptions to the common law rule in Article 16, Sections 33 and 40. Section 40 rovides that "No pe - e same time more t Earl son shall hold or exercise,'at t R (EmpAasis is one civil office of emolument . . . ." added throughout this opinion.)
The distinction between a public nofficer" and an "employeev of the State is clearly drawn in an Attorney General's opinion of September 22, 1913, by C. M. Cureton, later Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme *4 Hon. C. H. Cavness - Page 4, v-303
24. An ~~officerv exercises some governmental func-
court: tion; 'he is invested with.some portion of the sover- eignty. A public office is a right, authority, and duly created and conferred by law, the tenure of which is not transient, occasional or incidental. Among the cri- teria given for determining whether an employment is a public office or not, are the'requirements of an offi- cial oath and bond; that the powers are granted and con- ferred by law and not by contract. The vofficerv is generally answerable for misfeasance in office, and is responsible for acts of his "emp1oyees.v Employment, on the other hand, is established by contract. It in- volves performing such duties as are prescribed by the employing agent. The llemployee'l is often subject to discharge at the will of the "officerv to whom he is responsible. It was specifically held in Olmstead 1.
The Mayor of New York, 42 U. Y.,Super. Ct. 481, that a arcmema position similar to that of Xr. Edsca Gubbelsr who was regularly eroloyed in the Department of F'ublii Works, was an "ezplo$een of the Commissioners and'not a public officer. These matters are fully dis- cussed in Loard v. Cs, 137 S.W. (2d) 880, writ re- fused; Knox v. Johnson, 141 S.W. (2d) 698, writrefused; Meechsm, Publicwrs, Ch. 1; 42 Am. Jur:, Public Officers, Sections 2-16; 34.Tex. Jur., Public Officers; Sections 2-4; and in Annotations 53 A.L.R. 595, 93 A.L.R. 333, 40 A.L.R. 1076. ,.C Under the above'rule, the place Es. Gubbels
holds with the Highway Department is.clesrly not an "office? but is a mere employment. Hence Section 40 is not applicable.
The second prohibition laced in our Consti-
tution is Section 33 of Article 1 % . The pertinent por- tions of that section read:
"The accounting officers of this State shall neither draw nor ay a warrant upon the treasury in favor o T any person, for salary or compensation as agent, officer or appointee, who holds at the sane time any other office or position of honor, trust or profit under this State . . . .I' While school districts do not enjoy certain privileges and immunities enjoyed by the State (for ex- ample, the two year statute of limitation is applicable to them,,Hatcher v. State, 125 Tex. 84, 81 S.W. (2d) .
499, noted 14 Tex. Law Rev. 4111, it is generally held that they are state agencies, erected and employed for the purpose of administering the State's system of-pub- lic schools. Love v_. Cit of Dallas, 120 Tex. 351, l+O S.W. (2d) 20. Lewis v. -I+- n e enwchool District of Austin, 139 feD,-l6*f mupuy v -. State, 125 Tex. Crim. 595, 121 S.W. (2d) 1003; 37 Tex. Jur.
865.
Under the above cases, a person holding an
"office or position of honor trust, or profit" in a school d.?.?trict, would be hoiding the same "under this State."
~However, from the facts given by you, it ap-
pears that Mr. Gubbels did not'hold an "office" or flpositionn in the ordinary sense. He was not carried on the School District's payroll as an agent, servant, or employee.
He was not employed on a yearly or month- ly basis. He did not have auyone to tell him when,or how to-work, or Mat hours to keep; he was responsible to no one in the manner of his work; he had no desk, or office hours, or title. He was free to employ as- sistants without consulting anyone; and he, not the School Board, would have been responsible for his own and the torts of-,such assi+antsr ._' .
An "independent contractorn is defined in POE;: 2 of the Restatement of the Law of Agency as
*An independent contractor is a person who
contra& with another to do something for him but who is not controlled by the other nor subject to the other's right to control with respect to his physical conduct in the performance of the undertaking."
In distinguishing an independent contractor . from an employee or servant, 2 American Jurisprudence 17 says, "An independent contractor may be distin- guished from an agent in that he is a person who con- tracts with another to do something for him, but who is not controlled or subject to the control of the other in the performance of such contract, but only as to the result. A principal, on the other hand, has the right to control the conduct of an agent with re- spect to matters intrusted to him. The theory which in many cases is adopted to differentiate between an agent and an independent contractor is that one is to be regarded as an agent or an independent contractor according to whether he is subject to, or free from,
Hon. c. H. Cavness - Page 6, V-303
3%
the control of the employer with respect to the details of the work. . . .v'
Justice Shar in Industrial Indemnit Ex-
;ham?~ =;:&I;! Q=~~531, 160 @ 7ja5,
: "The general rule relat- ing to independent contractors rests upon certain ret- ognised tests; although such tests are not necessarily concurrent with each other, nor is each test in itself controlling. Such tests are: (1) The independent na- ture of his business; (2) his obligation to furnish necessary tools, supplies, and material to performthe job; (3) his right to control the progress of the work, except as to finalresults; (4) the time for which lie is employed; and (5) the method of payment, whether by time or by the job. There are other tests, but the foregoing are considered the essential tests upon.which such rule is based."
Mr. Gubbels~ was not, therefore, under the a-
bove criteria, an agent or employee of the SchoolDis- trict. tractor. His position was that of an independent con-
The question then remains as to whether an in- dependent contractor who enters on a contractual agree- ment with a school district holds an'noffice or trust, or profit," .- Pa of honor, tion 33. within the meaning o
A similar situation was presented to this de- whether, while holding that position he could either [8] exas artment in 1927. State Board of Accountmcv. desired to ascertain Mr. J. A.,Phillips, a member of the (1) receive regular pay as an em loyee of a state agency for doin accounting work, or (2 P perform such services as an in ependent contractor. In an able opinion by Mr. D. A. Simmons, later president of both the Texas Bar Association and the American Bar Association, this of- fice said,
t, . . . . Therefore, we can .advise with- out hesitancy that being a member of the State Board of Public Accountancy under the Constitution you could not be paid compensa- tion as an agent, officer or an appointee of the State or any of its subdivisions. If, however, the employment you have in mind is as an independent contractor and not as an \ t
agent, officer or appointee of the St&e,
we have found no provision of the Consti-
tution or law which would prevent you from
accepting such a contract while serving as
a member of the State Board of Public Ac-
countancy. We take it that this board has
nothing to do with letting such contracts
or fixing in any manner the compensation
therefor." (Op. No. 2671, Bk. 62, p. 109;
Biennial Report 1926-28, p. 406)
That opinion has never been overruled and is similar to the situation presented by Mr. Gubbeis. It
was followed in an opinion by First Assistant Attorney
GeneralScott Gaines in 1937, wherein it was held that
the County Auditor of Harris County could take inde-
pendent contracts to audit the books of independent
school districts where such services were not required
of him as County Auditor.
Many similar facts were involved fn.Cit and
Count of San Francisco V. Boyd (Cal. Sup. 19.d Ins e city &arter provided that 'nAil d)='76; Th and offices shall be included'in the
z&+g?&;.; The citv made a contract to emolov an
expert on traffic controi at a.large sala ti, iakz,
recommendations on traffic planning. The 'E omptroller
objected to the contract because, among other reasons,
it failed to put the planner under -civil service. In holding the contract valid and in holding that he held neither an "office" nor a Cposition,n but was an inde-
pendent contractor, the Court qaid,
"The proposed contractor is not to
be placed in any osition provided for by
the charter. He is to e engaged under a b
contract to do a specific job~and all of
the assistants which he will employ from
the typist in his'office to his most high-
:fly paid engineer are to be instrumentalities
of his own choosing and for whom he is to
be responsible. They do not become.city
employees in the sense of that word, as
used in.reference to the classified service,
but are to be employees of the engineer
whose contract requires that he supply the
city with estimates plans programs and
reports, such as wiil enable the munici-
pality to advance the public welfare by the
improvement of conditions with respect to
3.8
which his services will be rendered. . ,~Because the supervisors in the
1). . exercise of their discretion prefer to keep check upon the details of the cost of the work to be done by the contractor rather than to contract for the survey to be done for a lump sum does not alter the fact that the contractor is employed as an independent contractor to do a specific job and to get for himself a definite profit." It is therefore, our opinion that Sections 33 and 40 of Artic i e 16 of our Constitution do not prohibit Mr. Gubbels from taking work as an independent contrac- tor while em loyed by the State Highway Department. Xbether Mr. iz ubbels fully performed his duties to the Highway Department is a matter for the officials in charges of that Department to decide, and for which they are responsible. Under Section 14(c) of Senate Bill 317, Acts 49th Legislature, p. 945 (State Departmental Appropriation Bill), it is provided that no salary shall be paid any person unless such person actually dis- charges his assigned duties. If Mr. Gubbels fully erformed all the duties
assigned to him by the Highway 5 epartment during the hours required by the Departmental Appropriation Bill, it was not a violation of the law for him to perform, or have performed, the work required on the school loca- tions "on his own time l1 before and after Hi hway Depart- ment working hours. On the other hand, if i! e did not discharge the duties and work during the hours required, he is entitled to no pay for such period of time under the provisions of S. B. 317, supra.
This opinion covers only the question of the legality of Mr. Gubbels' contract and payment as an in; dependent contractor by the School Board while he was acting and receiving pay as an employee of the Highway Department. The fact that the law does not prohibit such an arrangement should not be considered as an ap- proval thereof as a matter of public policy. Neither should this opinion be considered an approval of the actions of either the School Board or the Highway De- partment as a matter of public policy. It is difficult to believe that State employees can engage in outside work of such magnitude without some loss of time and *9 . .
thought to the State's business. Similarly, in most
cases, a School Board would not receive as much thought and planning on such a project from one who is occupied eight hours each day on another job. Be that as it
may, until and unless the Legislature speaks on this
subject, it is entirely up to the State Department and the School Board to determine their respective policies concerning the matters involved in this case.
. - SUNMARY
An employee of the State Highway De-
partment is not prohibited by law from en-
tering into and executing a contract, as an
independent contractor, with an independent
school district for work to be performed
before and after Department hours, where
there is no incompatibility in such work
and no failure to.discharge State duties.
Such practice.is questioned as a matter of
public policy, but until the Legislature speaks on the subject, it is for the State
Department and the School Board to decide
their respective policies in such matters.
(Construing Texas Constitution, Art. 16,
Sections 33 and 40.)
Yours very truly, ATTORREY GENERAL OF TEXAS W Joe R. Greenhill Executive Assistant APPROVED:
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