Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1960 )

TEEATTORNEYGENEFCAL OFTEXAS AUSTIN 11, TExas WVILL WILSON ATTORNEY GENERAL August 29, 1960 Honorable Arthur W. Young, Chairman Texas Seed and Plant Board ,Texas Technological College .Lubbock, Texas Opinion No. WW-925 Re: Whether Article @'a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, authorizes the State Seed and Plant Board to prohibit the sale in Texas of certified OP registered seed from other states produced un- der minimum standards lower than those established by the Dear Mr. Young: Seed Board. In your letter requesting an opinion from this office, you ask whether the State Seed and Plant Board is authorized to prohibit the sale in Texas of certified or registered seed from other states produced under minimum standards lower than those established by the.Seed Board. Article 57, Vernon's Civil Statutes, as amended by House Bill 105, Acts of the 56th Legislature, Regular Session, ,1959, states In part: "The administration of the licensing pro- visions of Title 4, Chapter 2 of the Revised Civil Statutes and of Chapter 93, Acts of the Forty-first Legislature, First Called Session, 1929 . shall be vested In a Board to be known ai Ehe State Seed and Plant Board . . All applicants for license as a registered'or certified seed grower shall furnish such in- formation as the Board may require . . . The Board shall approve and issue licenses for re- gistered and certified seed growers, promulgate rules and regulations governing . . . registered or certified seeds . . ." . Honorable Arthur W. Young, Page 2 (WW-925) Section 4(b), Article @a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, provides: "The Commissioner of Agriculture shall promulgate rules . . . under which cotton, alfalfa, corn and sorghum aeed for planting purposes may be shipped Into Texas, and pro- viding that no cotton, alfalfa, corn or sorghum seed for planting purposes may be shipped into Texas for planting purposes un- less said seed meet the requirements as set forth by the Commissioner of Agriculture. . . Said Commissioner, through his agents . . . may investigate the quality of the seed to be shipped into the State . . . and further providing that the Commissioner of Agrlcul- ture shall have full authority to refuse per- mission to any applicant to ship cotton, al- falfa, corn or sorghum planting seed into Texas when the records and information of the agents of said Commissioner of Agriculture show the seed to be of Inferior quality, lacking prescribed varietal purity, from diseased flelile, or other reasons prescribed in the rules and regulations under the provisions of this Section." Section 4(f), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes states: "Providing that all planting seed shipped Into Texas and bearing the label denoting Re- gistered or Certified.Seed shall have been pro- duced under standards equal to the existing standards In Texas for such Class of seed. Such seed coming Into the State of Texas and being declared by the Commissioner of Agriculture not to have been produced under Registration and Certification standards equal to the Texas standards, shall not bear the labels or be re- presented as Registered or Certified Seed . . . Such seed may bear the Registration or Certlfl- cationtag issued In the State of origin pro- vided such tags are plainly marked 'These Seed do not meet the requirements of Registration or Certiflcatlor in Texas'." . - Honorable Arthur W. Young, Page 3 (WW-925) It is the o inlon of this office that by the enact- ment of Section E (f), Article 67a, Ve,rnon'sCivil Statutes, the Legislature did not give the State Seed and Plant Board the authority to prevent the movement into Texas of seed under a certified or registered seed label from any other state even though the minimum certification requirements are lower than those In Texas. However, the Legislature clearly stated that such seed cannot bear the tag or be re- presented as registered or oertified seed, and the tag must state that the seeds "do not meet the requirements of Regis- tration or Certification in Texas.I' It Is the further opinion of this office that under Section 4 (b), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, that the Commissioner of Agriculture may refuse to permit cotton, alfalfa, corn and sorghum seed for planting purposes to be shipped into Texas when the records and information of the Commissioner show the seed to be of inferior quality or have other defects as set out in Section 4(b), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, above cited. This opinion is not to be construed as holding that an out-of-state producer must not meet the requirements of Article 93b, Vernon's Civil Statutes, which Is the Texas Seed Law, Attorney Cleneral'sOpinion O-2554. SUMMARY Section 4(f), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, does not authorize the State Seed and Plant Board to prevent the ship- ment into Texas of certified and reglster- ed seeds produced in other states even though the minimum requirements for certi- fication In other states are lower than those In Texas. However, such seed cannot bear the tag or be represented as register- ed or certified seed, and the tag must state that the seeds 'do not meet the requirements of Registration or Certification in Texas." The Commissioner of Agriculture does have authority to refuse to permit cotton, al- falfa, corn or sorghum seed for planting purposes to be shipped into Texas when Honorable Arthur W. Young, Page 4,(WW-925) his records and Information show the seed to be of inferior quality or fok other reasons listed In Section 4(b), Article 67a, Vernon's Civil Statutes. Yours very truly, WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas Assistant MJs:mm APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE W. V. Oeppert, Chairman Ben M. Harrison Marietta Payne C. K. Richards REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: Houghton Brownlee, Jr.