Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0325 Page: 1 of 4
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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
May 18, 2005
The Honorable Troy Fraser Opinion No. GA-0325
Chair, Committee on Business and Commerce
Texas State Senate Re: Whether police officers in a civil service
Post Office Box 12068 municipality who advance in rank because of an
Austin, Texas 78711-2068 officer's military leave of absence may be
demoted to their former positions once the officer
returns from military service (RQ-0282-GA)
Dear Senator Fraser:
You ask, on behalf of the City of League City, Texas (the "City"), whether police officers
in a civil service municipality who advance in rank because of an officer's military leave of absence
may be demoted to their former positions once the officer returns from military service.'
You inform us that the City adopted civil service status and established a civil service
commission (the "commission") for its fire and police departments. Request Letter, supra note 1,
at 2. Positions in the City's police department consist of four grades: (1) officer; (2) sergeant; (3)
lieutenant; and (4) captain. Id. A police department lieutenant received a military leave of absence
to serve in Afghanistan. Id. The commission filled the lieutenant's position by promoting a sergeant
from an existing list of eligible candidates. Id. That promotion left a vacancy in the sergeant's
position, which the chief of police filled by designating a grade-one officer from an existing
eligibility list. Id. You ask whether, when the lieutenant returns and assumes his former rank and
position, as is the lieutenant's right under section 143.072(c) of the Local Government Code, the
commission has the authority to return the other officers to their former positions as sergeant and
grade-one officer. Id. at 2; see TEX. Loc. Gov'T CODE ANN. 143.072(c) (Vernon Supp. 2004-05).
Under a chapter 143 civil service system, responsibility for employment decisions is allocated
among the municipality's governing body, its civil service commission, and police and fire
department heads. The municipal governing body is responsible for the classification and number
of police and fire fighter positions, which it must establish by ordinance. TEX. Loc. GOV'T CODE
ANN. 143.021(a) (Vernon 1999). Additionally, the municipal governing body is authorized to
vacate or abolish police or fire department positions by enacting a force reduction ordinance. Id.
143.085.
'Letter from Honorable Troy Fraser, Chair, Senate Committee on Business and Commerce, Texas State Senate,
to Honorable Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General (Oct. 25, 2004) (on file with 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-0325, text, May 18, 2005; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275221/m1/1/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.