Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0589 Page: 6 of 7
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The Honorable Fred Hill - Page 6
By requiring in section 1.111 (b) that the other person be "authorized" to act on behalf of the property
owner, the Legislature could have presumed that the other person was acting as directed by or in the
best interests of the property owner. Our restraint is moreover required by the rules of statutory
construction: We cannot, under the guise of statutory construction, amend a statute no matter how
desirable the amendment may be. A.M Servicing Corp. of Dallas v. State, 380 S.W.2d 747, 748
(Tex. Civ. App.-Dallas 1964, no writ); see also Brazos River Auth. v. City ofGraham, 354 S.W.2d
99, 109 (Tex. 1961) ("If Parliament does not mean what it says, it must say so.").
In your second question you ask whether the "Comptroller [may] advise a tax consultant on
the impact of rules it has implemented on pending tax protests." Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2.
As you correctly point out, the Tax Code prohibits the Comptroller from advising "a property owner,
a property owner's agent, an appraisal district, or an appraisal review board on a matter that the
comptroller knows is the subject of a protest to the appraisal review board." TEX. TAX CODE ANN.
5.041(f) (Vernon 2001); Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. You suggest that because a tax
consultant had matters pending before an appraisal review board regarding the validity of its fee
agreements, the Comptroller may have violated this section by advising the tax consultant about the
Comptroller's rule. Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. Aside from reciting the legal truism that the
Comptroller must comply with section 5.041(f) and other applicable law, we cannot answer this
question. The question regarding whether the Comptroller's office engaged in conduct proscribed
by section 5.041(f) is a fact question that is beyond the purview of this office. See Tex. Att'y Gen.
Op. No. GA-0087 (2003) at 1.(GA-0589)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0589, text, January 11, 2008; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275485/m1/6/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.