Question:

Must a county pay the career-prosecutor longevity based on a prosecutor's total years of service, even if the prosecutor accrued some of those years of service with a different office?

We have at least three prosecutors in this office who came directly from other DA's office. I'm sure this is a fairly common scenario.

Have any of your offices or counties taken a position one way or the other?

Does this issue warrant another request for an A/G opinion?

The statute clearly includes service from any employer. It anticipates that credit accrues for service as a prosecutor, and makes no mention of any particular office. That was the whole idea behind "lifetime" credit instead of just staying with a single employer.

Sec. 41.257. ACCRUAL OF LIFETIME SERVICE CREDIT. (a) An assistant prosecutor accrues lifetime service credit for the period in which the assistant prosecutor serves as a full-time, part-time, or temporary assistant prosecutor.

Montgomery county honors this idea. I have not heard from any other county doing otherwise.

I agree with Dan, and it is my understanding that is how the counties are doing it. Also, there is a fairly analogous situation involving deputy longevity pay, in which the AG ruled that you get credit for non-continuous service. See, MW-509 (1982).

Hope this is helpful...

Rob and Dan, thanks for the input.

Harris County has asked about this issue. Check the AG website for requests for opinion.

Ray (Rike, I presume):

Once again, the great people at Tarrant County help out. I appreciate the pointer and I now have a copy of the request on my desk.

I have a follow-up question:
How soon do you think an opinion will be issued for a request filed last September?