Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1958 )

ORNEY <;ENEKAI, TEXAS Honorable Robert S. Calvert Comptroller of Public Accounts Austin, Texas Opinion No. WW-383 Re: Transfer of surplus property between agen- cies of the State pursuant to the provi- sions of Article 666, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, as amended by Senate Bill 190, Acts of 55th Legislature, Regular Ses- sion, 1957, chapter 414, page 1247. Dear Mr. Calvert: You have requested our opinion on the following ques- tion: "1. You are respectfully requested to advise this office if State Agencies covered by the above Section No. 4. (a) [of Article 666, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925 as amended by Senate Bill 190, Acts of 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, chapter 414, page 12471 may transfer surplus properties to each other without re-imbursement be- ing made to the transferor," (brackets ours), Subdivision (a) of Section 4 of Art:icle666, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, as amended by the Salvage and Sur- plus Act of 1957, provides: "All state agencies which determine that they have surplus property shall inform the Board of the kind, number, location, condition, and original cost or value and date of acquisition of the property, The Board may inform other state agencies of the ex- istence, kind, number, location and condition of any surplus property. Any state agency when so informed may negotiate directly with the other agencies for an inter-agency transfer of the property but shall inform the Board of its interest in order that the property will not be sold or disposed of before a transfer may be made. If a transfer of surplus prop- erty is made the agencies taking part in the transfer - . . Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 2 (W-W-383) shall mutually agree on the value of the transferred property and shall report the value to the Comptrol- ler. The Comptroller shall credit and debit their respective appropriations and adjust the state inven- tory records to show the transfer if inventoried property is transferred, Transfers of surplus prop- erty shall be reported to the Board but the consent of the Board shall not be required for any transfer. After surplus property is reported to the Board it shall not be sold by the reporting agency unless writ- ten authority to sell is given by the Board," Under the 1957 amendment to Article 666, state agencies governed by the provisions of Section 4 are authorized to trans- fer property between such agencies, The Legislature has not di- rected that any particular sum of money shall be credited or debited to the respective appropriations. On the contrary, the Legislature has required that the transferor be reimbursed only in the amount that the transferor and the transferee have mutu- ally agreed upon and no minimum value is placed on any property. Therefore, you are advised that where the agencies tak- ing part in the transfer mutually agree that the property has no value for the purpose of debit and credit of appropriations, transfer of surplus property may be made without any reimburse- ment being made to the transferor. SmMflRY Pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (a) of Section 4 of Article 666 Revised Civil Statutes of Texas 1925 as amended gy Senate Bill 190, Acts of 55th fiegisliture Regular Session, 1957, Chapter 414, page 1247, State agencies may transfer surplus properties to each other without reimbursement being made to the transferor, provided such agencies mu- tually agree that the transferred property has no value for the purpose of debit and credit of appro- priations. Yours very truly, WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas JR:wam:pf:wb Assistant Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 3 0~383 ) APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman J. C. Davis, Jr. Wayland ~C.;~ ,RzLvers., 2Jr. C. K. Richards REVIEWED FOR THE:ATTORWEY GENERAL BY: W. V. Geppert