Compensation And Benefits

Article XVI, section 40(b)(1) prohibits current public school district employees who are not schoolteachers from receiving salary for city council service|Article XVI, section 40(b)(1) allows public schoolteachers to receive salary for city council service|Whether employee qualifies as schoolteacher is fact question contingent upon directly instructing students in required curriculum

Provision of health insurance benefits to surviving spouse of municipal fire fighter under Government Code section 615.073

Economic development corporation may obtain benefits for its employees through a risk pool. To the extent permitted by Local Government Code section 501.067, an

Article I, section 32 of the Texas Constitution, political subdivisions are prohibited from creating a legal status of domestic partnership and recognizing that status by offering public benefits based upon it, pursuant to|Article I, section 32 of the Texas Constitution, political subdivisions, including municipalities, are prohibited from creating a legal status of domestic partnership and recognizing that status by offering public benefits based upon it, pursuant to|Article I, section 32 of the Texas Constitution, political subdivisions, including school districts, are prohibited from creating a legal status of domestic partnership and recognizing that status by offering public benefits based upon it, pursuant to

Article XVI, subsection 40(b) expressly permits a state employee or an individual who receives compensation from the state to serve as a member of the governing body of a city but prohibits the person from receiving a salary for the latter unless the person receives compensation from the state for work performed in certain capacities.  Because of the multiple possible meanings of these terms, we cannot predict with certainty whether a court would conclude the Legislature equates the term “salary” with “compensation” in subsection 40(b).

Whether the per meeting payment provided under section 3.04 of the Hutto City Charter may be construed to constitute the reimbursement of expenses rather than “salary” for purposes of subsection 40(b) is left to the discretion of the appropriate City officials in the first instance, subject to judicial review.

A state employee serving as a council member on the Hutto City Council must decline the per-meeting salary payment in subsection 3.04(b) of the city’s charter in order to comply with article XVI, subsection 40(b) of the Texas Constitution.