Pour request for an opinion upon the above i$ht,ed, ,.

subject matter is as followss

"Section 8 of the Fir6men's Disability and Retirement Law, (H. B. 258 ,45th Leg.) pro- vfdes that Medical and-Hospital services shall be paid for Volunteer Firemen and shall not apply to any city or town having a fully paid fire department.

*Tn some fnstances ffre departments have one paid fireman and the rest are volunteers, I would like to have a ruling on whether or not Section would apply to the paid man in a case..like this."

Section of the Firemen"s Relief and Retirement Act, (H. B. No. of the:Regular Session' of the 45th Leg- islature) is as fOlltXW8

Whenever any duly enrolled member of any regularly organized active flre'department of any city or town now coming within or that may hereafter come within the provisions of this Act as herein limited, on account of accfdent or other temporary dlsabfllty caused or sus- tained while fn, and/or in consequence of the performance of his duties be confined to any hospital or to his bed an /or 8 shall require *2 ._

Hon. 0. F. Williams - Page 2 (V-618)

the professional services of a physician, sur- geon or nurse, said Board of Trustees shall upon presentation of properly Itemized verified bills therefor, order paid from the Firemen's Relief and Retirement Fund of that city or town, all.necessary hospital, physl-' cian's, surgeon's, nurses1 and/or medicine bills or expenses and not less than Five DoL lars ($5) nor more than Fifteen Dollars ($15) per week to such fireman during such tempor- ary disability; provided however, that in no case shall the amount or amounts so paid for such bills and expenses exceed the aggregate sum of One Hundred Dollars ($100) In any one month; and provided.,iurther, that the bene- fits provided by this Section shall not apply to any city or town having a fully paid fire department."

The dominating purpose of H. B.,Ho. 258, as ap- pears from the title to the Bill and likewise from the entire context thereof, is to afford relief and retlre- ment benefits to firemen of the cities, towns and vll- lages of the State. In Section the ~wora Vlremenn or *fireman" means and Includes all active members of any regularly organized Fire Department of any incorporated city or town of this State having fire-fighting eqnip- ment or apparatus of the m&nue value of One Thousand ($1 000)~ Dollars or more, whether wholly paid, partly pali ana partly volunteer, or wholly volunteer. These -are the members entitled to benefits provided by the Act.

The language of Section abpve quoted is clear and unambiguous In respect to the proviso under conslder- atlon. That proviso Is wand provided further, that.the benefits provided by thls~ Section shall not apply to any city or~town having a fully paid Fire Department.' In the instance put by you that Is, In a Fire Department hav- isg one paid fireman an 4 the other members are volnnteers, .lt cannot possibly be said that there exists a "fully paid Fire Department.* It takes all the members of the Depart- ment to constitute the Department, and where only one of such members Is a paid fireman, lt.cannot be said that the Department is a "fully paid" one.

The member benefits of Section of the Flremenls Disability and Retiremen Act, therefore, do apply to the case you state.

Hon. G. F. Wfllfams - Page 3 (V-618)

The benefits DrOvided in Section 8 of the Firemen's Relief akd Retirement Act (H. B. No.

258, R. S. 45th Leg,) apply to a city or town whose Fire DeDartment has one paid fireman the other members are volunteers,

Yours very truly9 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS BY h&

Ocle Spie Assistant APPROVEDs 1 .

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