Texas Attorney General Opinion: V-1234 Page: 2 of 4
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Hon. George B. Butler, page 2 (V-1234).
toward the payment of such salaries. It
is the opinion of this Department, based
on the reasoning which follows, that the
correct meaning of the term 'none to ex-
ceed $3,320.00 per year' is actually 'none
to exceed $3,420.00 per year.' Your opin-
ion is therefore desired as to whether we
are correct in our interpretation which
would permit the payment of a maximum sal-
ary of $3,420.00 annually to each of the
four investigators provided for."
In the exhibits you have attached to your re-
quest, it is shown that under the appropriation bill
of the 51st Legislature for your department these in-
vestigators received a salary not to exceed $3,130.00
per year. With certain exceptions not here involved,
the 52nd Legislature provided for an increase of 10%
of the first $2,400.00 of the annual salary, or a total
of $240.00 per year, to all state employees making
$5,004.00 or less. This is evidenced by a comparison
of House Bill 426 as first passed by the House of Rep-
resentatives to its present form as finally adopted.
If this $240.00 increase applies to the investigators
in question, their salary would be $3,420.00. Other-
wise, their salary would be $3 320.00, which would
amount to an increase of only $140.00.
We are of the opinion that the salary of
$3,320.00 set out in Item 10 is an error and that it
should read $3,420.00. The Legislature obviously in-
tended to raise these employees to not to exceed
$3,420.00, as evidenced by the total sum of $13,680.00
appropriated for Item 10, and as evidenced by the gen-
eral increase of $240.00 to each state employee com-
ing within the category of those embraced in Item 10.
Also, the grand total appropriated for the Life In-
surance Division is correctly computed only if the
figure of $13,680.00 is used, rather than $13,280.00,
which would be the total amount for Item 10 if the 4
investigators were to receive only $3,320.00 each.
The rule with regard to the correction of ob-
vious legislative errors is stated in 50 Am. Jur. 219,
Statutes, Sec. 232, as follows:
"There are, however, many cases in
which it has been regarded proper to cor-
rect legislative errors. In this respect,
there is authority for the rule that cler-
ical mistakes should be disregarded, that
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: V-1234, text, August 10, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth266052/m1/2/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.