dex to Constitutional Dual Office Holding
Issue Addressed
Page Number
1.
What is dual office holding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2.
What does it mean to hold two civil offices of emolument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
3.
What is considered an office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4.
Difference between a public employee and a public officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
5.
What is considered an emolument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
6.
Effect of refusal of emolument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
7.
Effect of taking on additional duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
8.
Effect of temporary service as an officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
9.
Ability to serve on an advisory board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
10.
Public officers who are exempt from dual office holding limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
11.
Is a local law enforcement officer considered an officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
12.
Is a city attorney considered an officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
13.
Is a municipal court judge considered an officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
14.
May a school district employee serve on a local governing body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
15.
May a state employee serve on a local governing body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
16.
Ability of local entity to hire elected member of the Texas Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
17.
Ability of local entity to hire elected member of the Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Index to Incompatibility Laws
Determining Whether Two Offices are Incompatible
18.
What is common-law incompatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
19.
Difference between incompatibility and dual office holding limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
20.
Difference between incompatibility and conflict of interest limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
21.
Application of incompatibility if one position is not a public office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
22.
Application of incompatibility to outside private employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
23.
Three general types of common-law incompatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Prohibition Against Self-Appointment
24.
Inability of local governing body to appoint its own members to a public office . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
25.
Effect of city charter, state or federal law on power to appoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
26.
Inability to adopt ordinance allowing incompatible appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
27.
Appointment of a local officer to a position that is not a public office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
28.
Appointment of a local officer to a position of another political subdivision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Prohibition Against Self-Employment
29.
Inability of governing body members to be same entitys employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
30.
Inability to hold two local staff positions if one reports to the other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
31.
Limited ability to hold two local staff positions if they do not report to each other . . . . . . . . . . 9 Prohibition Against Conflicting Loyalties
32.
What circumstances cause a conflicting loyalties problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
33.
Both positions must be public offices for conflicting loyalties issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
34.
Conflicting loyalties issue if authorized to contract with each other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
35.
Conflicting loyalties issue if boundaries of entities overlap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
36.
Conflicting loyalties issue if there is ability to impose will on other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
37.
Inability of county commissioner to serve on city council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
38.
Inability of school district trustee to serve on city council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
39.
Inability of special district board member to serve on local governing body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
40.
Application of conflicting loyalties for officers not on the governing body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
41.
Ability of state law or city charter provision to permit incompatible offices or
forbid otherwise compatible ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Consequences of Seeking/Accepting A Second Office
42.
Acceptance of Second Office and Automatic Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
43.
Application of automatic resignation to two conflicting public offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
44.
Effect of announcement of candidacy for other public office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
45.
Ability of local employee to run for public office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
46.
Ability of local official to run for Texas Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
47.
No criminal penalties for holding two conflicting public offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Charts noting prohibited dual office holding combinations
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Endnotes
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2006 Texas Dual Office Holding Laws Made Easy Office of the Attorney General
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Dual Office Holding Limitations Made Easy
Seventy percent of Texas cities, in addition to some counties, have a population of under 5,000
residents. Therefore, it is not surprising that when individuals are actively involved in their
community, they are often asked to not only hold one public office, but to serve in several different
public capacities. However, in certain situations, state law does not permit dual office holding. It
is important that local officials understand in which circumstances they can agree to serve in another
public office. This knowledge is particularly important because the acceptance of a second public
office can result in an automatic resignation from a persons current public office. The following
questions and answers provide a lay persons explanation of the dual office holding limitations that
apply to local officials in Texas. The Municipal Affairs and County Affairs sections of the Office
of the Attorney General are available to answer questions about this from public officials, who
should nonetheless consult with their local legal counsel regarding the application of the law to the
facts of each particular situation. This handbook will give guidance to officials of other public
entities, as well.
The chart attached to the end of this summary should be utilized as a helpful overview of Attorney
General opinions and cases that have ruled on specific questions of whether two offices may be held
simultaneously. It does not address each example entirely, since facts may be slightly different, nor
does it address other dual office holding situations.
1.
What is dual office holding?
Dual office holding refers to certain limitations that prevent a person from holding two or more
public offices at the same time. The restrictions on dual office holding are primarily derived from
two sources:
1. Texas constitutional restrictions on holding two civil offices of emolument
1
; and
2. Attorney general opinions and court cases that have found the holding of certain dual
offices to be incompatible and therefore invalid.
As noted above, this issue is particularly important because the acceptance of a second public office
can result in an automatic resignation from a persons current public office.
2.
What does it mean to hold more than one civil office of emolument?
In basic terms, to hold more than one civil office of emolument means to hold two paid public
offices. The prohibition against holding two civil offices of emolument is contained in Article XVI,
section 40 of the Texas Constitution. It provides in part:
No person shall hold or exercise at the same time, more than one civil office of
emolument.... 2006 Texas Dual Office Holding Laws Made Easy Office of the Attorney General
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3.
What is considered an office for purposes of dual office holding?
To understand the prohibition against holding two civil offices of emolument, one must first
understand what positions are considered civil offices. A civil office is any elected office or a non-
elected office that nevertheless exercises a sovereign function of government. A mere employee
does not hold a civil office. Also, a person who holds a position with a private nonprofit association
(e.g. a board member of a n