Texas Attorney General Opinion: O-5366 Page: 2 of 3
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Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard - page 2 - (0-5366)
Your inquiry should be answered in the negative.
Boards such as you mention are legal entities and
are required to function as such. As such entity, the board
functions precisely as an individual State officer functions
-- personally.
It has several times been ruled by this Department
that such boards may not function by individual action, but
may function only in the orderly way of board proceedings.
In Opinion No. 0-1126 this department held that the
Texas State Parks Board had no authority to delegate its pow-
ers to another, but that it could perform its duties only
through board action.
In Opinion No. 0-5292 this department held as follows:
"From your question we understand that
the Commission (State Commission for the
Blind) desires to make a general authoriza-
tion for expenditures and delegate to one or
more of its individual members or to its exec-
utive secretary authority to approve all
expenditures for payment without the neces-
sity of further action by a majority of the
Commission. In our opinion this can not be
done and we therefore answer your question
in the negative,."
In Opinion No. 0-5333 we held that the Board of
Control may not delegate to another the authority to ap-
prove a voucher claim for the issuance of a warrant for
payment.
The courts have also held the same thing, the latest
decision perhaps being Webster et al v. Texas & Pacific Motor
Transportation Co., et al, 166 S. W. (2) 75, where Mr. Chief
Justice Alexander thus discusses and announces the rule:
"It is a well established rule in this State,
as well as in other States, that where the
Legislature has committed a matter to a board,
bureau, or commission, or other administrative
agency, such board, bureau, or commission must
act thereon as a body at a stated meeting, or
one properly called, and of which all the
members of such board have notice, or of
which they are given an opportunity to
attend. Consent or acquiescence of, or agreement
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: O-5366, text, 1943; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth262637/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.