Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0597 Page: 1 of 4
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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
January 18, 2008
The Honorable Jeff Wentworth Opinion No. GA-0597
Chair, Committee on Jurisprudence
Texas State Senate Re: Whether a member of the Village of
Post Office Box 12068 Wimberley City Council may serve simultaneously
Austin, Texas 78711 on the board of directors of the Wimberley Water
Supply Corporation (RQ-0613-GA)
Dear Senator Wentworth:
You ask whether a member of the Village of Wimberley City Council may serve
simultaneously on the board of directors of the Wimberley Water Supply Corporation.' You state
that, at present, "[o]ne member of the Village of Wimberley City Council holds a position as a First
Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Wimberley Water Supply Corporation; [and] the
Village of Wimberley Mayor holds the position as President of the Board of Directors of the
Wimberley Water Supply Corporation." Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. Because your letter
suggests that both the mayor and the city council member are members of the city council, we refer
to them throughout this opinion as council members. See id. at 2.
Your questions may implicate the constitutional prohibition of dual office holding and the
common-law doctrine of incompatibility. See id at 1-2. Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas
Constitution does not allow an individual to hold more than one civil office of emolument at the
same time. See TEX. CONST. art. XVI, 40. The common-law doctrine of incompatibility prohibits
an individual from holding two public offices that perform inconsistent or conflicting duties. See
Thomas v. Abernathy County Indep. Sch. Dist., 290 S.W. 152, 153 (Tex. Comm'n App. 1927,
judgm't adopted) (concluding that the public offices of school trustee and city alderman are
incompatible because the city's board of aldermen have "various directory or supervisory powers
exertable in respect to school property located within the city or town and in respect to the duties of
school trustee performable within its limits"); Turner v. Trinity Indep. Sch. Dist. Bd. of Trs., 700
S.W.2d 1, 2 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1983, no writ). The common-law doctrine of
incompatibility also prohibits an individual "from appointing himself to another public position, or
from holding both an office and an employment subordinate to the office." Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No.
GA-0488 (2006) at 2; see also Ehlinger v. Clark, 8 S.W.2d 666, 674 (Tex. 1928) (stating that
'See Letter from Honorable Jeff Wentworth, Chair, Committee on Jurisprudence, Texas State Senate, to
Honorable Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas (Aug. 14, 2007) (on file with the Opinion Committee, also available
at http://www.oag.state.tx.us) [hereinafter Request Letter].
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0597, text, January 18, 2008; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275493/m1/1/?q=%222008~%22: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.