How many judges serve on a Texas county juvenile board, and are they all entitled to be paid for it?

Texas AG Opinion JM-1088: How Many Judges Serve on a County Juvenile Board?

Plain-English summary

The District and County Attorney and the County Auditor of Willacy County asked the Attorney General a bookkeeping question with real payroll consequences: exactly who sits on the county's juvenile board, and who is entitled to be paid for it. The board's membership was set by article 5139MMMM of the civil statutes, which created juvenile boards for Brooks, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy Counties. The article said two things that had come into tension. First, each county's board "consists of the judges of the county and district courts having jurisdiction in that county." Second, each board "must contain not less than three or more than five members." When the article was enacted in 1983, Willacy County had four district courts plus the county court, which fit neatly within the five-member ceiling.

The problem was a second bill. On the very same day it passed article 5139MMMM, the legislature also created the 357th Judicial District (covering Cameron and Willacy Counties), effective January 1, 1985. That gave Willacy County a fifth district judge. Add the county judge, and the "consists of the judges" language now pointed to six members, one more than the five-member ceiling. The two bills were never reconciled, and article 5139MMMM had no mechanism for choosing which five of the six judges would serve.

The Attorney General resolved the conflict with a standard rule of statutory construction: when a general provision conflicts with a specific one, the specific provision controls. Here, the five-member ceiling applied to all four of the county boards created by the article, so it was the general provision. The specific provisions were the separate statutes placing five particular judicial districts in Willacy County, together with the "consists of the judges" language. The AG concluded the retention of the five-member cap was a legislative oversight, and that the specific provisions controlled. So the Willacy County Juvenile Board consisted of six members: the county judge and the district judges of the 103rd, 107th, 138th, 197th, and 357th judicial districts. Under section 5 of the article, each of those six judges was entitled to the compensation the article provided (an annual salary set by the commissioners court at not more than $6,000, on top of their other pay, plus reimbursement of actual and necessary expenses).

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.

Article 5139MMMM was recodified as section 152.2511 of the Human Resources Code by Senate Bill 1104 in 1989, and the juvenile-board and judicial-district statutes have been amended since. The dollar figure and the list of districts described here reflect the law as it stood in 1989. Anyone dealing with a present-day question about a county juvenile board's membership or pay should consult the current Human Resources Code and current judicial-district statutes rather than the 1989 provisions.

Who this opinion affected (as of 1989)

Willacy County and its auditor: The opinion told the county it had to treat the board as a six-member body and budget compensation for all six judges, not five.

The five district judges and the county judge: The opinion confirmed each of them was a member of the juvenile board and entitled to the additional compensation set under section 5 of the article, resolving any doubt about whether the sixth judge (from the newly added 357th District) qualified.

Other counties with similar juvenile-board statutes: The opinion illustrated how a court treats a numeric membership cap that later collides with a specific expansion of qualifying judges: the specific expansion controls, and the cap yields.

Common questions

Who sits on a Texas county juvenile board like Willacy County's?
Under this opinion, the judges of the county and district courts with jurisdiction in the county. For Willacy County in 1989 that meant the county judge and the district judges of the 103rd, 107th, 138th, 197th, and 357th judicial districts, for a total of six.

The statute capped the board at five members. How did it end up with six?
The Attorney General treated the five-member cap as a general provision and the specific statutes putting five judicial districts in the county as controlling. The cap was read as a legislative oversight that the later, specific provisions overrode.

Are all the judges paid for serving?
Yes. The opinion concluded all six members were entitled to the compensation provided in section 5 of the article, which allowed the commissioners court to set an annual salary of up to $6,000, in addition to their other compensation, plus reimbursement of actual and necessary expenses.

What rule of construction did the AG use?
The rule that a specific provision controls over a general one to the extent of a conflict, because the specific provision more clearly shows the legislature's intent.

Background and statutory framework

Article 5139MMMM, V.T.C.S., established a juvenile board in each of Brooks, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy Counties. Section 2 provided that the board for each county consists of the judges of the county and district courts having jurisdiction in that county, and that each board must contain not less than three or more than five members, with authority to appoint unsalaried citizen members if needed to meet the minimum. Section 3 made the county court judge the chairman. Section 5 made service on the board an additional duty of office, required each county to reimburse members' actual and necessary expenses, and authorized the commissioners court to set an annual salary of not more than $6,000 for the judges on the board, in addition to their other compensation. Article 5139MMMM was enacted in 1983 effective August 29, 1983. Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 705, at 4389. Senate Bill 1104, Acts 1989, 71st Leg., effective September 1, 1989, recodified the article as section 152.2511 of the Human Resources Code in a nonsubstantive revision.

When article 5139MMMM took effect, the district courts having jurisdiction in Willacy County were the 103rd, 107th, 138th, and 197th. But the same legislature, in a separate bill adding section 3.152 to article 199a, V.T.C.S., created the 357th Judicial District (composed of Cameron and Willacy Counties), effective January 1, 1985. Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 889, § 4, at 4959. Section 3.152 was repealed in 1985 and its provisions codified as section 24.503 of the Government Code. Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 480, § 1, at 1785; see also Gov't Code §§ 24.205, 24.207, 24.240, 24.376 (including Willacy County in the 103rd, 107th, 138th, and 197th judicial districts respectively).

But for the creation of the 357th Judicial District, the judges of the four district courts plus the county judge would have comprised the board, a five-member body within the ceiling. With the 357th District, there were five district judges with jurisdiction in the county, so all of them plus the county judge would make six. Article 5139MMMM said the board consists of the judges of the county and district courts with jurisdiction in the county, but it also said the board must contain no more than five members, and it provided no mechanism for choosing which judges would serve if the number exceeded five.

The opinion concluded there had been a failure in the legislative process to conform article 5139MMMM to the separate act creating the 357th District (the two were finally acted on the same day, May 27, 1983). It applied the rule that in case of conflict between a general provision and a specific provision, the specific provision controls, because it more clearly evidences the legislative intent. See generally 67 Tex. Jur.3d Statutes § 126 and authorities cited there. The five-member cap was the more general provision, applying to all four county boards created by the article; the specific provisions were the statutes placing five judicial districts in Willacy County together with the "consists of the judges" language. The AG treated the retention of the five-member limit as an oversight. Accordingly, the Willacy County Juvenile Board consisted of six members: the county judge and the district judges of the 103rd, 107th, 138th, 197th, and 357th judicial districts. Under section 5, each of the six was entitled to the compensation the article provided.

Citations

Statutory authorities:

• V.T.C.S. art. 5139MMMM (juvenile boards for Brooks, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy Counties; composition, chairman, and compensation)
• Human Resources Code § 152.2511 (recodification of article 5139MMMM by Senate Bill 1104)
• V.T.C.S. art. 199a, § 3.152 (created the 357th Judicial District; repealed 1985)
• Government Code § 24.503 (357th Judicial District); §§ 24.205, 24.207, 24.240, 24.376 (Willacy County in the 103rd, 107th, 138th, and 197th judicial districts)
• Senate Bill 1104, Acts 1989, 71st Leg. (nonsubstantive recodification)
• Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 705, at 4389 (enacting article 5139MMMM); Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 889, § 4, at 4959 (creating the 357th District); Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 480, § 1, at 1785 (codifying section 24.503)

Secondary authority:

• 67 Tex. Jur.3d Statutes § 126 (specific provision controls over general in case of conflict)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-1088
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1989/jm1088.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor OCR errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative. The scan renders the article number inconsistently (5139MMMM, 5139WWMW, 5139MWMW, 5139WWWW, and similar); it is a single article, normalized here as "5139MMMM." A few words in the quoted statute were reconstructed where the scan was garbled.

August 23, 1989

Honorable Steve Fischer
District and County Attorney
Willacy County Courthouse
Raymondville, Texas 78500

Mr. Eleazar Garcia, Jr.
Willacy County Auditor
First Floor, Courthouse
Raymondville, Texas 78580

Opinion No. JM-1088

Re: Whether a particular district judge is a member of a county juvenile board (RQ-1756)

Dear Messrs. Fischer and Garcia:

You ask about the composition and compensation for members of the Willacy County Juvenile Board.

Article 5139MMMM, V.T.C.S.,1 provides in pertinent part:

Sec. 1. There is established a juvenile board in each of the counties of Brooks, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy.

Composition

Sec. 2. The juvenile board for each county consists of the judges of the county and district courts having jurisdiction in that county. Each juvenile board must contain not less than three or more than five members. If necessary, the judges of the county and district courts having jurisdiction in that county may appoint citizen members to serve on the board without salary to satisfy the requirement prescribed by this section. The chairman of each juvenile board determines the number of citizen members to be appointed to that juvenile board.

Chairman

Sec. 3. The chairman of each juvenile board is the county court judge in that county.

. . . .

Sec. 5. (a) A judge's service on the juvenile board is an additional duty of office.

(b) Each county shall reimburse the members of the board in that county for the members' actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.

(c) The judges on each juvenile board shall receive an annual salary set by the commissioners court of that county in an amount of not more than $6,000, payable in equal monthly installments out of the general fund or any other available fund of that county. The compensation authorized by this subsection is in addition to all other compensation provided or allowed by law for a judge. (Emphasis added.)

Article 5139MMMM was enacted in 1983 to be effective on August 29, 1983. Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 705, at 4389. On the effective date of article 5139MMMM in 1983, the district courts having jurisdiction in Willacy County were the 103rd, 107th, 138th and 197th Judicial District Courts. However, the same legislature in a separate bill adding section 3.152 to article 199a, V.T.C.S., created the 357th Judicial District composed of Cameron and Willacy Counties, effective January 1, 1985. Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 889, § 4, at 4959. Section 3.152 was repealed in 1985 and its provisions codified as section 24.503 of the Government Code. Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 480, § 1, at 1785; see also Gov't Code §§ 24.205, 24.207, 24.240, 24.376 (providing for the inclusion of Willacy County in the 103rd, 107th, 138th, and 197th judicial districts respectively).

But for the act creating the 357th Judicial District, effective January 1, 1985, the judges of the four district courts previously having jurisdiction in the county, along with the county judge, would have comprised the Juvenile Board of Willacy County. With the creation of the 357th Judicial District there are five judges of district courts having jurisdiction in Willacy County. If all judges of the district court having jurisdiction in the county along with the county court judge served, the county juvenile board would be comprised of six members. While article 5139MMMM states that the board for each county consists of the judges of the county and district courts having jurisdiction in the county, the statute also provides that the board "must contain not less than three or more than five members."

Thus, a conflict arose with the addition of the 357th Judicial District to those having jurisdiction in Willacy County. That provision was finally acted on by the legislature on the same day the legislature adopted article 5139MMMM -- May 27, 1983. We think it is apparent that there was a failure in the legislative process to conform the provisions of article 5139MMMM to those of the separate act creating the additional judicial district, the 357th, having jurisdiction in Willacy County. The provision of section 2 of article 5139MMMM that the board "consists of the judges of the county and district courts having jurisdiction in the county" indicates on its face, we think, that all such judges should serve on the board. Article 5139MMMM provides no mechanism for selecting which of "the judges of the county and district courts having jurisdiction in that county" should serve on the board if such number of judges exceeds five. We think that the retention of the provision in article 5139MMMM that the membership of the board might be no more than five was an oversight.

It is a rule of statutory construction that in case of a conflict between a general provision and a specific provision, the latter controls to the extent of such conflict since the specific provision is deemed to more clearly evidence the legislative interest. See generally 67 Tex. Jur.3d Statutes § 126, and authorities cited there. We think that the provision of section 2 of article 5139MMMM that each juvenile board constituted under that article "must contain not less than three or more than five members" is the more general provision, applying as it does to all four of the county juvenile boards provided for in that article. Therefore, it is controlled in this instance of conflict by the specific provisions, now found in the Government Code, for five judicial districts having jurisdiction in Willacy County and the other provision of section 2 of article 5139MMMM that the "board . . . consists of the judges of the county and district courts having jurisdiction in that county." Thus, it is our opinion that the Willacy County Juvenile Board now consists of six members: the county judge and the district judges for the five judicial districts which include the county, the 103rd, 107th, 138th, 197th and 357th judicial districts. Pursuant to section 5 of article 5139MMMM each of those six judges on the Willacy County Juvenile Board is entitled to the compensation provided for in that section.

SUMMARY

The Juvenile Board of Willacy County consists of six members: the district judges for the 103rd, 107th, 138th, 197th and 357th judicial districts and the county judge. All six members of the board are entitled to the compensation provided for in section 5 of article 5139MMMM.

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 William Walker
Assistant Attorney General

Footnotes

[1] Senate Bill 1104, Acts 1989, 71st Leg., effective September 1, 1989, recodified article 5139MMMM in a nonsubstantive revision and as of the effective date of the act article 5139MMMM is carried forward as section 152.2511 of the Human Resources Code.