Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0516

Summary

Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0516 addresses whether Texas occupational licensing authorities must request, and applicants must provide, a Social Security number under Texas Family Code section 231.302(c)(1). The opinion concludes that the statute imposes an unambiguous requirement and that agencies may not accept attestations that an applicant lacks a Social Security number. It overrules Attorney General Opinion JC-0409 and related opinions to the extent they concluded otherwise, while limiting the analysis to occupational licensing.

Holdings

1. Texas Family Code subsection 231.302(c)(1) unambiguously requires each occupational licensing authority to request, and each applicant for an occupational license to provide, the applicant's social security number.
2. Occupational licensing agencies cannot solicit or accept attestations that an applicant does not have a social security number because such attestations merely memorialize noncompliance with subsection 231.302(c)(1).
3. Attorney General Opinion JC-0409 and its progeny are overruled because JC-0409 incorrectly relied on nonbinding federal guidance and a federal statutory provision enacted after the Texas statute.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Texas Family Code subsection 231.302(c)(1) requires occupational licensing authorities to request, and each occupational-license applicant to provide, the applicant's social security number.
2. Whether occupational licensing authorities may solicit or accept attestations that an applicant does not have a social security number.
3. Whether Attorney General Opinion JC-0409 and its progeny should remain authoritative.

Disposition

other