, 

Auwrm. ‘lkNovember 26. 

The Honorable Douglass Hubbard 

Executive Director 

The Admiral Nimitz Center 

Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 

7sr11 

1975 

Opinion No. H- 744 

Re: Whether the Fleet Admiral 

Chester W. Nimitz Memorial 

Museum Commission is an 

agency eligible to receive a 

federal outdoor recreation resources grant. 

Dear Mr. Hubbard: 

You have requested our opinion regarding whether the Fleet Admiral 

Chester W. Nimitz Memorial Museum Commission is a state agency eligible 

to receive a federal grant. You state that the Commission desires to acquire 

land and construct public use facilities on the basis of matching funds from the 

Land and Water Conservation Fund of the Federal Bureau of Outdoor Recreation. 

The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial Museum Commission 

was created by Acts 1969, 61 st Leg., ch. 8, p. 19. The Commission is 

authorized thereby, in section 3, to 

[h] accept on behalf of the State of Texas 

donations of money, property and historical 

relics. 

and to 

[i] acquire property and historical relics 

by purchase within the limits of funds available. 

The purpose of the Commission is to 

foster and commemorate the memory of the 

era of supreme United States naval power 

upon the seas and the men and women of the 

armed services whose gallant and selfless 

dedication to duty made this era possible. 

Section 3(a). 

p. 3160 
.’ 

. 

The Honorable Douglass Hubbard - page two (H-744) 

The statute was amended in 1971 to permit the Commission to “exercise the 

power of eminent domain to acquire the lands that are necessary and proper 

for carrying out its purposes.” Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., ch. 304, p. 1239. 

In Attorney General Opinion M-1212( 1972), this Office concluded that 

the Commission was authorized to enter into a contract with the United States 

Department of Housing & Urban Development to receive funds for the purpose 

of purchasing or condemning certain real estate that would comprise part of 

the museum site. In our view, Attorney General Opinion M-1212 was clearly 

correct, since the Commission is expressly authorized to “acquire property” 

and to “exercise the power of eminent domain. ” Thus, it is our opinion that 

the Commission is an agency eligible to receive federal funds and that it may 

expend such funds to purchase or condemn land and other property. 

The Commission is not specifically authorized by statute to develop 

recreational facilities, however. Although construction of limited public use 

facilities would appear to be a means of fulfilling the Commission’s statutory 

purpose, and would derive from its authority to acquire property, it will remain a fact question whether the development of a particular type of recreational resource would be within the Commission’s purpose provided in section 3a, 

supra. 

It is of course well established that an administrative agency has only 

such powers as are expressly granted to it by statute and those necessarily implied therefrom. Stauffer v. San Antonio, 344 S. W. 2d 158 (Tex.Sup. 1961). 

Although a statute conferring administrative authority is to be liberally construed, 

Railroad Commission of Texas v. Galveston Chamber of Commerce, 145 S. W. 

573 (Tex. Sup. 1912). the aeencv must not act bevond the clear intent of the 

Legislature: Gulf .&ast w’ate,; Co. v. Cartwriiht, 160 S. W. 2d 269 (Tex. Civ. 

APP. --Galveston 1942, err. ref. w. 0. m. ). 

SUMMARY 

The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial 

Museum Commission is an agency eligible to receive 

federal funds and may expend such funds to purchase 

or condemn land and other property. The extent to 

which the Commission may expend funds to develop 

recreational facilities is a fact question. 

-Very truly yours, 

p. 3161 
The Honorable Douglass Hubbard - page three (H-744) 

APPROVED: 

Opinion Committee 

jad: 

p. 3162