What happened to Texas AG Opinion JM-219 on school-district peace officers?

Texas AG Opinion JM-219: Withdrawn School Police Opinion

Plain-English summary

The official JM-219 landing page lists the opinion's subsequent treatment as "Withdrawn by JM-239 (1984)." Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0219

JM-239 expressly stated, "Attorney General Opinion JM-219 (1984) is withdrawn and the following is substituted therefor." Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0239.pdf

JM-219 had addressed whether the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education licensed peace officers commissioned by independent school districts and whether those officers had peace-officer authority away from school property. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf

The withdrawn opinion said the commission had "no licensing responsibility" for section 21.483 school officers and said the scope of their authority depended on school-board-defined duties and the facts. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf

The replacement, JM-239, kept those bottom-line conclusions but supplied a revised statutory analysis, including its description of section 21.483 officers as "a separate and distinct kind of peace officer." Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0239.pdf

Because JM-219 was withdrawn, researchers should use JM-239 as the substituted Attorney General opinion and treat this page only as a record of the earlier text. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0239.pdf

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1984. 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.

Common questions

Is JM-219 still the Texas Attorney General's operative opinion on these questions?

No. The official landing page says "Withdrawn by JM-239 (1984)." Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0219

Which opinion replaced JM-219?

JM-239. That opinion states that JM-219 "is withdrawn" and substitutes a new analysis. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0239.pdf

What issues did JM-219 address?

It addressed the state commission's responsibility for school-district peace officers and whether those officers had powers, privileges, and immunities when performing duties away from school property. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf

Did JM-219 give a categorical answer about off-campus authority?

No. It said the question "cannot be answered in the abstract" because the answer depended on board-defined duties and the particular activity. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf

Where is the replacement opinion in this library?

The replacement is Texas AG Opinion JM-239, whose official PDF begins by withdrawing JM-219. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0239.pdf

Background and statutory framework

Education Code section 21.483 allowed school boards to commission armed campus-security personnel as peace officers, gave them peace-officer powers on district property or while performing their duties, and required minimum standards within one year. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf

Article 4413(29aa) defined peace officer for its own licensing provisions by reference to Code of Criminal Procedure article 2.12 and Education Code sections 51.212 and 51.214. Section 21.483 officers were not listed. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf

JM-239's substituted analysis harmonized those provisions by stating that section 21.483 created "a separate and distinct kind of peace officer" outside article 4413(29aa)'s licensing definition. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0239.pdf

Citations and references

• Calvert v. Fort Worth National Bank, 356 S.W.2d 918 (Tex. 1962), appeared in JM-219's discussion of harmonizing section 21.483 and article 4413(29aa). Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf
• Attorney General Opinion MW-54 (1979) appeared for the recognition that statutes outside article 4413(29aa) could designate people as peace officers. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf
• JM-239 is the official substituted opinion. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0239.pdf

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0219
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0219.pdf
• Replacement opinion PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0239.pdf

Original opinion text

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

The Attorney General of Texas

October 24, 1984

Mr. Raymon L. Bynum
Commissioner of Education
Texas Education Agency
201 East 11th Street
Austin, Texas 78701

Opinion No. JM-219

Re: Authority of peace officers commissioned by school districts

Dear Mr. Bynum:

You have asked the following two questions regarding peace officers commissioned by boards of trustees of independent school districts:

1. What are the responsibilities of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education concerning such peace officers?

2. Do such peace officers . . . have all the powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers whenever they are in the performance of their official duties even when they are not on school property? ([For example, during the] hot pursuit of a person who has committed a crime on school property, the regulation of traffic on contiguous streets, and [the] investigation of crimes committed on school property.)

You advise us that the first question is prompted by the refusal of the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education to license putative peace officers commissioned pursuant to section 21.483 of the Education Code. This section provides as follows:

The board of trustees of any school district may employ campus security personnel for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this subchapter and if the board of trustees authorizes any officer to bear arms then they must commission them as peace officers. Any officer commissioned under this section is vested with all the powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers while on the property under the control and jurisdiction of the district or otherwise in the performance of his duties. Any officer assigned to duty and commissioned shall take and file the oath required of peace officers, and shall execute and file a good and sufficient bond in the sum of $1,000, payable to the board of trustees, with two or more good and sufficient sureties, conditioned that he will fairly, impartially, and faithfully perform all the duties that may be required of him by law. The bond may be sued on from time to time in the name of any person injured until the whole amount of the bond is recovered. Any peace officer commissioned under this section must meet all minimum standards for peace officers established by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education within one year of his commission, or his commission shall automatically expire.

The explicit language of section 21.483 establishes that: (1) a school district board of trustees may employ campus security personnel to carry out the provisions of subchapter H of chapter 21 of the Education Code; (2) campus security personnel commissioned as peace officers under section 21.483 possess "all the powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers while on the property under the control and jurisdiction of [their employing school] district or otherwise in the performance of [their] duties"; and (3) officers commissioned under section 21.483 must, within one year of their commission, meet all minimum standards for peace officers established by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, or their commissions automatically expire.

Section 6(c) of article 4413(29aa), V.T.C.S., provides that

[n]o person who does not have a license issued by the Commission [on Law Enforcement Standards and Education] shall be appointed as a peace officer. . . .

Section 6(h) of the same statute provides:

"Peace officer," for the purposes of this Act, means only a person so designated by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1965, or by Section 51.212 or 51.214, Texas Education Code.

It has been suggested that campus security personnel may not under any circumstances be regarded as "peace officers," because they are not within either article 2.12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or sections 51.212 or 51.214 of the Education Code and are therefore ineligible to be licensed as peace officers under article 4413(29aa).

We agree that campus security personnel commissioned as peace officers under section 21.483 of the Education Code are not eligible to be licensed as "peace officers" by the commission under article 4413(29aa). The express language of sections 6(c) and 6(h) of article 4413(29aa) dictates this conclusion. This does not mean, however, that such personnel may not be designated as "peace officers" by a different statute. Section 6(h) of article 4413(29aa) provides only that "for purposes of this Act," i.e., article 4413(29aa), the term "peace officer" includes only those persons so designated by the enumerated statutes; it does not rule out the possibility that some other act may designate someone as a "peace officer." And this office has held on several occasions that a variety of statutes other than article 4413(29aa) designate certain individuals as "peace officers." See, e.g., Attorney General Opinion MW-54 (1979) and opinions cited therein.

Section 21.483 expressly designates as "peace officers" campus security personnel commissioned as such under that section, and this statute is on an equal footing with article 4413(29aa). When article 4413(29aa) and section 21.483 are read together and harmonized, as they must be, Calvert v. Fort Worth National Bank, 356 S.W.2d 918 (Tex. 1962), the conclusion inevitably follows that section 21.483 campus security personnel are peace officers who by the very terms of section 21.483 must meet all TCLEOSE minimum standards within one year. Those standards include licensure by TCLEOSE. Of course, they enjoy their status as peace officers only in certain instances, i.e., "while on the property under the control and jurisdiction of the district or otherwise in the performance of [their] duties." Educ. Code section 21.483.

In answer to your first question, therefore, because campus security personnel commissioned as "peace officers" under section 21.483 of the Education Code are not eligible to be "peace officers," as defined by article 4413(29aa), the commission has no licensing responsibility concerning these officers. Under the express terms of section 21.483, the boards of trustees of the school districts of this state, not the commission, have the discretion to decide whether to commission individuals as "peace officers" under that statute and the power to issue such commissions if they choose to do so. The boards of trustees must require that anyone commissioned as a "peace officer" under section 21.483 satisfy the "minimum standards for peace officers established by" the commission, including medical, educational, testing, and other requirements, within one year. The commission in its discretion may consult with such boards on the implementation of these standards. V.T.C.S. art. 4413(29aa), section 2(a)(6).

Your second question cannot be answered in the abstract. As noted, campus security personnel may be employed "for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of [subchapter H of chapter 21 of the Education Code]." They are clothed with the powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers generally "while on the property under the control and jurisdiction of the district or otherwise in the performance of [their] duties." Whether campus security personnel would be authorized to engage in the particular activities you describe is a fact question. The resolution of this question depends upon the scope of their duties as defined by their employing school boards and whether they may be said to be "on property under the control and jurisdiction of the district or otherwise in the performance of [their] duties" when they engage in such activities.

SUMMARY

The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards has no licensing responsibility concerning "peace officers" commissioned under section 21.483 of the Texas Education Code. The scope of the powers of section 21.483 peace officers depends upon the nature and scope of their duties as defined by their employing school district boards of trustees and upon whether, when they engage in particular activities, they are carrying out the provisions of subchapter H of chapter 21 of the Education Code and are "on the property under the control and jurisdiction of [their employing] district or [are] otherwise in the performance of [their] duties."

Very truly yours,

JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas

TOM GREEN
First Assistant Attorney General

DAVID R. RICHARDS
Executive Assistant Attorney General

Prepared by Jon Bible
Assistant Attorney General

APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE

Rick Gilpin, Chairman
Jon Bible
Susan Garrison
Ann Kraatz
Jim Moellinger
Nancy Sutton
Bruce Youngblood