Opinion No. GA-0663

Attorney General of Texas — Opinion
September 12, 2008.

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GREG ABBOTT, Attorney General of Texas

The Honorable Jana A. Jones 271st Judicial District Attorney Jack and Wise Counties 101 North Trinity, Suite 200 Decatur, Texas 76234

Re: Whether the members of a discretionary bail bond board may dissolve the board RQ-0687-GA)

Dear Ms. Jones:

Occupations Code section 1704.052 authorizes the creation of a county bail bond board “in a county with a population of less than 110,000 if a majority of the persons who would serve as members of the board . . . or who would designate the persons who would serve as members of the board, determine to create a board.” TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. § 1704.052 (Vernon 2004). It appears that in Wise County, which has a population of fewer than 110,000, a bail bond board has been created under section 1704.052.[1] You ask whether “members of a discretionary bail bond board [created under section 1704.052] can dissolve the said bail bond board by [a] majority vote of the statutory members or a quorum thereof.” Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1. If chapter 1704 does not authorize the dissolution, you also ask about the “law [that] must be followed to achieve that end if so desired[.]” Id. at 2.

Chapter 1704 of the Occupations Code provides for bail bond boards to regulate the bail bond[2] industry in “a county with a population of. . . . 110,000 or more; or . . . less than 110, 000 in which a board is created.” TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. § 1704.002 (Vernon 2004); see id.
§§ 1704.051-.052. In a county that has a bail bond board, “a person may not act as a bail bond surety[3] or as an agent for a corporate surety in the county unless the person holds a license issued

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under chapter [1704].” Id. § 1704.151; see also id. § 1704.163 (Vernon Supp. 2008) (attorney exemption). The statute itself creates a bail bond board in a county “with a population of 110,000 or more.” Id. § 1704.051 (Vernon 2004). In counties with a population of fewer than 110,000, however, creation of a bail bond board is authorized, but not required: “A board may be created in [such a county] if a majority of the persons who would serve as members of the board . . . or who would designate the persons who would serve as members of the board, determine to create aboard.” Id. § 1704.052 (emphasis added).[4]

As you note, chapter 1704 makes no provision for, or allusion to, the dissolution of a bail bond board. See id. §§ 1704.001-.306 (Vernon 2004 Supp. 2008); Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. Thus, the issue here is whether a “discretionary bail bond board,” as you describe it, may nevertheless dissolve itself if a majority of the board members wish to do so. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1-2.

While no court has considered specifically a bail bond board’s authority to dissolve, the courts have said that a political subdivision authorized to be created pursuant to legislative authority may be dissolved only pursuant to legislative authority. See Ringling v. City of Hempstead, 193 F. 596, 599 (5th Cir. 1911); Harness v. State, 13 S.W. 535, 537 (Tex. 1890); Largen v. State ex rel Abney, 13 S.W. 161,163 (Tex. 1890); Watts v. Double Oaklndep. Sch Dist, 377 S.W.2d 779,780 (Tex.Civ.App.-Fort Worth 1964, no writ). As the Texas Supreme Court has described it, “`[t]he state creates such [municipal] corporations for public ends, and they will and must continue until the legislature annuls or destroys them, or authorizes it to be done.'” Largen, 13 S.W. at 162
(quoting 1 Dill. Mun. Corp. § 167); see also Ringling, 193 F. at 599 (“It is well settled that a municipal corporation can only be dissolved by legislative action.”); Harness, 13 S.W. at 537 (stating that “[m]unicipal corporations can be created only in the manner provided by law, and when created must continue until abolished in some legal method”). This principle applies to political subdivisions other than cities. School districts, for instance, are “authorized and chartered by the State” and as “creatures of the State . . . can be destroyed only by their creator.”Watts, 311 S. W.2d at 780 (citing King’s Estate v. Sch. Trs. of Willacy County, 33 S.W.2d 783, 784 (Tex.Civ.App.-San Antonio 1930, writ refd)) see Amer. Liberty Oil Co. v. State, 125 S.W.2d 1107, 1109
(Tex.Civ.App.-Texarkana 1939, no writ) (holding that “[s]chool districts are local public corporations of the same general character as municipal corporations [t]hey are quasi-municipal corporations”).[5]

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While a bail bond board is not a political subdivision, it is a legal entity whose creation is authorized by the Legislature for public ends See Dallas County Bail Bond Bd. v. Mason, 773 S.W.2d 586, 587
(Tex.App.-Dallas 1989, no writ); Dallas County Bail Bond Bd v. Stein, 111 S.W.2d 577, 579 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1989, writ denied). A bail bond board has been described as a “legal entity through which the county performs its governmental function.” Mason, 113 S.W.2d at 587. It has also been described as a “governmental agent of the county for purposes of regulating the bail bond industry.” Stein, 111 S.W.2d at 579. And it has been described as an “administrative agency.” Tex. Fire Cas. Co. v. Harris County Bail Bond Bd, 684 S.W.2d 177, 178 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist] 1984, writ ref d n.r.e.).

And, as is the case with political subdivisions, the Legislature generally provides for the dissolution of public legal entities whose creation the Legislature authorizes.[6] This includes legal entities that the Legislature authorizes (like the bail bond board here), rather than requires, political subdivisions to create.[7] As noted by the Dallas court of appeals in a 1931 case involving an insurance company: “The policy in this state with reference to the dissolution and winding up of the affairs of its legal entities, as manifested by the acts of the Legislature, is that the right to bring about such results belongs exclusively to the state” State v. Robinson, 42 S. W.2d 457,458 (Tex.Civ.App.-Dallas 1931, writ ref d). The Legislature’s express provisions for dissolution of legal entities indicates that the (1) authority to dissolve is not inherent or implied in the authority to create such entities and (2) when desired, the Legislature knows how to provide it.

As you observe, chapter 1704 does not specifically authorize the dissolution of a bail bond board by a vote of the board or by any other method. Nor does any provision in chapter 1704 suggest that the Legislature intended or contemplated such dissolution once a bail bond board is created. Cf. Pruett v. Harris County Bail BondBd., 249 S.W.3d 447,454 (Tex. 2008) (“We ascertain legislative intent concerning the [Harris County Bail Bond] Boards’ authority from the plain and common

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meaning of the statute granting such authority.”). First, while in a county with a population of fewer than 110,000 the Legislature has granted the discretion to create a bail bond board, we do not find and you do not direct us to any provision in the statute or other law indicating that such a county or its bail bond board has the concomitant discretion to dissolve the board. Cf. TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. § 1704.052
(Vernon 2004) (discretionary creation of board). Second, chapter 1704 contains no provisions for winding up the affairs of a bail bond board[8]
or making a transition to the very different scheme that would govern the taking of a bail bond in a county without a bail bond board, [9] as would reasonably be expected if the Legislature contemplated the dissolution of a bail bond board. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 311.021(3) (Vernon 2005) (“In enacting a statute, it is presumed that . . . a just and reasonable result is intended[.]”); see also Font v. Carr, 867 S.W.2d 873, 880 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist] 1993, writ dism’d w.o.j.) (describing the predecessor to Occupations Code 1704 as “a comprehensive statutory regulatory scheme that applies to the business of writing bail bonds”); Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. JC-0541 (2002) at 2 (stating that Code of Criminal Procedure chapter 17 generally governs the `”taking of bail bonds on a bond-by-bond basis'”).

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In sum, as a general matter, public legal entities authorized to be created by legislative authority may be dissolved only pursuant to similar legislative authority. A bail bond board is a public legal entity. Chapter 1704 does not authorize the dissolution of a bail bond board or suggest that the Legislature intended or contemplated the dissolution of a bail bond board. In the absence of legislative authority, a bail bond board is not authorized to dissolve itself by a majority vote of the members or a quorum thereof or by any other method. Dissolution authority, if desired, must be sought from the Legislature.

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SUMMARY
Occupations Code chapter 1704 creates a bail bond board in a county with a population of 110,000 or more and authorizes the creation of a bail bond board in a county with a population of fewer than 110,000. Because neither chapter 1704 nor another law authorizes it, a bail bond board created in a county with a population of fewer than 110,000 may not dissolve itself by a vote of the members of the board or by another method.

Very truly yours,

GREG ABBOTT Attorney General of Texas
KENT C. SULLIVAN First Assistant Attorney General
ANDREW WEBER Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel
NANCY S. FULLER Chair, Opinion Committee
Sheela Rai Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee