Texas Attorney General Opinion: H-562 Page: 3 of 4
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The Honorable Joe Resweber page 3 (H-562)
It]he institution of an emergency ambulance service
is . . . a service kindred to the police or fire
service. This type of service is incident to the
police power of the state: i. e., to protect the health,
safety, and general welfare of its citizens. Ayala v.
City of Corpus Christi, 507 S. W. 2d 324, 328 (Tex.
Civ. App. --Corpus Christi 1974, no writ hist).
In Attorney General Opinion C-759 (1966), this office ruled that
a hospital district was authorized to establish an emergency ambulance
service. The relevant statute, article 4494n, V. T. C. S., provided that
a hospital district might operate "hospital facilities and systems for the
maintenance of hospitals . . . and any and all other facilities and services
the hospital district may require . . . " From this general grant of
power, the Opinion declared, it was reasonable to infer the district's
authority to operate an emergency ambulance service, since such a
service, "while not exclusively a hospital service, is sufficiently related
to the effective and efficient operation of a hospital as to be within the
authority of the Board of Managers of the District to acquire and operate
in carrying out its duties within the District. "
Bearing in mind that's constitutional provision is to be construed
liberally and in an equitable manner so as to carry out the great principles
of government for the benefit of people. I[ Edwards v. Murphy, 256 S. W.
2d 470 (Tex. Civ. App. --Ft. Worth 1953, writ dismtl); Great Southern
Life Ins. Co. v. Austin, 243 S.W. 778 (Tex. Sup. 1922, we cannot say
that it is impermissible for the Legislature to conclude that the opera-
tion of an emergency ambulance service was a proper function of a
rural fire prevention district and sufficiently related to the effective
operation of the district as to be within its authority.
.SUMMARY
Subsections 3 and 6 of article 2351a-6section 11,
V. T. C. S., are constitutional, and as a result, the
Legislature may authorize rural fire preventionp. 2529
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: H-562, text, March 24, 1975; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth271086/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.