| STATUTORY AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONSTRUCTION |
| Abrogate treaty rights, intent to must be expressed clearly and unequivocally | GA-0339 |
| Ballot language of a proposed constitutional amendment is sufficient if it identifies the amendment, showing its character and scope, that is, its intent, import, subject matter, or theme. | KP-0017 |
| Boundaries of another district, a conservation and reclamation district may generally conduct works within, except under certain circumstances | GA-0961 |
| Codification to be give effect over prior repealed statute if specific provisions of a codification and the code as a whole are direct, unambiguous, and cannot be reconciled with prior law
| GA-0505 |
| Determination as to whether board or commission is advisory must be made by examination of constitutional and statutory provisions which created board or commission and which conferred duties on them | GA-0021 |
| Fraudulent filing provisions of section 9.412 of the Business and Commerce Code do not apply to any transaction listed in section 9.104 thereof | JC-0213 |
| Grandfather clause applicable to former and retired judges who qualified for service by assignment prior to amendment to Government Code section 74.055(c) | GA-0398 |
| Grandfather clause, repeal of | DM-0157 |
| Grandfather clause, section 6.412 of Tax Code does not contain, and is therefore applicable to all members of appraisal review board serving on effective date of statutory amendment | JC-0192 |
| House Bill 3109, an act of the 82nd Legislature, specifically declares that it prevails over any conflicting act of the same legislature, and thus prevails over House Bill 2702 | GA-0904 |
| Incorporation by reference
Uncodified provision of law | GA-0731 |
| Irreconcilable conflict, mere difference between two statutes does not in itself constitute | GA-0369 |
| Irreconcilable conflict, silence in one statutory provision as to other statutory provision does not constitute | GA-0369 |
| Legislation challenged under article III, section 30 of Texas Constitution, validity of enrolled bill will not be impeached | DM-0263 |
| Long-standing construction of its statute by agency given deference by courts | DM-0189 |
| Procedural rule that requires a vote of greater than a majority of the number of members of the Board present and voting, Board may not adopt | GA-0554 |
| Prospective operation of statutes, constructional presumption in favor of | LO96-022 |
| Remedy a claimed injustice, Indian treaties cannot be rewritten or expanded beyond their clear terms to | GA-0339 |
| Rule of "Fleming Foods v. Rylander" will not be followed when recodification is not "direct, unambiguous, and incapable of being reconciled with prior law" | JC-0245 |
| Sovereign immunity, Border Health Institute may or may not be entitled to | GA-0280 |
| Statute allowing commissioners court to appoint purchasing agent, legislature intended to grant certain counties additional authority by enacting | LO98-115 |
| Statutes regulating the manner of holding an election are directory and a departure from their provisions will not ordinarily invalidate an election, unless each departure affects or changes the result of the election | GA-0286 |
| Statutory enactments concerning elections must be liberally construed in order to ascertain and effectuate the will of the voters | GA-0286 |
| Takings restrictions of the Fifth Amendment, the right of Congress to abrogate treaty is limited by | GA-0339 |
| Term, when Legislature defines a term in one statute and uses same term in relation to same subject matter in a later statute, we may presume that Legislature used the term in the same way | JC-0396 |
| Texas courts do not use ballot language to construe a constitutional amendment. | KP-0017 |
| Texas law provides that preempted provisions of a state statute may be severed to leave the remaining statute effective if remaining statute is capable of being executed in accordance with legislative intent | GA-1020 |
| Vested rights under Indian treaties, Congress may not impair but may supersede or abrogate by legislation or subsequent treaty | GA-0339 |
| Where referenced statute does not exist, referencing statute cannot be applied | JC-0497 |
| Whether Texas Advertising Fee Statute is preempted by the federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act is a fact-intensive question that cannot be resolved in an attorney general opinion | GA-1020 |
| Intent |
| Absent statutory definitions of appropriate terms or other meaningful guidance from the Legislature or Texas courts on the meaning of the phrase "retail hearing instrument company," in section 402.053(d) of the Occupations Code, we cannot definitively determine the scope of that phrase | GA-0921 |
| Applicants for medical license examination, State Board of Medical Examiners' interpretation of sections 155.051 and 155.056 of the Occupations Code is reasonable regarding time period for applicants to complete medical license examination and number of a | GA-0285 |
| Ballot proposition language and contemporaneous newspaper accounts provide evidence of electorate's intent in adopting constitutional amendment | DM-0302 |
| Different phrases in a statute are intended to mean different things | GA-0202 |
| Incorrect codification of amendments to statute does not correctly reflect legislative intent, application of Class C misdemeanor penalty where | LO96-112 |
| Legislative authorization for provision of employee benefits, chapter 157 of the Local Government Code is, and is not another insurance law of this state | GA-0327 |
| Legislative deletion of item from bill indicates legislative intent to reject proposal | DM-0445 |
| Legislative history, consideration of to determine legislative intent | JC-0096 |
| Legislative intent found in unambiguous language of statute | DM-0400 |
| Mass gathering, single permit for a mass gathering may not be issued for multiple events | GA-0582 |
| Post-enactment statement by legislature or in sponsor's statement about bill, legislative intent is not found in | JC-0027 |
| Post-enactment statements by legislators are not evidence of legislative intent | JC-0567 |
| Procedural Rules |
| Amendment of statute after its repeal, effect of | GA-0900 |
| Article III, section 36 of the Texas Constitution, whether bill complies with requirements of is determined as of date of passage and not as of effective date | DM-0475 |
| Civil procedure rules with doubtful meaning, construe to avoid mischievous consequences and applications that would violate constitutional rights | DM-0358 |
| Inconsistent with statute, rule of civil procedure must yield if | DM-0339 |
| Prospective application, amendment restricting exemption from competitive bidding for contracts for work performed and paid for by the day | LO98-015 |
| Statewide local rules of administration for statutory probate courts, presiding judge of the statutory probate courts may adopt | GA-0105 |
| Rules of Construction |
| Acquisition or conveyance of state land, statute that prescribes methods of excludes all other methods | LO96-106 |
| Administrative agency's construction of a statute will be given weight by court unless construction is contrary to plain meaning of unambiguous statute | LO93-044 |
| Agency construction of statute agency authorized to enforce entitled to consideration only to extent reasonable and consistent with statute | DM-0448 |
| Agency construction of statute the agency is charged with administering is not unreasonable as a matter of law because the construction has changed over the years | GA-0050 |
| Agency interpretation of a statute is entitled to serious consideration if (1) the agency is charged with the statute's enforcement; (2) the interpretation is reasonable; and (3) the interpretation is not contrary to the statute's plain language | GA-0403 |
| Amendment of statute after its repeal, effect of | GA-0900 |
| Amendment of statute, rebuttable presumption that in enacting legislature intended to change existing law | LO98-095 |
| An agency's reasonable construction of its rule is entitled to deference | GA-0390 |
| Bill referencing other bills passed at same session with directions for interpretation, rules of construction do not apply to | DM-0280 |
| Code Construction Act applies to Code of Criminal Procedure (Overruled by Court Decision, 958 S.W.2d 811) | LO96-126 |
| Code Construction Act rule that when amendments are irreconcilable latest in date of enactment prevails does not apply when legislature has provided specific instructions regarding conflicting bills passed in same session | DM-0234 |
| Code Construction Act, application to Education Code | KP-0096 |
| Comma, a court may omit if it distorts the Legislature�s intention, as determined from the statute | GA-0825 |
| Common understanding, court generally interprets words of constitution in accordance with | GA-0221 |
| Comprehensive enactment intended to include all the law on the subject with which it deals evidences a legislative intent to repeal former statutory law | GA-0454 |
| Conflict of interest provisions, statute applying to boards created on behalf of municipal water systems is not retroactive and thus not applicable to San Antonio Water System | JC-0509 |
| Conflicting amendments to statute enacted in same session, latest in date of enactment prevails | JC-0058 |
| Conflicting bills, last bill enacted prevails over other bills amending same statute at same legislative session | DM-0304 |
| Conflicting bills, newly enacted language of statute in one bill prevails over reenacted language of same statute in different bill at same legislative session | DM-0304 |
| Constitution, construction of is governed by same rules as construction of statutes | GA-0293 |
| Constitutional, presumption that legislature intended statute to be | DM-0493 |
| Criminal provisions, notice of prohibited conduct in and applicable rules of construction | GA-0334 |
| Definition may not be imported from one statute to a prior-enacted statute (Superseded by statute as noted in Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0097 (1999)) | DM-0425 |
| Delegates authority to private entity that promulgates codes for installation, alteration, operation, and inspection of elevators, escalators, and related equipment, statute that may appear to must be construed to incorporate only those editions of codes | JC-0510 |
| Effective date of 1993 enactment concerning grant of parole to person convicted of capital felony | LO94-054 |
| Ejusdem generis, general words following particular terms will be limited in meaning by the particular terms under rule of | JC-0014 |
| Exemptions from taxation must be strictly construed and may not be raised by implication | GA-0484 |
| Expired statute has no force or effect | GA-0535 |
| Express enumeration of particular persons tantamount to express exclusion of all others | LO97-071 |
| Fee by implication, statute must be strictly construed against fixing | JC-0207 |
| General law prevails over specific law where legislative intent is explicit that general law prevails | JM-1132 |
| General reference statute adopts incorporated law as it reads at any time thereafter | LO92-041 |
| General savings clause, retroactive application of House Bill 1823 enacted by Seventy-ninth Legislature | GA-0418 |
| General statute that conflicts with special statute, special statute is an exception to the general statute unless general statute was enacted later and manifestly intended to prevail | JC-0070 |
| Heading may neither limit nor expand plain text of statute | JC-0197 |
| House Bill 3109, an act of the 82nd Legislature, specifically declares that it prevails over any conflicting act of the same legislature, and thus prevails over House Bill 2702 | GA-0904 |
| Impact fee statute, the term "may" is used to indicate authority rather than discretion or choice | LO93-060 |
| Inconsistent amendments to provisions on foreclosure of tax lien on real property, latest enacted prevails | LO98-083 |
| Irreconcilably conflict, when two amendments adopted by the same legislature, the later enacted prevails | GA-0411 |
| Last antecedent, under the doctrine of the last antecedent "a qualifying phrase must be confined to the words and phrases immediately preceding it to which it may be applied without impairing the meaning of the sentence" | GA-0167 |
| Lien statute is to be liberally construed to protect laborers and material men, yet cannot be construed contrary to the statute's plain language | GA-0644 |
| Mass gathering, single permit for a mass gathering may not be issued for multiple events | GA-0582 |
| Mistake, where plain language of statute substantially does not effectuate legislature's intent, court cannot remedy | LO98-127 |
| Multiple amendments to one statute occurring at the same legislative session must be harmonized unless they are irreconcilable | GA-0607 |
| Municipality's lease of its mineral property, subchapter A, chapter 71 of the Natural Resources Code irreconcilably conflicts with section 253.005 of the Local Government Code; section 253.005 as the more specific enactment prevails | GA-0441 |
| Nonsubstantive codification, the unambiguous language of must be effectuated unless there is an obvious error or effectuating the statute as written would lead to an absurd result
| GA-0499 |
| Nonsubstantive revision must be construed consistent with statutory predecessor | DM-0445 |
| Nonsubstantive revision of statute does not change meaning of provision | LO98-081 |
| Particular purpose, we presume the legislature chooses each word or phrase to serve a | GA-0202 |
| Penal statutes and statutes penal in nature, strict construction of | JC-0096 |
| Penal statutes must be sufficiently definite so that persons subject to them may know what they mean and who is liable to punishment for violations | JC-0096 |
| Present tense indicates prospective rather than retroactive operation of provision | JC-0533 |
| Prior administrative interpretation of court-appointed volunteer advocate program statutes, successor state agency's adoption of | LO93-082 |
| Prospective application, in absence of express statement of legislative intent statutes are presumed to have | JC-0180 |
| Prospective operation; presumption of | JC-0533 |
| Public land, statutes governing conveyance must be strictly construed | LO97-068 |
| Reference to any portion of statute or rule applies to all reenactments, revisions, or amendments of statute or rule; Code of Criminal Procedure article 2.122(b) grants law enforcement authority to federal officers even though article refers to repealed federal statute | KP-0248 |
| Repeal and amendment of crude oil production tax provisions | KP-0085 |
| Retroactive application, presumption against | DM-0493 |
| Retroactively applied, a court probably would use three-part test to determine whether judicially modified statute will be | DM-0468 |
| Same legislative session, multiple amendments to same statute adopted during should be harmonized if possible | JC-0518 |
| Same session, statutes enacted in should be harmonized if possible | JM-1208 |
| Savings provisions of Code Construction Act | KP-0096 |
| Special enabling act controls where conflicts with general law | LO92-049 |
| Specific legislative statement that one bill prevail over any other similar legislation enacted in same session takes precedence over rule of statutory construction that legislation must be harmonized and, if that is not possible, the later enacted provis | JC-0137 |
| Specific reference statute does not adopt subsequent amendments | LO92-041 |
| Technical term not defined by statute, court may interpret statute in the light of expert testimony about the particular art, science, or trade | GA-0648 |
| Term "prevailing party," for purposes of recovering attorneys' fees in employment discrimination cases under state law has same meaning as under federal law because state law was modeled upon federal law | JM-1145 |
| Unambiguous statutory language in amendment to Air Control Act will be construed according to plain meaning because result is not absurd | JC-0493 |
| Uniform general law prevails over earlier-enacted special provision | LO98-124 |
| Validation of unconstitutional statute may be accomplished by adoption of constitutional provision that expressly or impliedly validates it or by reenactment of statute after constitution has been amended to authorize such legislation | JC-0373 |
| When implementing an official's interpretation conflicts with the statute's plain language, we cannot defer to the official's view and must advise that the plain language be enforced. | GA-1055 |
| Word or phrase used in different parts of a statute, clear meaning attached to in one instance will attach to other instances | JM-1259 |
