Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1956 )

Honorable Walter L. Bell Opinion No. s-187 Executive Director State Board of Control Re: Contract for Interchange Austin, Texas of products between in- stitutions operated by the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Dear Mr. Bell: Special Schools. You have requested an opinion on the following ques- tion: "Are contracts drawn pursuant to the provision of the Interagency Cooperation Act, Article b&13(32) Vernon's Civil Statutes, the correct procedure for transferring livestock, farm and garden products, milk, creamery pro- ducts, beef, pork, and ice between the several agencies under the control of the Board of Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools?" All the materials, supplies and services mentioned in the foregoing question are used by the various lnstitu- tions under the control of the Board for Texas State Hos- pitals and Special Schools. The purpose of the Interagency contracts referred to in your request is stated in a letter to you by Mr. 0. G. Hereford, Supervisor of Central Supply Services for the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools, as follows: "The Austin State Hospital maintains : Ice making facilities and sells ice to lnsti- tutlons In the Austin area since the other Institutions do not maintain such facilities. "Also, the Austin State Hospital, Austin State School, State School Farm Colony, and the Texas Blind, Deaf and Orphan School Hon. Walter L. Bell - page 2. (Opinion No. S-187) operate gardens and farms, and any surplus items produced are interchanged between these institutions. "In the same line you will note that there are contracts for dairy and milk products since the Austin State Hospital operates a Ceqtral Creamery for the making of cooking milk and buttermilk that is sold to the other Austin institutions. In the past this operation was handled through the Central Warehouse System; but since the dissolution of the Central Warehouse, these contracts between the institutions are neces- sary. "We should like to point out also that some institutions operate dairy and hog farms with all surplus dairy cattle and hogs interchanged, through the Inter-Agency Cooperation Contracts, with other lnstltu- tions." Section 3 of Article 4413(32), Vernon's Civil Stat- utes, provides in part as follows: "Any State agency may enter into and perform a written agreement or contract with other agencies of the State for fur- nishing necessary and authorized special or technical services, including the services of employees, the services of materials, or the services of equipment. . . .' In construing the provisions of Article 4413(32 , it was stated in Attorney General's Opinion S-138 (1954I : "It should be noted that the three types of authorized services -::servicesof employees, services of materials, and ser- vices of equipment - are listed disjunctively. Thus, a contract may be for each type separate- ly or for any combination of the three. Looking to the complete language of the statute, we think the term 'furnishing services' is used Honorable Walter L. Bell - page 3. (Opinion No. s-187) in the broad sense of making the particu- lar commodity (labor, materials or equip- ment) available for the benefit or use of the receiving agency instead of in the narrow sense of performance of labor or useful work. It is our opinion that either materials or equipment may be fur- nished without any further attendant 'services'." In that opinion, a copy of which is enclosed, this office held that Interagency contracts between two branches of A. & M. College, whereby the Experiment Sta- tion would furnish milk produced in its dairy husbandry department to the College creamery, and the contract where- by the Agricultural Experiment Station sold seed rice, which had been produced on its substation farms, to the Texas Prison System for crop planting on one of the Prison System's farms, were authorized by the provisions of Article 4413(32). By like reasoning, it is our opinion that various products in the custody of one institution under the control of the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools may be transferred to other institu- tions by interagency contracts entered into pursuant to the provisions of Article 4413(32). The only limitation on the volume of these agreements is contained in Section 5 of Article Q&13(32), which provides that such contracts cannot exceed the limitations of the institution's ap- propriated funds. It was not the intention of the Legislature by the enactment of this Statute to permit State Agencies to engage in private enterprise or to compete with farmers, ranchers, dairymen or other private business. However, under existing laws some interagency agreements have this effect, and additional legislation will be necessary if these practices are to be prohibited. Honorable Walter L. Bell - page 4. (Opinion No. s-187) SUMMARY Livestock, farm and garden products, milk, creamery products, beef, pork and ice may be transferred between the several a- gencies under the control of the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools by interagency contracts drawn pursuant to the provisions of Article 4413(32). Yours very truly, APPROVED: JOHN BEN SHEPPERD Attorney General J. C. Davis, Jr. County Affairs Division BY .,J John Reeves Mary X. Wall Assistant Reviewer J. A. Amis, Jr. Reviewer L. W. Gray Special Reviewer Davis Grant First Assistant John Ben Shepperd Attorney General JR:zt