Texas Attorney General Opinion: WW-517 Page: 6 of 8
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'A
Honorable Lynn Brown, page 6. (WW-517)
" .. . the local tax levied and col-
lected by the trustees of an independent school
district for maintenance of the schools can be
used only for the purposes of maintenance, to
the extent needed for that purpose, . . . the
term 'maintenance' of schools does not include
the cost of the construction of school houses."
The character of work being done by both the Building
and Grounds Superintendent and the head plumber" cannot be said
to come within the meaning of the word maintenance as used in
the Act. The plumbing being done by these men consists of the
installation of a complete plumbing system in a new building.
This obviously is not maintenance work. The "head plumber" was
hired by the school system specifically for this new construc-
tion Job and had not been previously employed by the district
in their maintenance department. Nor is there any evidence to
show that he had ever done any maintenance work for the school
district.
In the opinion of this office, reliance upon the re-
quirement that the plumbing work being done by the individuals
in the present case is incidental to and in connection with the
business in which they are employed or engaged is not sufficient
to exempt them from the licensing requirements of the Act.
The word "incidental" has reference to something which
is subordinate to and dependent upon the existence of another
and principal thing. It has been said to be dependent upon some-
thing else as primary and something incidental to the main pur-
pose. Biggart v. Lewis, 192 Pac. 437, 440; The Robin Goodfellow
et al, 20 F. 2d 924, 925; Kelly v. Hill, 230 P. 2d 64, 867, 104
Cal. App. 2d 61.
It would be impossible to say that the work involved
in the construction of a brand new multi-classroom unit school
building, costing many thousands of dollars, is incidental to
the work of maintaining those structures already in existence
in the school district. Nor can the "head plumber", who has
been employed specifically to install the new plumbing system
in the building, be exempted merely because the school district
chooses to give him the title "maintenance man".
The courts, in writing concerning exceptions and their
application, will generally construe the exception according to
its fair and proper meaning. If the Act contains one or more
exceptions that is evidence that the Legislature did not intend
to provide any other exceptions, thus the Act should apply in
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: WW-517, text, October 23, 1958; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth267129/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.