Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion: KP-0522

CourtTexas Attorney General Reports
DecidedJune 26, 2026
DocketKP-0522
StatusPublished

This text of Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion: KP-0522 (Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion: KP-0522) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Attorney General Reports primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion: KP-0522, (Tex. 2026).

Opinion

June 26, 2026

The Honorable Gary D. Trammel Stephens County Attorney 200 West Walker, Room 206 Breckenridge, Texas 76424

Opinion No. KP-0522

Re: Miscellaneous questions regarding commissioners court authority over employees of local elected officials (RQ-0610-KP)

Dear Mr. Trammel:

At the request of the Stephens County Commissioners Court, you ask about the county’s employment practices. 1 You explain that, approximately five years ago, the commissioners court implemented a courthouse “[e]mployee [p]ool” “with the agreement of the then elected officials.” Request Letter at 1. Some of the characteristics of the employee pool are that: (1) employee salaries are “funded entirely through the [c]ommissioners [c]ourt’s budget” rather than an “individual elected office holder’s budget”; (2) employees are “cross-trained to work in all . . . elected officials’ offices to provide flexibility across all departments”; (3) hiring for a vacancy in an elected official’s office is initiated by the official, but the commissioners court must “interview and vet” the top three candidates prior to hiring any individual; (4) elected officials “recommend their preferred candidate” to fill a vacancy, and the commissioners court is not to “dictate who is hired or override the official’s selection”; (5) the commissioners court reviews and approves all new employees “for bonding” and “legal eligibility”; and (6) “all employees are under the [commissioners court’s] control as members of” the pool and, as a result, are subject to a variety of policies set out in “the County Policy Manual.” Id. at 1–2.

Against this backdrop, you ask twenty questions that primarily concern the interplay between the commissioners court and other county officials in this context. Id. at 3–4. For ease of disposition, we address your questions by subject matter. We respond generally and note that additional facts, such as the elected official or employment position at issue, “may result in a different conclusion in a given case.” Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. KP-0446 (2023) at 1 n.2 (quoting Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. JC-0203 (2000) at 2).

1 See Letter from Hon. Gary D. Trammel, Stephens Cnty. Att’y, to Hon. Ken Paxton, Tex. Att’y Gen. at 1–4 (Aug. 18, 2025), https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/request-files/request/2025/RQ0610KP.pdf (“Request Letter”). The Honorable Gary D. Trammel - Page 2

A commissioners court may not usurp elected officials’ core duties.

We begin with a brief discussion of the respective spheres of authority of the commissioners court and county elected officials. The commissioners court is “the county’s principal governing body,” Comm’rs Ct. of Titus Cnty. v. Agan, 940 S.W.2d 77, 79 (Tex. 1997), whose “primary function is to administer its county’s business affairs,” City of San Antonio v. City of Boerne, 111 S.W.3d 22, 27–28 (Tex. 2003). It exercises only such powers as the law specifically confers. See TEX. CONST. art. V, § 18(b); City of San Antonio, 111 S.W.3d at 28. Duties expressly assigned to the commissioners court include the implied authority to exercise powers necessary to accomplish those duties. City of San Antonio, 111 S.W.3d at 28. A commissioners court may not, of course, act contrary to state law. See Guynes v. Galveston Cnty., 861 S.W.2d 861, 863 (Tex. 1993) (stating commissioners court’s actions “must be grounded ultimately in the constitution or statutes”).

Other elected officials also manage and control county affairs. See Pritchard & Abbott v. McKenna, 350 S.W.2d 333, 335 (Tex. 1961). Each officer has an exclusive “sphere of authority” consisting of his or her “core duties”—i.e., those duties “that the Texas Constitution and statutes specifically delegate to the officer.” Griffin v. Birkman, 266 S.W.3d 189, 197 (Tex. App.—Austin 2008, pet. denied). Discretionary duties falling outside an officer’s “core duties” are not included in this protected “sphere of authority.” Id. A commissioners court may not usurp or unreasonably interfere with an official’s sphere of authority. See Pritchard & Abbott, 350 S.W.2d at 335; Harris Cnty. v. Coats, 607 S.W.3d 359, 377 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2020, no pet.). With those preliminary observations in mind, we turn to your questions.

Advertising for an Employment Position

We first consider if “an elected official” must “publicly advertise for a job opening in their office” in locations such as the newspaper, local radio, or the county website, or whether “simply advertis[ing] on” a “private Facebook page” is permissible. Request Letter at 3. There are no doubt instances when an elected official must publicly advertise an employment position. For example, the district and county court judges charged with appointing the director of a community supervision and corrections department must “publicly advertise the position.” TEX. GOV’T CODE § 76.004(h)(1). But we find no statute that imposes such a requirement on county elected officials, generally. See, e.g., TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE §§ 151.001–.004 (setting out general provisions governing district, county, and precinct officials’ authority to appoint employees); cf. also Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. GA-0126 (2003) at 9 (“We are not aware of any statute governing district courts that requires a judge to select an associate judge by posting the position and interviewing candidates.”). Neither do you suggest otherwise. See Request Letter at 4–5. We nonetheless caution that plaintiffs may use an elected official’s failure to advertise a position or decision to advertise in a limited area as evidence to assert that hiring practices are discriminatory. See, e.g., Edelstein v. City of Brownsville, No. 1:19-CV-00042, 2019 WL 13041329, at *2 (S.D. Tex. Nov. 13, 2019) (alleging city failed to post position in order to exclude female applicants), aff’d, No. 20-40211, 2021 WL 4096581 (5th Cir. Sept. 8, 2021); Bradley v. T-Mobile US, Inc., No. 17-CV- 07232-BLF, 2020 WL 1233924, at *1–2 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 13, 2020) (alleging targeting job ads on Facebook excluded prospective job applicants over the age of forty); see also Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. H-1045 (1977) at 2 (noting recruitment practices have been challenged as discriminatory). The Honorable Gary D. Trammel - Page 3

Interviewing for an Employment Position

We next consider whether a commissioners court may “require an elected official to bring their top three . . . applicants for a staff” position to the commissioners court so it may “interview and vet each candidate,” provided it does “not dictate who is hired or override the official’s selection.” Request Letter at 1–3. Together with this question, we also consider whether the commissioners court may “influence the hiring of any member of an elected official’s staff.” Id. at 3. Given your invocation of Local Government Code chapter 151, see id. at 4–5, we analyze these issues in relation to a “district, county, or precinct officer” who is seeking to hire a deputy, assistant, or clerk, see TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE § 151.001. See generally id. §§ 151.001–.004 (“General Employment Authority”).

Under Chapter 151, “[a] district, county, or precinct officer who requires the services of deputies, assistants, or clerks in the performance of the officer’s duties shall apply to the commissioners court . . . for the authority to appoint the employees.” 2 Id. § 151.001(a).

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Related

Griffin v. Birkman
266 S.W.3d 189 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Pritchard & Abbott v. McKenna
350 S.W.2d 333 (Texas Supreme Court, 1961)
Abbott v. Pollock
946 S.W.2d 513 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Guynes v. Galveston County
861 S.W.2d 861 (Texas Supreme Court, 1993)
City of San Antonio v. City of Boerne
111 S.W.3d 22 (Texas Supreme Court, 2003)
Commissioners Court of Titus County v. Agan
940 S.W.2d 77 (Texas Supreme Court, 1997)
Renfro v. Shropshire
566 S.W.2d 688 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1978)
Lowe v. Rivera
60 S.W.3d 366 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Hooten v. Enriquez
863 S.W.2d 522 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Renken v. Harris County
808 S.W.2d 222 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Gattis v. Duty
349 S.W.3d 193 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Texas State Board of Examiners v. Texas Medical Ass'n
511 S.W.3d 28 (Texas Supreme Court, 2017)

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Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion: KP-0522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/untitled-texas-attorney-general-opinion-kp-0522-texag-2026.