Case Information
*1 OFFICE OF. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN
Honorable Sam L. Harrison Attorney
~OSeOUtiIk~ Robertson County
Franklin, Texas
Dear Sir:
Your letter of J , requesting the salary of Deputy opinion or this department
rt, as follows: s ~aboliehed and the dutler of that oed upon the office of County atty pe have 50 Co ; Co’itrt at way sinoe. question as allowed under art..;, 3%02 or is it prohi- bited from 80 doing under art 3VlZf-37’ The popula- tion of Robertson, 1940, being 26710.. Please let me have’your opinion on tp*ab$e question at your earlieet convklence.
As stated in your letter, Robertson County has a population of 25,710 inhabitants aocording to the 1940 Federal Censgs.
Honorable Am L. &rrison, page 2 drtlole 3QlZti3, ,$ernon*s Annotate.4 Civil Statutes,
reads, in part, as follows: In all oounties in the State OS
“Section 1. ‘Texas having a popu~tion of not lea8 than(25,600)
twenty-five thousand six hundred and not more than twenty-five thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine (25,889) ;aooordlng to the last Federal Census, in which there are ~no distrlot attorneys, the oommis- aloners’ oourt of said oounty shall, from ,and attar the effective date of this A&t, oompensate the sher- irfa or such oountfes upon an aMual salary baais and ehall fix then salaries of suoh sheriifs in auoh counties at .not lese than thirty-three hundred ($3300.00) dollars and not more than thirty-six hundred ($3600.00) dollars per aMUm* payable in twelve (12) equal monthly installments, out Of the Officers’ Salary Fund 0;’ 8uoh oount ies by warrant drawn upon said fund.
%eo..Z. The sheriffs of suoh oounties are hereby authorized and ~empowered to appoint at least one deputy sheriff and one speoial deputy sherlrr; the powers and duties of the speofal deputy shall be the sane as those of other deputy aherifis and; In addition, a spee’ial deputy shall be to assist suoh sheriffs in all matters arising in and connected wfth the offioial oonduot oil said oftioe, including the finger printing, photography work, and investigation work of said otfioe. The oomlssionera* of obwts such counties shall, the efieative from after datd oi this Act, oompeneate suoh deputy sherirrs and such speoial deputy sherlfrs upon an annual aal- arp basis and shall fix the salariee of such speoial deputy sheriffs at not exceeding one thousand two hundred ($1200.00) do.llars per annum, payable in twelve’(12) equal monthly installments out of the Oiiicers*dalary Fund pf 8UOh oounties, by warrant drawn upon e.a.id Lund by the oo.mnlssloners’ oourt. The oompensation of the deputy sheriff shall like- wise beg f ire4 at an annual salary not axoeeding one thousand ($lOOO,OO) dollare, payable in twelve (12) equal monthly Installments In lfke manner as provlded for the payment of the salaries of’ 8peOial deputy sheriffs, hereinabove set out 8”
3.00 ---.-YYd win t. Hdrrison, p*ge 3 County &as a population oomiag within the Robertson
population braoket mentioned the foregoing Said in statute. is applicable to RobartaoA County, however, a serious statute queation as to the oonstitutionality 0s aaia statute is me- thia dsparttnent haa oarefull7 oonaidered sented. Heretofore similar to artlole 3912r-3, Vernon s knnotsted many statutes and&M held 8UOh 8tUtUteS Civil StatUt88, uJ2OOmtitUtional ea suoh statute8 oontravena the nrovisioAa Of Section 56, Article 3 or the Stat6 COAEtitUtiOA.
Seation 56, ArtLo 3 of the State Xonetitution pro- Vid88, in pUt, a8 fOllOWSI
Vha Legislature ahall not, l xoept aa other- Wis8 provided tn this Constitution, pa88 any looal or 8p8Oial laws, authorieingr
uRe&ulutlng the 8ffsir8 0s countlea, oitiea, towns, wards or aohool alatriota;
n* * *
"Greatin OffiCea, or preeoriblng the. powers~ and duties 0s 0rricer8, in oountiee, cities, towna, eleation or sohooJ aiatrlot~
It ia olear that the law under oonaideratfon (ArtTale 3912f-3) the affairs of tha oountlea to regulates and prescribe6 t&8 powers and auti0o of officers. ya law la it epsoial and looal la violation of the ArtZcle 3, S8OtiOIl 587
Aa atateb' in our Opinion No. O-22211 -* l *A law which appl.ies only to a psrt of a natural olass Of persons o r things must predi- oat8 its inolua:oA Of the part8 and exclusion or tha balanos upon ohwaoteri8tiaa peauliar to the part, whioh, oonafdering Obj8OtS purpose8 or the law, afford reasonable soma for restrio- ting the application of the law to the part. Classi- fication must be reasonable find natUral, not arbl- trary and caprioioua. ,zrbitrary designation is not olas8itiaation, The vice 0s local or sp8oiel lam La that they rest OA arbitrary designation; that they *4 HonorAble Sam L, Harrison, mge 4
do not e&race and effedt all the 0lass to whioh 26 P.C.L., pp. 81% they are nuturally related. 12 AIS. Jur. p. 140; Smith Vo State, (Ct. Grim.
816; App.) 49 3. W. (2d) 739; Randolph V, Stvte (Ct.
Grim. App.) 38 3. W. (2d) 484; Clark v. Pinley,
93 Tex. 151, 54 5. W. 343; City or Port Zorth vr Bobbitt, 121 Tex. 14, 36 5. W. 470, 41 5. W. (21l) 228. Bezar County v. Tynan, 128 Tt~x. 223, 97 5.
W. fed) 467r
*Beoauso population as a basis for olassifloa- tlon’has been sustained by tM oourte in respeot’ to legislation on’ oertain subjeots, it has been as- sumed, erroneously, that population braokete will serve ln all lnstanoea to avoid the condemnation of the Constitution. This mistaken assumption pre- oeeds from a failure to note that population has been sustained as a basis for olasslflcatlon only in those instanoes where it bore a reasonable re- lation to the objects and purposes of the law and was founded upon a rational dlfforenoe in the neoes- sltlee oonditlona of the group6 eubjeoted to dlr- ferent laws. Where it has been determined that, oonsideriog the objeote and purposes of the law,
differenoes in population afiord no rational baele for dlsorimineting between grou?e of the 8~ natural class, olaseitioatlon on the basis of population has been termed arbitrary ssleotion, and the law has been held to be apeoial looal. Randolph v. St&e, 8upra.”
Seotl.on 66, Art1010 3 O? the State Conatltution also providea, in effeot; that the Legislature shall not pass any looal or epeoial laws wherr a general law oan be made applioable esoept special laws ror.the preservation OS gamn and fish of this State in certain looalitler. Article 3902, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes is
a general la* $&&ding the compensation payable to deputies Or varlous”~riloero mentioned therein. Said statute la to Robertson County. amlioable *5 ” ‘Honorable &m L. Harrison, p;lge 5
After oarefully oonsldering artlole 39121-3, eupra, in connection with the foregoing authorities and the ease of killer, et al, v. El Paso County, 150 Y, ,W. (Zd) 1000, and the authorities cited timrein, It is our opinion that said article (39121-3) contravanes the provisions of Seotion 56, Article 3 of the State Constltutlon and is, therefore, unoonstitutlonal and void. Article 3902, Vernon’s bnotat8d Civil Statutes, pro-
vides, In part;
*The oonpensatlon whioh may be allowed to the deputies, assistants or olerks above named for their servloes ahal& be a reasonable one not to exceed the following amounts:
“2. In oountias having a population of twenty-five thousand and one (26,001) and not more than thlrty- seven thousand five hundred (37,600). Inhabitants, first assistant or ohiei deputy not to exceed two thousand dollars($2,000.00) per annum; other assist- nnts, deputies, or olerke not to exceed seventeen hundred dollars(~1700.00) per annum eaoh.’ * **
It is noted that you do not atate in your letter what compensation the deputy sheriff ir receiving at this time. It is further noted that you do not state that the deputy in quseetion Is a chief deputy other deputy as mentioned in the statute.
The roregolng provision of Artiole 3902 (Sea. 2) is applicable to Robertson County as said county has a popula;t.;n of 25,710 inhabitants aocordlng to the 1940 Federal Census.
maximum annual salariestb&tlnJ oounty oonunlsslonera~ oourt can legally, authorize ia $2,000. legally ary of the ohlef deputy sheriff for the ohle? deputy sherlrr of said oounty
The maximum salary for other deputy sheriffs oannot exoeed $1700 eaoh per annum. In flxlng the annual sal- or other deputies, the oomm18- sioners’ court ia authorized to ilx suoh salaries aa they deem reasonable, not to exoeed the maximum heretofore tentloned.
Yours very truly ATTORNEY’ GONXRAL OF TEX.AY By*d& Ardell Willlams Assistant i -.. -