If a licensed professional dies partway through their license year, can the state licensing board refund part of the annual fee to the estate?

Texas AG Opinion JM-1067: Can a Licensing Board Refund a Fee After a Licensee Dies?

Plain-English summary

The Polygraph Examiners Board asked the Attorney General a narrow but practical question. A licensed polygraph examiner had paid the annual license fee and then died partway through the license year. The board wanted to know whether it could refund the unused portion of that fee to the examiner's estate.

The Attorney General said no. The core principle is that a state agency cannot simply decide to hand public money back; it needs authority from a statute to do so. When it comes to license fees, an agency can prorate or refund a fee only if the law gives it that power, either explicitly or by clear implication. The opinion walked through a line of earlier attorney general opinions on proration of initial license fees. Some had concluded that when a statute required an "annual fee" to accompany an application, the agency could not prorate; another had allowed proration where the statute set an annual fee but did not require the full annual fee to accompany the initial application. The through-line of all of them was the same: an agency needs express or clearly implied authority to adjust a license fee.

Applying that rule to the polygraph statute, the opinion found only one provision addressing proration. Section 17A lets the board prorate license fees in a specific situation, when the board adopts a rule changing the dates on which licenses expire, so that a licensee pays only for the months the license is valid before renewing at the full fee on the new date. No other provision of the statute permits proration. The renewal-fee provision simply says a person may renew by paying the required renewal fee before the license expires. Nothing anywhere in the statute authorizes a refund when a licensee dies mid-term.

Because the AG found no provision, express or implied, allowing a refund in this situation, it concluded the board had no authority to refund any part of the annual license fee to a deceased licensee's estate. The opinion added one limit on its own scope in a footnote: it did not decide whether the board could refund an entire renewal fee that had been paid before the start of the year that fee was meant to cover. That different question was left open.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1989. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

The statute cited here as article 4413(29cc), V.T.C.S., governing polygraph examiners, has been amended and reorganized since 1989, and the regulation of polygraph examiners in Texas has changed over the years. Anyone dealing with a present-day question about license fees, refunds, or proration for a Texas occupational license should check the current governing statute and the licensing agency's current rules rather than relying on the 1989 citations used here.

Who this opinion affected (as of 1989)

The Polygraph Examiners Board and similar licensing agencies: The opinion confirmed they could not refund or prorate license fees without statutory authority, and that a licensee's death did not create such authority on its own.

Estates of deceased licensees: The opinion told them that the unused portion of an annual license fee was not refundable absent a statute allowing it, at least for polygraph examiners.

Licensed professionals generally: The opinion illustrated a broader rule of Texas administrative law, that an agency needs express or clearly implied authority to give back a fee, which applies well beyond the polygraph context.

Common questions

If a polygraph examiner dies mid-year, does the estate get part of the license fee back?
No. The Attorney General concluded the Polygraph Examiners Board has no authority to refund any portion of the annual license fee to the estate of a licensee who dies during the license term.

Why can't the board just refund the unused months as a matter of fairness?
Because a state agency needs statutory authority, express or clearly implied, to refund or prorate a license fee. The opinion found no such authority in the polygraph statute for a death mid-term.

Does the polygraph law ever allow proration of a fee?
Yes, but only in one situation. Section 17A allows proration of license fees when the board changes the expiration dates of licenses, so a licensee pays only for the months the license is valid before renewing at the full fee. That provision does not cover a refund on death.

Did the opinion decide every refund question?
No. A footnote noted the opinion did not consider whether the board could refund an entire renewal fee paid before the start of the year that the renewal fee was meant to cover.

Background and statutory framework

The Executive Officer of the Polygraph Examiners Board asked whether the board has authority to refund a portion of the annual license fee to the estate of a licensee who died during the term of his license. The board is governed by article 4413(29cc), V.T.C.S. Section 17 provides that each polygraph examiner's license is issued for a one-year term and, unless suspended or revoked, is renewed annually, and that a person may renew an unexpired license by paying the required renewal fee to the board before the expiration date. Section 17A provides that the board may by rule adopt a system under which licenses expire on various dates during the year; for the year in which the expiration date is changed, license fees are prorated on a monthly basis so that each licensee pays only the portion allocable to the months the license is valid, with the total renewal fee payable on renewal at the new expiration date.

The opinion drew on prior opinions addressing proration of initial license fees. Three opinions concluded that statutory language requiring the annual fee to accompany an application for an initial license indicated the agency had no authority to prorate the initial fee. Attorney General Opinions JM-399 (1985); M-1107 (1972); M-580 (1970). In contrast, a 1975 opinion concluded that a statute setting an annual fee but not requiring the annual fee to accompany an initial application permitted proration of the initial fee. Attorney General Opinion H-708 (1975). The statute in that 1975 opinion did, however, require that a license be issued upon receipt of all license fees, and because of that language Attorney General Opinion JM-399 (1985) called into question the continuing validity of Opinion H-708.

Reading those opinions together, the opinion concluded that an agency must have either express or clearly implied authority to prorate, and likewise to refund, license fees. It found no prior opinion directly addressing whether an agency may refund a portion of an annual license fee to the estate of a licensee who dies during the license term. Section 17A of article 4413(29cc) allows proration of initial license fees only under the specified circumstance of a change in expiration dates, and no other provision permits proration. The renewal provision simply allows renewal by paying the required renewal fee before the license expires. V.T.C.S. art. 4413(29cc), § 17(b). Finding no provision that permits, expressly or by implication, a refund in these circumstances, the opinion concluded the board has no authority to refund a portion of an annual license fee to the estate of a licensee who dies during the license term.

Citations

Statutory authority:

• V.T.C.S. art. 4413(29cc) (statute governing the Polygraph Examiners Board), § 17 (one-year term; renewal by paying the required renewal fee, § 17(b)) and § 17A (proration of license fees when expiration dates are changed by board rule)

Attorney General opinions referenced:

• M-580 (1970); M-1107 (1972); H-708 (1975); JM-399 (1985)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-1067
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1989/jm1067.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor OCR errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

July 5, 1989

Mr. Bryan M. Perot
Executive Officer
Polygraph Examiners Board
P. O. Box 4087
Austin, Texas 78773-0001

Opinion No. JM-1067

Re: Whether payment of a polygraph licensing fee may be refunded when the licensee dies (RQ-1711)

Dear Mr. Perot:

You ask whether the Polygraph Examiners Board has authority to refund a portion of the annual license fee to the estate of a licensee who died during the term of his license. We conclude that the board has no authority to make such a refund.

The Polygraph Examiners Board is governed by the provisions of article 4413(29cc), V.T.C.S. Section 17 of article 4413(29cc) provides in part:

(a) Each polygraph examiner's license shall be issued for the term of one year and shall, unless suspended or revoked, be renewed annually.

(b) A person may renew his unexpired license by paying to the board before the expiration date of the license the required renewal fee.

Section 17A provides:

The board by rule may adopt a system under which licenses expire on various dates during the year. For the year in which the expiration date is changed, license fees payable on the date in effect at the time the rule is adopted shall be prorated on a monthly basis so that each licensee shall pay only that portion of the license fee which is allocable to the number of months during which the license is valid. On renewal of the license on the new expiration date, the total license renewal fee is payable.

This office has issued several opinions that considered whether an entity had authority to prorate an initial licensing fee when the initial licensing fee would be valid for less than a year. Three opinions concluded that the language requiring the annual fee to accompany the application for an initial license indicated that an entity had no authority to prorate the initial fee. Attorney General Opinions JM-399 (1985); M-1107 (1972); M-580 (1970). In contrast, a 1975 opinion concluded that a statute that set an annual fee but did not require the "annual fee" to accompany an initial application permitted proration of the initial fee. Attorney General Opinion H-708 (1975). The statute in question in Attorney General Opinion H-708 did, however, require that a license be issued "upon receipt of all license fees." Because of that language, Attorney General Opinion JM-399 (1985) called into question the continuing validity of Attorney General Opinion H-708.

In any case we think that the prior opinions make clear that an agency must have either express or clearly implied authority to prorate license fees. We find no prior opinions that directly address the question of whether an agency may refund a portion of an annual license fee to the estate of a licensee who dies during the term of his license. We conclude, however, based on the opinions discussed above, that an agency must have either express or clearly implied authority to refund a portion of an annual license fee.

Section 17A of article 4413(29cc) allows proration of initial license fees under specified circumstances. No other provision of article 4413(29cc) permits proration. The provision governing renewal fees simply states that a person may renew his license "by paying to the board before the expiration date of the license the required renewal fee." V.T.C.S. art. 4413(29cc), § 17(b). Therefore, because we find no provision that permits, either expressly or by implication, a refund in the circumstances you ask about, we conclude that the Board of Polygraph Examiners has no authority to refund a portion of an annual license fee to the estate of a licensee who dies during the term of his license.[1]

[1] We do not consider in this opinion whether the board has authority to refund the entire renewal fee before the commencement of the year covered by the renewal fee.

SUMMARY

The Board of Polygraph Examiners has no authority to refund a portion of an annual license fee to the estate of a licensee who dies during the term of his license.

JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas

MARY KELLER
First Assistant Attorney General

LOU MCCREARY
Executive Assistant Attorney General

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY
Special Assistant Attorney General

RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee

Prepared by Sarah Woelk
Assistant Attorney General