# Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion > Texas Attorney General Reports · July 2, 1940 URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4143591 ## Case - **Court:** Texas Attorney General Reports - **Decided:** July 2, 1940 - **Precedential status:** Published - **Opinion:** Opinion - **Judges:** Gerald Mann - **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library ## Citator (automated) - No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases. - Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4143591 ## Opinion text OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAi OF TEXAS AUSTIN Texas Unemployment Compensation &m~ieslon Brown Building Austin, T e x a e (Pentlemen: .- es, 1940, aubmlte for following quaetion, ‘Colleotion Dietriot of Texas: on with the administration of surance Contributions Act and the Federal Unemployment Tax Aot, (formml. Titles VIII and IX of the Soofal Seaurity Act T we have in aoms few casEa fauna it practloall~ impossl- ble to obtaln suffloient reoorde upon whloh to base our reoonmendatlon for assessments of taxes ageinst the employer. In some instancea we ob- taln Information from the taxpayer that your of- floe has previously made complete lnvestlgatlon in the same oase and -haa built up reoords suffi- cient to justify the aeaeesment and closing of the case. Texas Unemployment Compensation Comm:selon, Page E ml In most of such oaeee the taxpayer lnalsts that he does not have in his files the oomplete data covering the audit. In such oases it would be of great assistance to thls offloe If we were privileged to obtain from you a transorlpt of your audit, or if we were prlvlleged to review your files in the case and obtain the neoeesary 1nfor:mtIon to serve as a basis for aseesement of the taxee. “1.t will be appreciated if you will take thle matter up with the proper authorities and advlee what steps should be taken In caees of thl~ oharscter where we find It neoeosary to oall upon your office for such assistance. ’ *We shall appreciate your oplnlon as to whether this Commission may make Its records available to Mr. 80&‘&&l&l for the pumoeee ln- dloated in hls letter.. In thls connection your attetitlon 1s dlreated to &Ib6eOtiOnS 11 (ej and 11 (1) of the Texas Uuzh@ployment Compensation Act (Artlole 5221b-9 (e) anff Q(l) Vernon’s Re- :,. vleed,,,C~vll %atuteo). * Article 52Plb-9 (e), Vernon's Annotated Retleea Civil Statutea of Texas , provides aa folk owe with respect to the recordr and reports involved in your Inquiry: *Records anU Reports: Eaoh employing unit shall keep true and aocurate employment reoordr, oontalnlng such information as the Commlsslon may prescribe and which 1s aeeeed necessary to the proper admlnlstratlon of thla Act. Suoh re- cords shall be open to lnspectlon and subjedt . to being oopled by the ~ommlsslon or Its aaaM$pr- Iced representatives et any reasonable time and ae often as may be ncessary. The Commission may require from any employing unlt any sworn or unsworn reports, with respect to persons em- ployed by It, whioh the CornmissIon deems nec- esFary for the effect5.ve administration of this Act. Information thus obtslned shall not be published or be open to public lnepectlon (other veee ln the Dermoe OZ. in any manner revealing .- the emploglng unit’s identity, but any ol+.mant - Texas Unemployment Compeneatlon Commlsslon, Page 3 at a hearing before an appeal tribunal or the Commission shall be supplied with lnrormatlon from such records to the extent neoessary for the proper presentation of his claim. Any em- ployee or member of the Commission who violates any provision of this seatlon shall be fined not less than Twenty (Ir20.00) Dollars, nor more than Two Hundred ($~oo.oo) Dollars, or imprison- ment for not longer than nlnety ~(90) d.ays,or both.” (Undersoorlng ours) Our opinion Ho. O-2416, directed to you under date of June 14, 1940 held that your wte Health Officer oame within the exoeption to the denial of pub110 lnapeo- tlon of the records and reports aee%rlbea in the abovei quoted statute, beoause suoh records were sought in further- anoe of the pub110 .health and the control of ocoupatlonal health hazards, and he was therefore a public employee in the performanoe, of hls pub110 duties. Although, in the opinion referred to, the request to examine the reoorde ic‘- aid not emanate aireotly from a federal officer or agenor, as in the lnetanoe caee, it was nevertheless apparent from the factual statement submitted that the lnformat$oa sought and galne% fr~om Ahe reoords and ,repoYts OS’the Unemploy- ment Comoeneatlon Commission aotuUly and u&tlmately, and through the medium of the State aealth Offloer of Texas, came into the knowledge and possession of a federal board or agency, namely the United States Pzzbllc Health Servloe of Washington, D. C., which was oooperatlng with the State Department of Health upon a program of health promotion and conservation among the Industrial groups. To draw the analogy oloser, the United States Pub110 Health Servloe was or anlzed under the Federal Security Administration under g itle 6 of the Social Security Act, while the Cal- lector of Internal Revenue in the instant oaee is seeking to use the reoorde in question to oolleat the federal un- employment tax under Titles VIII and IX of said Social Seourlty Act. Therefore upon the Drlnclple established in the opinion mentloneh and upon the bare text of the stat- ute (whloh does not limit the opening of the records to pub110 employees of the State) we are inclined to accord a liberal and enlarged oonstruotlon to this exception to secrecy of the reoorde, and hold that the term *publlo employees in the performance of ~&BP public duties” ln- .- oludes as well ae proper state officials, sll federal of- ficials, boards and agenoles, whose public or statutory Texas Unemployment Compenaatlon CommIesion, Page 4 duties under the Conetltutlon of the United States or Aote of Congress bear some reasonable and proper relatlon to the Soolal 3 eourlty Program, as related to Unemployment Compensation Ineurance, as aa to render the records and reports of the Unemployment Compensation GommIsssIon or Texas neoessary and proper for their examination andlnspeotton. Thea conclusion ia fortified. by the following provisions of the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act: Article 5221b-9 (I) *State-Federal Coopera- tion: In the administration of this Act, the CornmIssIon shall cooperate to the fullest extent ooneletent with the rovlslons of this Aot with the Social Seourlty 8 aard, created by the bclal Securfty Aot, approved Auguet 14, 1935, as amend- ed;. . . .* Article 5221b-9a". ; . . *The CommIseIon~may afford reasonable oo- operation with every agency of the United States charged with the administration of any unemploy- ment insurance law. . . . ,* ,, The Federal government and the various states of the Union, Including the State of Tedas, are engaged ln a program of cooperation and mutual seslstanoe for the per- manent solution of the recubrent problems of unemployment common to both soverel.ntIes. An examination or Titlee VIII and If of the Feeera -iioolal Seourlty Act, under which the taxee Fought to be aeseaee& by the Collector of,Internal Revenue are levied, demhnstrates that aame'were enacted by Congress ae an Inducement to the v::rIous states to enaot similar legislation for the relief of unemployment,-beoause a credit against t&e Federal tax.i.8 allowed'to employing units of the'varlous states for taxes paid to,state agencies under state Unemplpyment Compensation Acts. Moreover, Title III of the Social Security Act prcvides for grante- In-aid to the various states for Unemployment Comrensetion admInistratIve expenses.. Therefore, we see that the ebove-quoted provisions of the Texas Unemployment Compensltlon Act are but declara- tory of the common purpose of the State tin8 Federal govern- zents to mutually assist and cooperate one with the other, C in the furtherance cf the Social Security Program. Assistanoe - Texas Unemployment Compensation Commlselon, Page 5 and cooperation to and with the Collector of Internal Bev- enue for the First Collection District of Texas along the lines requested by him, Ie tantamount to oooperatlon with the Social Security Board, In keeping with this declared policy of the State; because said offIoIa1 In seeking re- oorde to faollitate the assessment and oolhotlo of theee sooial security, taxea, 1s acting for the Soolal 8 eourlty Board in the effective administration of the Soolal Seour- lty Act. It Ie therefore our opinion that the Texas Unem- ployment Compensation Conmlsalon may properly and legally flermlt and allow Bon. Frank Soofleld, Colleotor of Internai evenue for the First Colleotion Dletrlot of Texas, his de- puties and representatIvea, to lnspeot and review the oom- plete flies or audits of the Commleelon uron any or all em- ploying units In this State, or obtain transorlpts thereof, for them of asseeelng taxes against suoh employing unite under the applloable provlelone of the SooIal Seourlty Act. Trusting the foregoing fully answer6 your Inquiry, we are Xourm very truly ATWIMEX QEBEBALOF TEXAS By (8) PAT H. NEFF, JR Pat W. Neil, Jr. Assistant PMN:LB APPROVEDOCTOBER25, 1940 a - (R) WflALD C. UANN ATTORNEYGENERALOF TEXAS ATPROVED Opinion Committee By BWB Chairman --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4143591. Public record. Not legal advice.